Smurfit Kappa has reported a loss of €82 million in the first quarter of 2006, describing the period as "difficult".
The loss compares with last year's figure of some €78 million in the first quarter, and has been blamed on rising input costs.
The paper and packaging group also saw EBITDA slump 12 per cent during the quarter, falling to €172 million from €195 million. Net sales grew by 4 per cent to €1.78 billion.
The newly formed company, which came about as a result of a merger between Jefferson Smurfit Group and Kappa Packaging on December 1 2005, had a tough time in Europe during the quarter but remained confident that there were signs of improvement.
The firm also made the decision to close five smaller recycled containerboard mills during the quarter, after their competitiveness had been "eroded". Four of the mills were lcoated in in France, one in Germany. The closures, combined with decisions to close two mills in 2004 and 2005, will see the company reduce its combined recycled containerboard capacity by about 600,000 tonnes.
Operations in Latin America put in strong results for the first quarter; containerboard and corrugated volumes rose by 6 per cent and 9 per cent on the same time last year.