Ardagh Group S.A. has reported its Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 financial results.
Ardagh Glass Packaging generates its revenue principally from selling glass containers. Ardagh Glass Packaging revenue is primarily dependent on sales volumes and sales prices. Ardagh Glass Packaging includes its glass engineering business, Heye International.
Sales volumes are affected by a number of factors, including factors impacting customer demand, seasonality and the capacity of Ardagh Glass Packaging’s production facilities. Demand for glass containers may be influenced by trends in the consumption of beverages, fruit and vegetable harvests, industry trends in packaging, including marketing decisions, and the impact of environmental regulations, as well as changes in consumer sentiment including social media influences and a greater awareness of sustainability issues.
Beverage and food end market sales within the Group glass packaging business are seasonal in nature, with strongest demand for beverage market sales during the summer and during periods of warm weather, as well as the period leading up to holidays in December. Accordingly, Ardagh Glass Packaging’s shipment volumes of glass containers is typically lower in the first quarter. Ardagh Glass Packaging builds inventory in the first quarter in anticipation of these seasonal demands.
Ardagh Glass Packaging’s Adjusted EBITDA is based on revenue derived from selling glass containers and glass engineering products and services and is affected by a number of factors, primarily cost of sales. The elements of Ardagh Glass Packaging’s cost of sales for its glass container manufacturing business include (i) variable costs, such as natural gas and electricity, raw materials (including the cost of cullet), packaging materials, decoration and freight and other distribution costs, and (ii) fixed costs, such as labour and other production facility-related costs including depreciation and maintenance.
In addition, sales, marketing and administrative costs also impact Adjusted EBITDA. Ardagh Glass Packaging’s variable costs have typically constituted approximately 50 percent and fixed costs approximately 50 percent of the total cost of sales for their glass container manufacturing business.
On April 29, 2022, the Group acquired Consol, the leading producer of glass packaging on the African continent, for an equity value of ZAR 10.1 billion (USD 663 million).
The full report is available here.