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Sig sets out to conquer the packaging market
The Swiss stock exchange welcomed a new arrival last autumn. SIG Combibloc successfully made one of the largest IPOs of the year on 28 September 2018, raising 3.8 billion Swiss francs. But this isn’t the first IPO for the firm, based in Neuhausen in the canton of Schaffhouse. Until 2007, it was listed on the SMI. It went private that year when it was acquired by New Zealand magnate Graeme Hart, who sold the company in 2014 to investment firm Onex for €3.75 billion.
Founded in Switzerland in 1853, SIG Combibloc started by manufacturing railway materials and then firearms, before gradually specialising in packaging. In 2000, it decided to focus on producing aseptic packaging, which can preserve solid or liquid foods for approximately 12 months without refrigeration. The brand isn’t flashy: it uses little marketing and has a discreet logo. But SIG is very present in the daily lives of millions of consumers, as it packages orange juice, flavoured water, and packs of milk, soup, biscuits, etc.
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The numbers reflect this: between 2007 and 2017, the Swiss company’s revenues increased by 40% at a stable rate of 4% per year. Gross operating profit rose from €236 million in 2007 to €455 million in 2017. But in the current more sluggish market environment, its net profit fell 5% in Q3 2018 to 27 million Swiss francs. The growth outlook for 2018 remains unchanged, however, at between 4% and 6% at constant exchange rates.
This curve was predictable, so why did the company decide to raise funds on the Swiss stock exchange? Not satisfied with just posting good earnings, SIG wants to compete with Tetra Pak, the market leader. To go further and higher. As Morgan Stanley said in its latest November 2018 analysis, SIG has high expectations for 2018–2019 and is aiming for a 29% profit margin. The group should reach or exceed this target, according to analysts.
To do so, SIG is not counting on sales of its packaging machines, which generate only 10% of its revenues. For its customers, the company mainly supplies the raw material, aseptic carton, to produce packaging. Customer contracts are signed for several years, guaranteeing the continuation of SIG’s business model. The maintenance service is also very sophisticated, almost customised. “Our cash flow is very stable and predictable, which means we can pay out attractive dividends,” says Andreas Hildenbrand, the group’s spokesman.
Of SIG’s total 5,000 employees, only 230 work in the Neuhausen headquarters, primarily in finance and purchasing. The other employees are spread across the globe, to be closer to its customers. The machines are produced in Linnich, Germany, and Suzhou, China, and the carton production plants are located in Germany, Austria, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, China and Thailand.
Its 270 customers worldwide include giants Nestlé, Pepsico and Unilever. They receive assistance from 550 field engineers who install and maintain the 1,150 machines currently in operation. Traditionally, the target markets for the Swiss firm were Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). But gradually it has successfully moved into China, North America, Brazil and Argentina. “Today, EMEA countries generate 45% of our revenues, compared with 75% ten years ago,” says Hildenbrand. “Asia now accounts for one-third of our revenues and the Americas 20%. These two regions are driving our growth at present.”
In these markets, hundreds of millions of people are gradually becoming part of the middle class, and have greater purchasing power. They now consume a wider variety of processed food products. In the streets of Sao Paolo and Mumbai, customers can buy juice to go, just like in New York. Emerging markets also have the weakest competition: in India, Tetra Pak sold 7 billion packages in 2017, but SIG is gradually catching up with more than 2 billion packages sold, already accounting for 17% of the market. In these countries, SIG is also testing new technologies, such as a chip that can trace its products in Brazil.
But there could be future trouble brewing for both SIG and Tetra Pak: packaging creates pollution and has consequences for climate change, which is an increasingly hot-button issue. Packaging manufacturers are under fire. SIG recently launched its “Signature” line, produced with 100% recyclable polymer materials. But so far this only accounts for a small fraction of the company’s revenues. In Europe, currently 45% of SIG’s packaging is recycled. This percentage is significantly lower in developing countries which lack recycling infrastructure.
The global decrease in milk consumption, particularly in Europe, could also hamper SIG’s growth, according to Morgan Stanley, whose experts set a medium-term price target of 12.40 Swiss francs. SIGN
