Smurfit Westrock plc (LSE:SWR) saw its shares decline by 1.89% in U.S. premarket trading Wednesday after posting a second-quarter net loss that came in below analysts’ earnings projections, even as the company slightly outperformed revenue forecasts.
For the three months ended June 30, the packaging firm reported a net loss of $26 million, or -$0.05 per share, missing the consensus expectation of $0.59 in earnings per share. Revenue for the quarter totaled $7.94 billion, narrowly surpassing the forecast of $7.9 billion. The year-over-year comparison reflects the impact of Smurfit Kappa’s merger with WestRock (NYSE:WRK), finalized in July 2024. Last year’s Q2 revenue was $2.97 billion before the consolidation.
Adjusted EBITDA came in at $1.21 billion with a 15.3% margin, down from 16.2% a year earlier. The company noted that $280 million in charges related to facility closures and restructuring efforts weighed on performance.
“I am pleased to report a strong second quarter performance as we continue to deliver in line with our Adjusted EBITDA guidance,” said Tony Smurfit, President and CEO. “This performance is driven by the significant improvement in our North American business and continued excellent results from our Latin American operations, somewhat offset by a resilient performance from our EMEA and APAC businesses.”
By region, North America posted Adjusted EBITDA of $752 million with a margin of 15.8%, while Latin America reported $123 million with an impressive 23.7% margin.
Looking to Q3, the company expects Adjusted EBITDA to reach around $1.3 billion. Its full-year target remains unchanged, with a projected range of $5.0 billion to $5.2 billion.
Smurfit Westrock also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.4308 per ordinary share, to be paid on September 18, 2025, to shareholders of record as of August 15, 2025.
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