Packaging group Smurfit Kappa has reported a 30 per cent rise in pre-tax profits to €85 million for the three months to the end of September.

Revenues, at €1.8 billion, were €166 million or 10 per cent higher than in the same quarter last year but the cost of sales increased by €127 million to €1.3 billion.

Operating profit increased by about 13 per cent to €162 million and earnings before tax, interest, depreciation and other costs increased by 9 per cent year on year to €264 million.

Smurfit said it had reduced its debt by €82 million in Q3, and €189 million this year, and reaffirmed its target of reducing net debt to €2.85 billion by the end of the year.

Smurfit chief executive Gary McCann said box demand had continued to grow in the third quarter, albeit at a slower pace than earlier this year, and that higher inventory levels had generated some downward pressure on paper prices in Europe.

Revenue at the group has increased 12 per cent in the first nine months of the year to €5.5 billion with pre-tax profits rising from €54 million to €221 million year on year.

Shares in Smurfit Kappa were trading up 5.5 per cent this morning at €5.