The Navigator Company has reported a turnover of €442m – up 4% on the previous quarter – and EBITDA rising by 21% to €79m in its second quarter results.
Net profit increased by 85% to €32m, which the company said reflects the recovery in volumes and prices across the core businesses and the growing contribution from the packaging and tissue divisions which accounted for over 30% of turnover.
For the first half of the year, turnover totalled €869m, with EBITDA of €143m and a net profit of €49m.
The improvement in results was against a backdrop the company described as “strongly characterised by economic and geopolitical volatility, exacerbated by tensions in the Middle East and the resulting rise in the costs of raw materials, energy and logistics.”
In response to rising operating costs, the company has launched a new programme to reduce variable costs, with the initiatives expected to offset almost half of this impact over the course of 2026.
This programme is expected to generate an estimated positive contribution of around €28m in 2027 and in subsequent years, strengthening Navigator’s competitiveness and ability to create value.
The company is also in the final phase of a major strategic investment cycle: in the first half of the year, total investment amounted to €127m, of which around €72m was allocated to environmental or sustainability initiatives.
The integration of new technologies and state-of-the-art industrial projects entailed a period of operational adjustment, with a temporary impact on available volumes of pulp and paper.
Tissue strengthens its international presence and focuses on premium products
The tissue business continues to establish itself as a strategic pillar of growth and international diversification, already accounting for around a quarter of turnover. Against a backdrop of increasing competitive pressure, tissue has shown a growth trajectory at a global level, demonstrating resilience in a more challenging economic and market environment.
Tissue sales volume in tonnes was in line with the first quarter, with average prices rising by 2%.
However, the company said this was constrained by increased competition in the UK and a focus on margin management, at a time when a project to transform the industrial footprint in that country is underway.
The project is aimed at enhancing operational efficiency through asset locations and costs, and is expected to be completed during the first half of next year.
Sales outside Portugal by the tissue business accounted for 80% of sales volume in the first half of 2026 (compared with 54% in 2022, prior to the integration of Tissue Ejea and Tissue UK), with the most significant markets being Spain (32% of total sales), the UK (31% of total sales), and France (15% of sales).
The company said the At Home channel has been “gaining increasing importance”, currently accounting for around 84% of sales, whilst the AfH segment accounts for the remaining 16%.
Recovery in international pulp prices
The company added that following “a year of strong pressure on international prices”, the pulp market entered a recovery cycle during the second half of 2025, which consolidated in the first half of 2026.
This, it said, reflected a gradual improvement in the balance between supply and demand and increasing discipline on the production side.
The benchmark index for short-fibre pulp – PIX BHKP in US dollars – closed the half-year at $1,409 tons in Europe, representing an increase of approximately 27%.
In China, the benchmark price closed the half-year at $605 tons, a rise of around 7%.
Navigator’s pulp sales totalled 111,000 tonnes this half-year.
€127m invested in the modernisation and decarbonisation of operations
In the first half of 2026, Navigator invested €127m (compared with €94m in the same period last year), of which around €72m related to value-creating investments in environmental or sustainability initiatives.
Resilience and recovery for the second half of the year
Navigator said the outlook for the second half of 2026 continues to be influenced by a challenging and highly volatile international environment, characterised by growing economic and geopolitical uncertainty, trade tensions and pressure on value chains.
Following the recovery seen in the first half of the year, the pulp market began to show signs of adjustment in China during July, reflecting more moderate demand and greater availability of domestic production.
Despite short-term adjustments, the overall outlook for 2026 remains one of average prices higher than those recorded in 2025, particularly for short-fibre pulp in Europe and China.
In the Tissue segment, the outlook for 2026 “remains favourable overall”, with demand expected to grow by around 0.8% in Europe and 1.6% globally.
Navigator continues to consolidate its competitiveness and reinforce a resilient, integrated and forward-looking strategy.
