Nestlé recently announced that its well-known brand, Smarties, will be using recyclable paper packaging for all of its products worldwide! This represents a transition of 90% of the Smarties range, as 10% was already packed in recyclable paper packaging. The rollout of the new material, which will be complete in the UK and Ireland by April, makes Smarties the first global confectionery brand to move to paper packaging, removing approximately 250 million plastic packs sold worldwide every year. The innovative new designs includes sharing bags, multipacks and giant hexatubes made from coated paper, paper labels or carton board, all produced from sustainably sourced and recyclable material. Alexander von Maillot, Global Head of Confectionery at Nestlé, said: “Moving Smarties packaging to recyclable paper is one of our key sustainable packaging initiatives in the confectionery category. It is a further step in realising Nestlé’s ambition to make all of our packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025 and to reduce our use of virgin plastics by one-third in the same period.”

Net sales for the third quarter were a record $1.32 billion, an increase of $115.9 million, or 9.6 percent, from last year’s quarter. The improvement in sales was a result of higher selling prices, largely driven by rising raw material prices; sales added from acquisitions, net of divestitures; and the positive impact of foreign exchange. Gross profits were a record $250.9 million in the third quarter, an increase of $15.5 million or 6.6 percent, compared with $235.4 million in the same period in 2016. Gross profit as a percentage of sales declined to 18.9 percent, compared with 19.5 percent in the same period in 2016. The gross profit percentage reduction was primarily due to higher raw material and other operating costs offset by manufacturing and procurement productivity. Third-quarter selling, general and administrative expenses increased $8.7 million from the prior year to $130.3 million. This increase was driven by wage inflation and acquisition-related expenses. Click Read More below for additional information.

Earnings for the first quarter of 2021 were in line with the preceding quarter and represent a significant improvement on the year-earlier quarter. Higher selling prices in all product areas had a positive impact on earnings. During the quarter, SCA discontinued its remaining publication paper operations consisting of three paper machines at the Ortviken site. Following the discontinuation of publication paper operations, SCA is focused on growth in all product areas. The supply of wood to SCA’s industries was stable during the quarter. The price of pulpwood fell slightly while the price of sawlogs remained stable compared with the preceding period.