Page 7 - Packaging News magazine Sep-Oct 2022

Robust result for Orora
ORORA’S AUSTRALIAN PACKAGING operation delivered what the company said was a robust result for the financial year, with glass finding new markets following the Chinese wine ban, but it was in the US where the big growth took place.
The company achieved what it said were “solid” earnings in Australasia, with EBIT in line with forecast and broadly flat, while its US operation saw EBIT surge by 36 per cent, and sales rise by 17.7 per cent.
Brian Lowe, managing director and CEO, said, “Orora has delivered a strong result for the fiscal year 2022, reflecting the disciplined exe- cution of our strategic priorities in the face of global supply chain and inflationary challenges.”
Looking to the future, the compa- ny’s growth strategy is to optimise its current activities, enhance and expand its core products and
services, and to enter new market segments that are complementary to its current capabilities.
Sales for the group in FY22 over- all topped $4bn, rising by 15.6 per cent, 13 per cent on a con- stant currency basis, with North America revenue up by 17.7 per cent, or 14.3 per cent on a con- stant currency basis. Net profit after tax for the group was up up by 36 per cent to $184.7m.
Lowe said, “Our Australasian business performed solidly – the team has done a commendable job of managing inflationary cost pressures and supply chain dis- ruptions to deliver revenue growth and earnings that demonstrate the resilience of the Beverage busi- ness. Following significant volume growth in the prior year; Cans saw a slight improvement in product sales mix and volumes, while the Glass
Above: “Strong result”: Brian Lowe, Orora CEO and managing director.
business successfully expanded into new product ranges to mitigate the impacts of lower wine volumes, due to the Chinese wine tariffs on Australian wine exports.”
Australasian revenue was up by nine per cent to $909m, mainly attributable to higher aluminium costs for its cans that have been
passed through to customers, along with “slight” growth in cans and glass volumes.
Lowe said the company had kept all its key contracts in cans and glass, and said strong invest- ment was continuing. He said, “We are investing $110m on a second can line at Dandenong, and addi- tional endings manufacturing in Ballarat. These two investments will give us 10 per cent more cans and 40 per cent more endings.”
The Orora Group earnings are expected to be higher in the coming year, reflecting what the company says is “the resilience of the business” in the face of chal- lenging economic conditions.
Orora will be making further investment in the Australasian Beverage business in the near and medium terms in response to “growth opportunities”. ■
Brooke Donnelly is new GM Sustainability at Coles
Above: Brooke Donnelly begins her role as GM Sustainability at Coles Group in October.
THE FORMER CEO of the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO), Brooke Donnelly, has been appointed as general manager Sustainability at Coles Group, and will start in the role on 3 October.
Coles made the announce- ment in mid-August, a few weeks
after Donnelly formally departed from APCO. The supermarket giant said that Donnelly will be tasked with leading and empow- ering the Coles teams to deliver on the company’s ambition to become Australia’s most sustain- able supermarket.
“Brooke will work to embed Coles’ Sustainability Strategy, under our ‘Together to Zero’ and ‘Better Together’ pillars and help Coles support the imple- mentation of circular economy activities across our supply chain and deliver on our ambitious sus- tainability goals,” Coles said.
Donnelly, who joins Coles with over 25 years’ experi- ence in the fields of recycling, sustainability and circular econ- omy transformation, said, “I’m excited to be joining the great team at Coles Group and very much looking forward to deliv- ering tangible, at scale circular economy impact.” ■
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