Profit at Smurfit falls 43 per cent

Pretax profit at Smurfit Kappa Group fell 43 per cent to €57 million in the first three months of 2013.

This is despite a 4 per cent rise in revenues to €1.8 billion in the first quarter of this year.

Chief executive Gary McCann said despite a number of one-off costs, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) for the first quarter remained strong at €241 million.

The company also reported revenues of €7.3 billion and profit of €260 million for 2012, which was its second best year since the 2007 IPO.

At the AGM this morning, the board recommended a final dividend of 20.05 cent per share for 2012.