Smurfit WestRock maintains dividend; 'excited' about prospects
Smurfit Westrock PLC on Wednesday kept its estimate for annual adjusted earnings unchanged as it maintained its quarterly dividend.
The Dublin-based packaging firm with North & South American operations in Atlanta, Georgia said it swung to a net loss of $26 million in the second quarter of 2025, from a net profit of $132 million a year ago.
Net sales jumped to $7.94 billion from $2.97 billion, which is due to the prior-year results representing historical results of legacy Smurfit Kappa Group PLC, before its merger.
Smurfit WestRock nowadays represents the merger of Dublin-based Smurfit Kappa Group and Atlanta-based WestRock Co. The deal was completed in June of last year.
The firm announced a second quarterly dividend of 43.08 US cents per share, unchanged from the first quarter.
Looking ahead, Chief Executive Officer Tony Smurfit said: ‘With our geographic reach, unrivalled product portfolio and most importantly our people, we see extensive opportunities across all our regions. In North America, we believe the implementation of our operating model will drive continued significant improvement. In our Europe, Middle East & Africa and Asia-Pacific region, we have a well invested asset base and strong market positions, primed to take advantage of an improved demand environment. Latin America remains a region of substantial growth opportunities, both organic and inorganic.’
He added that he was excited about the performance and prospects of the company. The firm expects third quarter adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to be around $1.3 billion, with full year adjusted Ebitda continued to be anticipated between $5.0 billion and $5.2 billion.
Smurfit WestRock shares were down 1.9% at 3,540.00 pence each on late Wednesday morning in London, while in New York, its shares were 1.9% lower in pre-market trading at $47.29 each.
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