Smurfit Westrock has lowered its full-year earnings target, driven by the impact of a spike in fuel costs on freight expenses. The Dublin-based cardboard box maker now expects to deliver adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) between $4.9 billion (€4.3 billion) and $5.1 billion this year, having previously guided towards a result between $5 billion and $5.3 billion, it said on Wednesday.Ebitda for the second quarter dipped 6 per cent to $1.14 billion, to come in at the lower end of its projected range between $1.1 billion and $1.2 billion. Net sales rose 1.1 per cent to $8.03 billion. “The quarter was impacted by significantly higher input costs, particularly freight, which we managed to mitigate through our actions. Positively, demand for paper remained strong throughout the quarter with a generally excellent supply/demand backdrop,” said chief executive Tony Smurfit. “We fully expect to recover input cost inflation through the second half of the year and beyond.”The group was formed two years ago by the merger of Smurfit Kappa and US-based peer Westrock and duly dropped its Irish stock market quotation as it assumed Westrock’s New York listing as its main one. It cancelled its secondary listing in London last month. Much of the rationale behind the merger lies behind Smurfit and his senior executives turning around the underperforming Westrock assets. A recent report by analysts at Bank of America estimated that the group has moved the drastically reduced loss-making Westrock plants from an initial 70 per cent at the time of the tie-up to about 30 per cent, by management instilling a “performance-led culture” that was already a feature of Smurfit Kappa. While the group has also had to grapple with a downturn in the packaging industry following the merger, this has been partly offset by Smurfit Westrock and rivals taking a significant amount of capacity out of the North American market in particular over the past 18 months. Freight costs have surged this year as conflict in the Middle East has driven up fuel prices and a fall in the number of available truck drivers as US president Donald Trump’s administration has intensified enforcement of English language proficiency requirements for commercial drivers.“In the two years since the formation of Smurfit Westrock, we have driven a significant cultural and operational shift in our business,” said Smurfit. “I have always believed that our strongest differentiators are the commitment and dedication of our people and the strength of our culture.”Smurfit Westrock’s share price have rallied 28 per cent so far this year, buoyed by new medium-term targets made in February. These include for Ebitda to grow at a compound annual rate of about 7 per cent a year out to 2030, when it is forecast to reach $7 billion.