Smurfit Westrock said on Thursday it is considering delisting from the London Stock Exchange, as the cardboard box-maker reported earnings that missed market expectations as bad weather hit its North American business.

The Dublin-based group quit the Irish market in mid-2024 as the merger of Smurfit Kappa and US-based Westrock resulted in the combined group adopting the latter's New York quotation as its main listing.

Smurfit Westrock expects to complete a review of the London listing in May. It follows a move by CRH, which also moved its primarily listing to New York in recent years, to abandon the London exchange last week.

Smurfit Westrocks's first quarter adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) fell 14 per cent on the year to $1.08 billion (€920 million) to come in below its own forecast.

Still, the group, led by chief executive Tony Smurfit, reiterated its previous target of delivering full-year Ebitda of between $5 billion and $5.3 billion.

Sales edged 0.7 per cent higher to $7.7 billion, to beat consensus expectations among analysts by a little over 1 per cent.

"Against the backdrop of continued macro uncertainty we have delivered a solid first quarter performance," said Smurfit.

He added that the legacy Westrock business in North America, which entered the merger on a much weaker footing than the Smurfit Kappa business, remains the group's "biggest value creation opportunity".

Smurfit Westrock has increased the price of containerboard - the main raw material used for cardboard boxes - in North America by $50 a tonne so far this year amid efforts to recoup rising input costs. The company expects to return to growth in box sales in the second half of this year, following a period of volatility in demand.

Business across Europe, Middle East and Africa (Emea) and the Asia Pacific (Apac) region "continues to significantly outperform our peers with continued growth during the quarter with an improving demand profile and customer wins", it said.

The group also increased containerboard prices in this division increased during March and April, primarily as a result of increased energy costs and better demand, it said.

Smurfit Westrock expects to increase pricing of corrugated boxes, its final product, in the second half of the year in the Emea and Apac regions in the second half of this year.

"As part of our continued asset optimisation program, we have entered into consultations at one of our UK mills, with capacity of approximately 200 thousand tonnes of containerboard, and at four converting facilities in the UK and the Netherlands," it added.

The Latin American business delivered a "strong performance" in the quarter, it said.