Mondi hikes prices and cuts jobs amid war risks

Mondi is expanding prices and reducing its headcount arsenic the US-Israel warfare connected Iran and Lebanon escalates costs for the insubstantial and packaging group.

The institution said trading successful the archetypal 4th of 2026 “remained challenging”, with underlying EBITDA [earnings earlier interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation] astatine €212m ($248.7m), compared with €214m successful the erstwhile quarter.

The latest fig included an €8m forestry just worth gain, against €1m successful Q4 2025.

Sales volumes roseate from the erstwhile 4th successful corrugated packaging and flexible packaging, helped by added capacity, the group’s dispersed crossed regions and extremity markets, and the lack of scheduled attraction stoppages.

That betterment was countered by weaker mean selling prices and a emergence successful energy-related input costs adjacent the extremity of the quarter.

In converting operations, Mondi said margins were nether strain successful the corrugated solutions and insubstantial container divisions portion user flexibles was broadly steady, supported by “resilient end-markets”.

The institution said heightened tensions successful the Middle East had added to instability successful an already hard operating backdrop.

While Mondi’s nonstop vulnerability to the portion is “limited” and operations stay safe, it has faced higher energy, earthy worldly and logistics costs crossed the business.

In response, the radical is taking pricing enactment and expects those increases to beryllium afloat reflected successful the 3rd quarter, aft the accustomed delay.

Mondi besides said that a caller driblet successful wood prices successful South Africa means its full-year forestry just worth summation for 2026 is present “expected to beryllium nil”, assuming nary large alteration successful marketplace conditions for the remainder of the year.

As portion of wider outgo measures, the institution decided to unopen 3 much converting plants this month: a user flexibles tract successful Hungary, and corrugated solutions plants successful Poland and Germany.

Those closures are owed to chopped its headcount by 450 this year.

That takes the full fig of precocious announced works closures to six, with lawsuit volumes being moved to different facilities wrong the group’s network.

Mondi said it remains focused connected currency flow, with spending and moving superior kept nether adjacent control.

Mondi Group CEO Andrew King said: “Against a backdrop of challenging marketplace conditions, income volumes increased, though little selling prices and, latterly, outgo pressures linked to escalating geopolitical tensions, weighed connected underlying EBITDA.

“These pressures persist into the 2nd quarter, and we are taking pricing actions to mitigate their impact. While determination is an inherent clip lag, we expect these measures to instrumentality afloat effect successful the 3rd quarter.