THE world's largest manufacturer of cardboard boxes was back in the black yesterday after its second-quarter results.

Smurfit Kappa Group, which has operations in the North-East, reported a net profit of 31.3 euros (£21.1m) compared with a loss of 10.9m euros (£7.36m) in the same period last year.

The company said sales rose 4.5 per cent to 1.83bn euros (£1.23bn). Gary McGann, chief executive of Smurfit Kappa, which employs 150 staff at its factory in West Auckland, County Durham, said: "This performance reflects continued, strong demand growth, balanced capacity across the group's markets and a generally positive pricing environment."