Smith Anderson, a Kirkcaldy paper bag maker, signed three-year supply contracts with McDonald's and Burger King worth in excess of GBP 50 million, starting January 2019.

Germany's Klingele Group has acquired 50% of UK sheet-feeder Onboard Corrugated Limited and Onboard Investments Limited, which will become subsidiaries of the newly formed Klingele Onboard (Holdings) Limited.

Futamura Group has begun receiving 2,500 tonnes of South American wood pulp through the Port of Silloth under a new contract with ABP, supplying its Wigton plant in Cumbria, UK.

Berry Global has agreed to acquire UK packaging firm RPC Group for £5 billion ($6.6 billion) in cash and refinancing, with completion expected in Q3 2019.

Bibby Distribution won a new contract to transport horticultural boxes for cardboard manufacturer Jardin Corrugated using high-cube trailers and additional fleet capacity. The contract was reported on 1 March 2019.

CBS Packaging, based in West Bromwich, bought assets of corrugated packaging firm Charapak from administrators Duff & Phelps for an undisclosed fee. The Derbyshire business had entered administration on 28 January 2019.

Snack brand Propercorn is moving its packaging supply from an Italian supplier to Amcor's Evesham site in the UK, effective from about April 2019, to avoid post-Brexit port disruption. The switch is expected to make packaging slightly more expensive.

Interflex Group has invested £1.5 million in new equipment at its Sunderland factory, which makes flexible packaging for bakery and snack food, to increase capacity by about 20%.

Packaging manufacturer Duo UK received a multi-million pound funding package from HSBC UK to buy an Italian-made co-extruder for its Manchester factory, scaling up production by up to 20% and stock capacity by 30%. The company expects to create 5 new jobs over the next 12 months.

McLaren Packaging has acquired Port Glasgow-based Moelle Interlok Packaging from administration through newly formed Interlok Divisions. The report is dated 5 February 2019.

Apollo Global Management agreed to buy RPC Group Plc, a British container and packaging maker, for 782 pence per share in cash, valued at 3.32 billion pounds ($4.3 billion). RPC announced the deal on 23 January 2019.

Atlas Holdings, a private investment and equity firm, acquired Saxco International, a UK provider of packaging solutions for the wine, spirits, craft beer and food markets.

The Lenvale Group acquired the manufacturing assets of Kes Reclamation and will trade them as Kes Packaging.

Packaging manufacturer Duo UK is investing £1.5m in new machinery for its Manchester factory, including an Italian-made co-extruder, to raise productivity and boost stock capacity by 30%. The investment is expected to create five new jobs.

Manchester-based packaging firm Law Print created refreshed bag packaging for Symply's Canagan pet food brand, handling materials, manufacturing and supply chain logistics. The article is dated 10 December 2018.

RPC Group plc ended merger talks with Bain Capital and gave Apollo Global Management more time to make a firm takeover offer for the European plastics packager.

Prowell is building a new corrugated sheet board plant with a £75 million ($96.2 million) investment in Ellesmere Port, England. Construction began in November 2017, with production expected in Q4 2018 and about 45 jobs created.

German cardboard maker Progroup invested £74 million in a new 327,000 sq ft corrugated sheet plant in Ellesmere Port, UK, replacing its existing site and creating 51 jobs. Construction completes in December 2018.

Reflex Group acquired UK packaging maker Fusion Flexibles and its subsidiary Mercury Packaging for an undisclosed sum after the firms entered administration.

Huhtamaki and Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth, UK partnered to recycle paper coffee cups using bins at the outlet centre, with cups recycled into new paper products.

Netherlands-based PortionPack acquired CustomPack, a Telford food packaging company, for an undisclosed fee.

RPC is in preliminary talks with two major private equity firms over a possible sale of the plastic packaging company.

RPC Group, a European plastic packaging maker, confirmed it is holding discussions with private equity firms Apollo Global Management and Bain Capital about a possible sale of the company.

Weedon Corrugated Products of Audenshaw, Manchester, installed a new three-colour flexo casemaker from JC Machinery to boost shelf-ready packaging output. Group investment in the company has exceeded £1.5 million in recent months.

Solidus Solutions has acquired a majority interest in Northern Paper Board, a UK manufacturer of solid board boxes and corrugated octabin solutions for the food processing industry.

Flexible plastics firm STM Packaging has entered administration following declining business.

United Caps has announced the location of its proposed new €20 million plant in Rotherham to manufacture beverage and dairy closures.

