Irish-headquartered metal and glass packager, Ardagh Group, posted a 3% drop in revenue, to $2,268 million, in the second quarter of its 2019 fiscal year compared to the same period in 2018.
On a constant currency basis, the company’s revenue increased by 1%, and its Adjusted EBITDA of $395 million increased by 5%.
Sales at the group’s glass packaging businesses in Europe and North America both fell, by 2% and 5% respectively, as the group suffered from high prices to recover input costs. The European business increased sales by 5% on a constant currency basis, however.
Its European metal packaging business saw its sales fall by 6%, again impacted by volume/mix growth and the pass-through of higher input costs.
Revenue increased by 1% to $549 million for Ardagh’s metal packaging businesses in the Americas, principally due to favourable volume/mix effects of 4%.
“Our second-quarter performance was in line with our expectations, led by strong performances in our Metal Packaging Americas and Glass Packaging Europe divisions,” Ardagh Group chairman and CEO, Paul Coulson, said.
Shaun Murphy
The group also announced that Shaun Murphy, Managing Partner of KPMG in Ireland for six years, will join the company as Chief Operating Officer on September 16, 2019.
Shaun, who is aged 52 and will report directly to Coulson, joins the team after a near 20 year career as a partner at KPMG, and served as the Lead Director on KPMG's Global Board from 2015 until earlier this year.
The company also announced the departure of Johan Gorter, who has decided to retire as CEO of Glass by the end of this year.
After his retirement, Martin Petersson (CEO Glass Europe) and Bertrand Paulet (CEO Glass North America) will report to Shaun Murphy.
Following the agreement to form Trivium, David Wall has also decided to step down from his role as CEO of Ardagh's Metal Division by the end of 2019.
Oliver Graham (CEO Metal Beverage Europe/Brazil And Group Commercial Director) and Claude Marbach (CEO Metal Beverage North America) will then also report to Murphy.
Trivium
“The recently announced combination of our Metal Packaging Food and Specialty business with Exal, to form Trivium Packaging […] is an important strategic step for the Group,” Coulson added.
Ardagh announced its partnership with Exal on 15 July, which will see Trivium serve ‘a diverse range of leading multinational, regional and local customers operating in a wide array of end markets, including food, seafood, pet food, nutrition, beauty and personal care, household care and premium beverages’.
Upon completion of the transaction, Ardagh will hold approximately a 43% stake in Trivium, with 57% controlled by Ontario Teachers’.
Ardagh will also receive approximately $2,500 million in cash proceeds, which it inters to use to repay any debts.
© 2019 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Aidan O’Sullivan. Click sign-up to subscribe to Checkout.
