Sealed Air is rebranding as SEE, it announced Tuesday in conjunction with its first-quarter earnings report. The global packaging company highlighted its key focuses going forward will be on “automation, digital and sustainable packaging solutions.”
“The company has grown and evolved beyond what it once was, and the new corporate brand and logo are a direct reflection of that transformation,” the company said in its announcement.
SEE highlighted 2027 targets related to those priority areas, saying the company is “on a path to more than double its automation portfolio” by that year, and it also expects over 80% of its sales to be transacted digitally by then. CEO Ted Doheny said during the company’s Q1 earnings call Tuesday that digital online sales grew to 14% of total company sales in the quarter, a sequential increase from 5% in Q3 and 10% in Q4 of 2022.
The bubble wrap maker said acquisitions in recent years have accelerated those focuses. The company cited its $510 million acquisition in 2019 of Automated Packaging Systems and the 2022 acquisition of Foxpak Flexibles, which focused on digital printing.
During this past quarter, the company also completed its $1.15 billion purchase of Liquibox, which makes Bag-in-Box fluids and liquids packaging and dispensing products. It joins SEE’s fluids and liquids vertical, which now represents 10% of company sales and is the company’s highest-margin, fastest-growing product line, Doheny said, going after business in ready-to-drink liquids, sauces and condiments, wine and spirits and more. “Our goal is to exceed $1 billion in revenue from this vertical by 2027,” Doheny said.
Doheny described Q1 as a “tough quarter” during the earnings call and said SEE expects market softness to continue through the first half of the year. Net sales of $1.3 billion reflected a 5% decrease, as selling during the quarter was impacted by “the recessionary environment and continued destocking,” the company stated. Net sales increased 6%, to $853 million, in its larger food business but fell 19%, to $496 million, in its protective segment.
SEE views automation as a growth driver to overcome some of the current market challenges. “We're addressing this head on with our customers on what can we do to help them reduce their total cost, and that's opening the door for us to talk about automation,” Doheny said. “How can we go in there and save them actually millions in their operations through an automated system and solutions?” As inflation creates continued pressure, “automation continues to be the No. 1 answer to help,” Doheny said.
