Continuing our growth
Expanding our geographic footprint The year 2018/19 has seen significant development in the footprint of DS Smith, as we have integrated Interstate Resources, our North America business, and acquired Europac in Iberia and France.
“Our North America business is now fully integrated within DS Smith and is winning business due to our collaborative approach.” Our North America operations
16
packaging sites
North America
Q&A with Jim Morgan, President and Chief Executive, North America Packaging and Paper division What has been the customer reaction to the acquisition of Interstate Resources by DS Smith? The reason DS Smith acquired Interstate Resources was the customer pull for DS Smith’s expertise and innovation in corrugated packaging. The US market has a growing demand for retail-ready packaging, which is well established in Europe and in which DS Smith has recognised leadership. Of DS Smith’s top 20 European customers, 17 also have significant operations in the US, so the opportunity to expand those relationships was clear. Since the acquisition, we have been delighted by the customer reaction. We are now over a year in and seeing great progress. We have gained new contracts with European customers, such as RB and Unilever, improved our global relationship with L’Oreal, who we had worked with in both organisations, and we have also increased our work with existing US customers such as John Deere and Mountaire Farms.
20
2
paper mills
C. 1,800 employees
1
further packaging plant under construction
Key: Paper mills Packaging sites Packaging site under construction