MIDAS VERDICT:

More and more of what we buy from supermarkets is plastic-free, whether it is Carte D’Or ice-cream tubs or Carlsberg’s new fibre-based beer bottles.

That’s good news for businesses like DS Smith, as the recent update shows. The only question is how far food businesses are willing to take this trend, and how much they, and consumers, are willing to pay for innovative packaging.

And, to put it bluntly, in a recession we buy less stuff, so there’s less need for the packaging to put round that stuff – so DS Smith will suffer.

But there’s much to be excited about in the group’s trading update, which led to analysts upgrading the stock by 10 per cent in terms of profits.

Despite strong figures and good prospects, though, DS Smith is still failing to excite the market. The shares are down nearly a third since January, and although the unexpectedly positive update lifted them slightly earlier in the week, they are still far lower than in recent years.

As the dust settles, and investors once again sort the riskier companies from their less risky counterparts, the company may find itself in favour once again.

The shares are now very cheap on some measures, as they trade on just seven times forward earnings and yield 5.5 per cent. It’s worth boxing clever and picking up a few.