Regional review:

Europe

Key growth drivers

• Expansion of customer base to new segments and substrates
• Proprietary filling advantages including competitive total cost of ownership, while providing flexible filling options and the most sustainable packaging substrates.
• Well-positioned to capture demand for even more sustainable solutions

Summary of 2024

The region reported revenue growth of 6.2% for the year at constant currency.¹

Europe’s performance in 2024 was driven by the ramp-up of previous filler placements together with higher demand from an increase in raw milk supply for aseptic processing.

Over the past three years, the region has placed 56 filling machines, driven by customers accelerating the replacement cycle of their filling lines in response to the implementation of the Single-Use Plastics Directive, which mandated tethered caps by July 1, 2024. Compared to our peer group, SIG successfully capitalized on this event, given our competitive total cost of ownership, the packaging flexibility of our filling machines, and our ability to provide tethered caps without requiring significant overhauls to existing lines.

Another driver of the region's outperformance is the ongoing sustainability shift towards lower carbon-intensive packaging. Sales of alu-free packaging increased 10.5% in 2024 compared with 2023. The region has seen a growing number of customers start to transition their liquid dairy packaging from an aluminum barrier to an aluminum-free barrier on their existing SIG lines. This change reduces the carbon intensity of the packaging by approximately 25%, and SIG is the only market player capable of offering this solution on our installed filler base. Looking ahead, we anticipate further advancements as we introduce our next generation of aluminum-free full-barrier packaging, designed to guarantee the shelf life for all product categories we pack—not just liquid dairy products.

In spouted pouch and bag-in-box, the region experienced subdued growth for the first half of the year, largely due to one off equipment sales in H1 2023. In H2 2024, the bag-in-box and spouted pouch business returned to positive growth primarily reflecting the ramp-up of new synergy projects and lower prior year comparatives.

Berglandmilch dairy

Expanding its reach to the convenience sector

• Berglandmilch, Austria’s biggest dairy, first became a customer of SIG for 1 litre milk packaging.
• SIG has expanded the partnership with a new aseptic filling machine focused on the convenience category.
• Our filling machine can fill 24,000 carton packs per hour in five different volumes (200, 250, 300, 330, 350ml) and can run SIG Terra or standard packaging materials.
• This new investment by Berglandmilch enables it to offer busy consumers a highly convenient and stylish packaging solution for on-the-go or at-home consumption.

“We’ve chosen SIG because it provides a lifestyle pack that meets modern consumers’ needs. We’re excited to be the first to offer our Austrian customers this new pack that provides a unique on-the-go drinking experience in one of the most sustainable packaging solutions available. At Berglandmilch, we are committed to providing the best products in the most convenient and environmentally friendly way. Our partnership with SIG brings together our shared focus and beliefs, from recycling and plastic reduction, to using responsibly sourced materials. Working closely with SIG helps us to achieve our goals, including increasing the renewable materials used in our packaging.”

Josef Braunshofer

CEO at Berglandmilch

Delafruit

Complete packaging solution for spouted pouch

Delafruit, a leading Spanish fruit processor, was looking to become more cost competitive producing their own pouches with an SIG pouch maker and move to SIG mono-material film

SIG delivered a complete solution including equipment, fitments and film to meet their needs. This included:

• SIG recycle-ready film structure
• Utilisation of SIG fitments like the CloverCap and the RLI spout, which are specifically designed for recycle-ready structures
• Sourcing of all equipment and consumables from a single supplier and produce their own pouches in-house

The result:

• Recycle-ready material
• Improved total cost of ownership performance

1 Constant currency and constant resin growth of 6.4%.