Online shopping boosts box maker

THE online shopping boom continues to lift sales for DS Smith.

The packaging maker, which supplies Amazon and Next with boxes, made sales of £5.7bn last year, a 21pc increase on the previous year. Profits were up 21pc to £473m. The number of boxes sold grew by 5.2pc, ahead of target, fuelled by ecommerce and shelf packaging.

Ecommerce has helped DS Smith boom despite higher paper and pulp prices. Online shopping can require six times more packaging than items delivered to a shop.

Chief executive Miles Roberts, 53, said: ‘We are continuing to succeed in a very dynamic market. We are capitalising on trends such as the rise in ecommerce, desire for sustainable products and the evolution in consumer shopping habits.’

The FTSE 100 firm, which employs about 26,000 in Europe, is proposing a final dividend of 9.8p.