Elopak’s Q2 EMEA revenue rises 7.9% as Americas margin hits 22.9%

GLOBAL – Elopak has reported second-quarter group revenue of €304 million (US$334 million), a 4.9 percent year-on-year increase, with adjusted EBITDA reaching €45 million (US$49.5 million) at a 14.8 percent margin, as the carton giant navigates geopolitical volatility and rising raw material costs.

The Norwegian packaging group’s performance improved following a softer start to the year, with the Americas region delivering 8.7 percent constant-currency revenue growth and an EBITDA margin of 22.9 percent. 

EMEA revenue grew 3.3 percent to €224.1 million (US$246.5 million), though the region’s EBITDA margin declined to 17.8 percent from 18.7 percent due to higher raw material costs following the Middle East conflict. 

Net profit attributable to shareholders jumped to €15.7 million (US$17.3 million) from €9.3 million a year earlier. 

Regional Performance and Supply Chain Disruption

The Americas region’s strong performance was driven by continued onboarding of new customer contracts and market share gains, with carton and closure revenue surging 11.9 percent. 

However, the region faced a disruption following a tragic incident at Nippon Dynawave Packaging’s paper mill in Longview, Washington, a major supplier of liquid packaging board.

Despite constrained board supply, the company remains confident in fulfilling supply commitments to its customers. 

In EMEA, carton and closure revenue grew 7.9 percent year-over-year, supported by Pure-Pak growth in the UHT dairy segment and Roll Fed expansion in Central and Eastern Europe.

Margin Pressure and Recovery Strategy

Adjusted EBITDA margin of 14.8 percent reflected a gradual improvement from Q1, driven primarily by margin-accretive growth in the Americas. 

The EMEA margin decline to 17.8 percent was impacted by a timing effect where raw material price increases from the Middle East conflict affected the P&L before customer surcharges took effect. 

Customer surcharges were implemented in mid-Q2 and are expected to benefit margins from Q3 onwards. 

Adjusted earnings per share jumped 87.3 percent to €0.06 (US$0.066), while year-to-date cash flow from operations rose 39.5 percent to €75 million (US$82.5 million). 

The company maintains a strong balance sheet with a leverage ratio of 2.2x, unchanged from the previous quarter.

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