Paper and packaging products group Smurfit Kappa has appointed Tony Smurfit, its President and chief operating officer, as Group CEO Designate.
Mr Smurfit succeed Gary McGann who announced today that he will retire at the end of August. Mr McGann has been CEO for the last 13 years.
Tony Smurfit has served as a director at the company since 1989 and was appointed Group Chief Operations Officer in November 2002.
He has worked in various parts of the Smurfit Kappa Group both in Europe and the US. He was CEO of Smurfit Europe from October 1999 to 2002 and before that he was deputy CEO of Smurfit Europe and CEO of Smurfit France.
Meanwhile, the company also reported first quarter results today.
These show that the company's pre-tax profits slipped by 6% to €98m from €104m the same time last year while revenues moved 2% higher to €1.962 billion from €1.932 billion.
Smurfit Kappa said its EBITDA for the three month period was down 1% to €266m from €269m mainly due to currency factors at its Venezuelan operations.
The company said its European business delivered a "good volume performance" with over 3% higher box volumes and significantly improved sheet volumes, which it said reflected the more robust European business environment.
Its operations in the Americas also performed well in the three months from January to March, with a 16% increase in volumes across the region as a result of both organic growth and growth from acquisitions.
The company's CEO Gary McGann said against the backdrop of a more positive European business environment, and improvements in its operational performance in the Americas, it expects to deliver earnings growth year on year.
"As we build the business through our differentiated offering and new investments, we remain committed to our core financial and operational disciplines," he added.
