Box maker Smurfit Westrock's US orders steadying after rocky six weeks
DUBLIN, May 1 (Reuters) - U.S. order books at the world's largest cardboard box maker Smurfit Westrock are steadying after "a lot of weakness" in March and early April amid falling consumer confidence, chief executive Tony Smurfit said on Thursday.
Smurfit said the Ireland-headquartered company was "seeing a lot of nervousness" among its customers that span the household goods, food and pharmaceutical sectors in relation to tariffs but that it had not yet translated into "any material issue".
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He made the comments after the packaging giant reported first quarter core profit of $1.25 billion, in line with its guidance, and forecast a 6% to 11% rise in full year earnings to between $5.0 billion and $5.2 billion.
"We did see a lot of weakness in March and the first two weeks of April. It seems to be steadying itself, our order books are getting better in the second half of April than they were in the six weeks prior to that. That gives us some encouragement," Smurfit told an analyst call when asked about the U.S. market.
Smurfit Westrock expected some recovery in the second half of the year but not the kind of bounceback some competitors were talking about that would require a level of consumer confidence that is not currently seen in surveys, he added.
Smurfit said the European market was a bit better and that while demand may not be strong, it is "reasonable" and on an improving trend.
Smurfit Westrock's UK-listed shares were 2.4% lower at 1230 GMT.
While it largely sells to customers within each of the 40 countries in which it operates, Smurfit said it has adjusted its U.S./Canada supply chains in response to tariffs to cut out the previous large amount of cross border trade.
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