Another 20%-plus profit surge at Lee & Man

United States – Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing, one of China’s leading containerboard producers and a huge consumer of recovered fibre sourced from around the world, has reported total sales volumes of 5.63 million tons in calendar year 2016 as compared to 5.44 million tons in the previous 12 months.

The group’s annual net profit soared 22.7% year on year to HK$ 2.86 billion (US$ 372 million), roughly the same percentage increase as Lee & Man Paper achieved in 2015 when earnings totalled HK$ 2.33 billion (US$ 303 million). The group’s revenues climbed to HK$ 18.34 billion (US$ 2.38 billion) in 2016 from HK$ 17.62 billion (US$ 2.29 billion) in the previous year.

In announcing the results, Lee & Man Paper’s chairman Dr Raymond Lee alludes to ‘the slowdown in the economic growth of the mainland (China) economy’ but goes on to offer a bullish assessment of the business outlook.

‘The demand for packaging paper in China is expected to grow steadily in the long run,’ he insists. Lee reiterates that the packaging paper industry is deriving benefit from the rapid development of e-commerce and online shopping which, he says, has led to ‘fundamental changes in consumption and logistics models’.

Overall paper consumption ‘still possesses considerable room for growth’, he asserts.