• Flexibles: growth in challenging market
    Flexibles: growth in challenging market
Close×

Revenue at Pro-Pac Packaging rose by five per cent in the quarter to December 31, driven by new flexibles customers, in what the company said was a challenging market.

Sales rose to $81.1m for the quarter, up from $77.8m in the previous three months, with flexibles up to $63.9m from $60.6m, while specialty packaging was steady at $17.2m.

Pro-Pac said the trading environment “continues to be challenging” as the cost of living crisis impacts on discretionary spending for consumers.

Cashflow at Pro-Pac for the quarter was an outflow of $2m, predominantly due to a seasonal increase in net working capital for the quarter. The company’s payments included $2.5m for a new printing press, with installation completed this month; it will be operational by the end of this quarter.

Pro-Pac has $2.5m in cash on hand, and of its $39m in financing facilities, it has unused credit facilities of $16.8m, including $5.6m from a government grant.

During the quarter it made $3.4m in payments to related parties, including $385,000 to directors and execs, and $3m to Visy “on arm’s length terms”.

Food & Drink Business

The Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) has released its Towards 2030: A food and grocery snapshot, an assessment of the food and grocery manufacturing sector following the Sustaining Australia: Food and Grocery Manufacturing 2030 report released in 2020.

The federal government has granted $1.5 million to the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), to strengthen food safety and alcohol surveillance in Laos, following the methanol poisoning deaths of two Australian citizens in November 2024.

Woolworths Group delivered a stronger first-half underlying earnings result, with group sales up 3.4 per cent to $37.1 billion and EBIT up 14.4 per cent to $1.66 billion for the 27 weeks to 4 January 2026.