
Sometimes it's not enough to keep your own house in order. Smurfit Kappa (SKG) had to contend with difficult external issues through the first half of 2017, but the outlook improved markedly in the fourth quarter, with margins and profits heading in the right direction. The recovery was insufficient to offset the earlier operating challenges, however, and the cash profit margin contracted to 14.5 per cent from 15.1 a year earlier, leaving profits broadly flat on 2016 at €1.24bn (£1.1bn).