Groupe Guillin's UK subsidiary Sharpak Bridgwater signed an exclusive agreement to acquire Etimex Primary Packaging's British CPET packaging production and sales business, with a closing expected by end of September 2018. The business has annual revenue of about EUR 6 million.

Packaging maker Faerch Plast joined Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury's, Tesco and waste firm Viridor in a circular-economy project to recycle black plastic into new food-grade packaging. Recycling starts in July 2018 at Viridor's Rochester facility in Kent, with an initial target of 120 tonnes per month.

Luxembourg-headquartered United Caps plans to invest about €20 million to build its first UK factory in Dinnington, South Yorkshire, making beverage and dairy closures. Production is expected to start at the end of 2019.

St. Johns Packaging completed the acquisition of an Amcor Flexibles unit serving the UK bakery market, announced June 30, 2020.

Transcend Packaging, a packaging firm in Ebbw Vale, Wales, was one of two suppliers to win a contract from McDonald's to supply paper straws for all UK and Irish outlets. The company expects to hire 30 extra staff and begin production in August 2018.

Logson Group, the UK's largest independent corrugated packaging supplier, acquired the Cardboard Box Company, an independent sheet plant in Accrington, Lancashire, with turnover above GBP 17 million and 90 employees. The deal value was not disclosed.

Fusion Flexibles has invested about £300,000 in a Durr Regenerative Thermal Oxidiser at its Leicester facility to reduce VOC emissions from printing presses. The system could also help double printing capacity.

Leamington Spa corrugated sheet plant The Box Factory has announced a £4 million investment. The company employs 70 people and operates 120,000 sq ft of manufacturing and storage space.

Cepac completed a £2 million expansion of its Rawcliffe site in East Yorkshire, increasing site capacity by more than 20 per cent. The works add equipment for stitched UN-approved boxes for hazardous goods.

DS Smith Corrugated Packaging Ltd was recorded as the award winner of a UK government packaging and soft consumables supply contract worth £9.5 million, published via Contracts Finder on 27 April 2018.

Weedon PSC completed a major restructuring of its factory at Hednesford, Staffordshire, to improve efficiency and increase capacity for e-commerce. The update was published on April 4, 2018.

Tower Growth Management acquired Nottingham-based packaging firm Visual Packaging for an undisclosed sum, planning to grow its turnover from £2.6m to £3.3m with biodegradable plastic packaging.

Berlin Packaging, with Bruni Glass, has acquired H. Erben Ltd., a Hadleigh, England-based supplier of closures, containers and packaging equipment, adding operations in South Africa and California.

Swedish business Duni bought Worcestershire-based disposable food and beverage packaging firm Biopac for an undisclosed fee, reported on 12 February 2018.

Britvic has invested £100m in three new high-speed can lines at its Rugby manufacturing site, creating 80 jobs and producing 6,000 cans per minute, as part of a £240m three-year GB investment programme.

Netto UK specified eleven semi-automatic pre-stretch pallet wrappers from Unitech Orion Packaging in a deal worth close to GBP 70,000, with eight units for Pontefract and three for Daventry. The case study does not give an exact date.

Sunderland-based Pakway, which turns waste plastic bottles into packaging sheet, plans to double its capacity, with a second production line arriving in April 2018 and full capacity expected by end-2018.

Aegg is investing 2 million pounds in a new 60,000 sq ft UK food packaging manufacturing facility in Eye, Suffolk, making PS, PET and PP food pots and bowls, with first production planned for 2018.

Robinson Packaging is planning to expand in the UK after a funding package deal with HSBC; the amount was not disclosed.

Italian packaging producer Sirap-Gema agreed to buy rigid plastic food packaging maker Kama Europe, trading as Pactiv, from Reynolds Group Holdings, with completion expected mid-January 2018. Kama Europe has a plant in Sedgefield employing 110.

Multinational packaging company NNZ agreed to acquire Levy Brothers & Knowles (LBK), a UK flexible packaging supplier with bases in Liverpool and Glasgow. The deal was advised by Benchmark International and significantly increases NNZ's share of agricultural and industrial packaging markets.

Progroup has broken ground on a GBP 75 million corrugated cardboard factory in Ellesmere Port, UK, to replace Prowell's current site, with Peel Logistics Property supporting the development; it is due to be fully operational in Q4 2018.

McLaren Packaging is investing £3 million in a new 20,000 sq ft manufacturing, design and testing centre at Broadleys Business Park in Stirling for subsidiary Blue Box Design. Construction began in October 2017, with completion scheduled for April 2018 and 18 new jobs planned.