News

Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation (SSCC), the US paper-based packaging manufacturer, is confident of an "improved financial performance" at the end of the year and said it has "sufficient financial flexibility" to weather the uncertain economic conditions.

Patrick J. Moore, Smurfit-Stone chairman and chief executive, said maintaining financial flexibility was a "top priority". The firm raised prices in the third quarter and complies with all existing credit facility covenants.

"We expect higher average selling process and lower costs will drive sequentially improved financial performance in the fourth quarter," he added.

The Chicago-based firm will record an $84m (£49.6m) tax benefit in the third quarter after the Canada Revenue Agency re-examined SSCC's income tax returns for the period from 1999 to 2005.

At close of trading yesterday (9 October) SSCC shares were worth $2.44, having lost almost two-thirds of its value in the past month.

Smurfit Stone will release its results for the third quarter of the year on 22 October.