Statement re Prospects as an Independent Business

Statement re Prospects as an Independent Business

Smurfit Kappa Group PLC

6 June 2018

Superior performance and prospects as an independent business; re-affirms strong 2018 EBITDA outlook

Smurfit Kappa Group plc (“Smurfit Kappa”, “SKG” or the “Group”) notes the announcement by International Paper Company that it does not intend to make an offer for Smurfit Kappa and that it is now bound by the restrictions under Rule 2.8 of the Irish Takeover Rules.

The Board believes that SKG has superior prospects as a standalone business and remains excited about the Group's prospects in the short, medium and long-term. The Group is implementing its medium term plan which will enhance its operating platform for sustained growth and deliver superior performance against all operating and financial measures.

Smurfit Kappa Group CEO, Tony Smurfit, added:

“We continue to see the benefits from our investments in recent years and we are now executing a central element of our Medium Term Plan with the acquisition of Reparenco. The acquisition of Reparenco will have a positive impact on our integrated model and we are targeting delivery in excess of €30 million of synergy benefits. Strong business conditions and a positive operating environment together with significant and early progress against our Medium Term Plan reaffirms our confidence that 2018 EBITDA will be materially better than 2017.

We expect the second quarter to represent another strong performance and we will provide a further update at the time of our half year results on August 1^st.”

About Smurfit Kappa

Smurfit Kappa, a FTSE 100 company, is one of the leading providers of paper-based packaging solutions in the world, with around 46,000 employees in approximately 370 production sites across 35 countries and with revenue of €8.6 billion in 2017. We are located in 22 countries in Europe, and 13 in the Americas. We are the only large-scale pan-regional player in Latin America.

With our pro-active team, we relentlessly use our extensive experience and expertise, supported by our scale, to open up opportunities for our customers. We collaborate with forward-thinking customers by sharing superior product knowledge, market understanding and insights in packaging trends to ensure business success in their markets. We have an unrivalled portfolio of paper-packaging solutions, which is constantly updated with our market-leading innovations. This is enhanced through the benefits of our integration, with optimal paper design, logistics, timeliness of service, and our packaging plants sourcing most of their raw materials from our own paper mills.

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