Navigator invests up to €12 million a year in the packaging sector
With the world trying to reduce plastic consumption, Navigator has turned to the production of packaging products. It plans to invest between 10€ and 12€ million in this new business area.
The Navigator Company will focus on producing sustainable packaging over the next few years, with an annual investment of between €10 and €12 million, the Portuguese pulp and paper company said in a statement sent to the Portuguese Securities Market Commission (CMVM) on Tuesday. Navigator justifies the decision as a response to the need to reduce worldwide plastic consumption.
“In the last 18 months, a strategic decision about the avenues for its future development prompted the company to move into the production of new packaging products, developing a new business area in a growing segment and as a response to the need felt worldwide to fight the consumption of plastics,” Navigator said in a statement.
The Portuguese company also revealed that it expects to sell “a significant volume of packaging products until year-end and enlarge its offer in 2022,” adding that Navigator’s goal “is to gradually increase the output until it reaches approximately 200 thousand tons by 2025/2026.”
According to the company’s forecast, the estimated Capex in this first phase for producing these products will be between €10-12 million, per year, over the next few years.
Navigator also plans to expand its new business area “into the production of flexible packaging, bags and kraftliner products.”
Navigator’s profit rises 46% to €64 million in H1
Navigator saw profits rise by over 46% in the first six months of the year, totalling around €64 million, the company said in a statement.
Between January and June, the company achieved a net profit of €64.4 million, up from €44 million in the same half of last year. In the same period, EBITDA totalled €150.5 million, also up from €140.1 million in the same period last year.
The sales margin of 21.1% benefited from “the improvement in paper volumes, pulp sales price and savings on unitary variable costs,” says the company, which also highlights a turnover of €715 million.
