Swiss packaging company SIG Group has reported a 3.0% year-on-year increase in revenue, to €1.6 billion, in the first half of its financial year.
Adjusted EBITDA in this period declined to €369.5 million, from €383.7 million in the first half of 2023, the company added.
The company has confirmed its mid-term revenue growth target in the upper half of the 4-6% range and adjusted EBITDA margin above 27%.
SIG has trimmed its full-year 2024 guidance to around 4%, plus or minus 50 basis points, from its previous guidance at the low end of 4-6%
Commenting on the company's performance, chief executive, Samuel Sigrist, stated, “Year to date, carton has experienced strong growth while performance of bag-in-box has been clearly below our expectations.
“Bag-in-box in North America has suffered from temporary soft consumer demand, especially in foodservice, while production was constrained due to a plant relocation from Canada to the USA that took longer to ramp up than expected. Remedial action to resolve the production challenges is underway. Going forward we expect performance in bag-in-box to improve on a quarter-by-quarter basis.”
Divisional Performance
In Europe, SIG reported a 6.4% increase in sales in constant currency to €516.6 million, driven by growth in aseptic carton volumes in the dairy sector.
Revenue from bag-in-box and spouted pouch declined against a strong prior year comparison, which included equipment sales that were not repeated in the first half of this year, the company noted.
Revenue in the Americas region declined by 4.1% on a constant currency basis to €419.4 million as consumer demand remained soft in the USA.
Aseptic carton growth gained momentum after a slow start to the year, while the decline in volume in bag-in-box slowed in the second quarter compared with the first quarter of 2024.
SIG reported revenue growth of 2.7% at constant currency in the Asia Pacific, to €416.4 million.
In this period, the company continued to gain market share in both aseptic and chilled carton segments despite some end-market consumer softness in the region.
Sigrist added, “We are encouraged by our pipeline of cross-selling wins, which continues to gain momentum, as we develop our innovative offerings and expand geographically.
“This will support sustainable growth for bag-in-box and spouted pouch. Carton continues to perform strongly and gain share, and we expect to place 75 fillers or more by the end of the year.”
