Almond departs SCA Packaging as group seeks ‘leader for change’

In a statement, the company said that “further adaptations to the market remain” and so it needs a president “capable of leading major changes and with thorough industrial experience”.

Current president Phil Almond will be temporarily replaced by chief financial officer David Stead until a new president is appointed.

Almond assumed the role of president in November 2008 from his role as head of the middle Europe corrugated business.

An SCA spokesman declined to elaborate further on the departure of Almond.

Today’s news follows the publication of SCA’s first half results in July, which were strongly affected by the sale of the UK and Ireland operations to Saica last year.

In the six months to 30 June sales stood at SEK 14.5bn (£1.2bn), down 16% compared to last year. Pre-tax profit fell by 91% to SEK92m in the same period.

SCA group announced in April that it would reduce its workforce by more than 2,000 employees and close 11 factories over the next year as a result of a cost-saving programme.

Under this scheme, the European packaging business aims to reduce annual costs by SEK1bn.

Packaging contributed 25% of net sales in the first half of the year, but only 2% of operating profits.

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