DS Smith has released its full year results for the period 2021/22 (30th April 2022). Sales reached £7,241m, up 21% on the previous year. Profit before tax was £378m, up 64% on the same period last year.
Miles Roberts, Group Chief Executive, commented, “It has been another year of volatile trading conditions where we have worked through the tail-end of the pandemic and, more recently, the tragic events of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. These difficult periods have again brought the best out of all of our colleagues at DS Smith, demonstrating their resilience, compassion and commitment.
”We have delivered strong operational, environmental and financial results. The actions we have taken, driven by our strategic focus on our customers and their changing needs, including an ever-increasing focus on sustainability, have resulted in record volume growth. This, together with price increases which have offset significant cost inflation, has driven a strong improvement in profitability and high cash generation. We continued to recycle capital out of mature, non-core assets with the disposal of the De Hoop paper mill, whilst reinvesting in new packaging sites that meet customer demand and offer attractive financial returns.”
He concludes, “The new financial year has started well, building on the momentum from the previous year. Whilst there remains considerable uncertainty about the overall economic environment, our expectations remain unchanged. Strong customer demand reinforces our confidence to invest in the business, with capital expenditure expected to further increase in the current year. We currently expect to see 2-4% growth in our volumes, aided by our focus on resilient end markets, a strong performance in the US and the opening of new sites in regions where demand is buoyant. This growth, combined with the benefits of ongoing pricing momentum and careful management of our cost base gives us confidence for the year ahead and is expected to result in a further substantial improvement in our performance.”
