The packaging and coffee cup manufacturing giant says the ongoing foodservice sector recovery boosted sales, but cautions that rising raw materials costs, supply chain disruption and Covid-19 trading restrictions may continue to challenge profitability
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The global vaccination roll-out and the removal of hospitality trading restrictions boosted Huhtamäki's sales in 2021 | Photo credit: Huhtamäki
Huhtamäki has weathered market turbulence in 2021 to post strong annual results. The Finnish packaging and coffee cup manufacturer posted net sales of €3.6bn ($4bn) for the period 1 January-31 December 2021, an 8% rise on the year previous. Meanwhile, operating profit increased 12% to €265m ($300m).
Despite the positive results, the company said profitability was “constantly challenged” by adverse trading conditions, including Covid-19 restrictions on foodservice businesses, “extraordinary” input cost levels and supply chain disruption caused by the pandemic.
“During the year, we saw a gradual improvement in consumption, as vaccination deployment sped up and restrictions were eased across most geographies. This was visible in our foodservice packaging business globally, particularly in Europe and US,” said Charles Héaulmé, President and CEO, Huhtamäki.
Looking to the year ahead, Huhtamäki said it expected conditions to be more favourable than in 2021, with a diversified portfolio of packaging products providing the company greater resilience.
The company reported notable new investments in 2021, including the acquisition of full ownership of Ireland-based joint venture Huhtamaki CupPrint Ltd – in which it acquired a 70% stake in 2018. It also reached an agreement to acquire Chinese foodservice packaging company Jiangsu Hihio-Art Packaging Co. Ltd for €31m and acquired sustainable packaging company, Elif Holding A.Ş., which has operations in Turkey and Egypt.
Founded more than 100 years ago, Huhtamäki has operations in 38 countries and employees 19,600 staff globally. Huhtamaki Group is headquartered in Espoo, Finland.