Tetra Pak sees 7.5% growth despite obstacles

Tetra Pak achieved revenues of A$18 billion in 2015, a rise of 7.5 per cent on the previous year.

Despite global economic challenges, the company saw solid growth in services and processing solutions.

Packaging sales advanced at a more modest rate.

Positive currency impacts accounted for 6.3 per cent of the increase.

Despite slowdowns in China and Brazil, president and CEO Dennis Jönsson said the growth in processing and packaging was "a tremendous achievement".

Revenues from packaging solutions totalled A$15 billion in 2015, a rise of 6.4 per cent, with particularly strong growth in technical service.

In spite of challenges, sales of packaging materials were slightly higher, with 184 billion packs sold in 2015 compared with 180 billion in 2014.

In recent years, food and beverage companies have been seeking ways to differentiate with new shapes, materials and enhanced functionality.

Last year, Tetra Pak's innovations included a fully renewable package called Tetra Rex Bio-based, the E3 filling machine platform​, a high capacity ice cream extrusion line; and OneStep processing technology for liquid dairy production from powder.

Also in 2015, Tetra Pak was involved in school feeding programs which led to more than 70 million children using a Tetra Pak package at school. This was an increase of 10.9 per cent compared to 2014.

​In other news, Tetra Pak has acquired plastic mould specialist Laude.

Based in The Netherlands, Laude services the cheese industry, and will now form part of Tetra Pak Cheese and Powder Systems.