Mondi, the FTSE 100 packaging company, announced it is cutting 450 jobs and closing factories in Europe due to challenging trading conditions and rising costs from the Iran war, according to the company. The closures include a corrugated board plant in Turkey and two paper sack plants in Hungary and Germany, Mondi said. The company is also implementing price increases to offset higher energy, raw material and logistics costs, with full effect expected in the third quarter of 2026. Trading remained challenging in the first quarter of 2026, Mondi reported, with underlying earnings falling 27% year-on-year to 212 million euros (£184 million), down from 214 million euros (£186 million) in the previous three months. Shares in Mondi fell 5% in early trading on Friday. Andrew King, chief executive of Mondi, said in a statement: "Despite the uncertain outlook, we continue to focus on what we can control – driving operational excellence, rigorous cost and margin discipline, optimising our production footprint and focused cashflow management." He added: "These actions underpin our confidence in our ability to navigate the current headwinds." Mondi has closed 22 processing plants in the past ten years, according to research. The company achieved sales of 7.663 billion euros in 2025, up from 7.416 billion in 2024, but its net financial debt increased to 2.599 billion euros, with a debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 2.6. Mondi employs around 24,000 people across 100 production sites in over 30 countries, and has a factory in Birmingham, according to reports. The Świecie mill in Poland safely concluded its largest maintenance shut of 2024, the company said.
The US-Israeli war on Iran and Tehran's retaliatory strikes have upended global financial and energy markets, according to analysts. Since the US-Israeli strikes on Iran began on February 28, Tehran has launched ballistic missiles targeting Israel, US military bases and oil infrastructure across the Gulf region, reports say. Iranian attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz have reduced traffic in the channel, through which about 20% of global oil and gas supplies transit, according to shipping data. Brent crude oil was priced at $106 per barrel as of Monday, up more than 40% from $72 per barrel on February 27, according to market data. LNG prices have risen almost 60% since the start of the war, according to Muyu Xu, senior crude oil analyst at Kpler. QatarEnergy suspended its LNG production on March 2 after an Iranian drone attack, the company said. About 84% of crude oil and 83% of LNG that passed through the Strait of Hormuz in 2024 was bound for Asia, according to the US Energy Information Administration. China, India, Japan and South Korea accounted for nearly 70% of oil shipments through the strait, the EIA said. If the conflict is short-lived, oil and LNG prices would fall back sharply with Brent crude reaching $65 per barrel by year-end, according to Neil Shearing and team at Capital Economics. In case of a longer war, oil prices could rise to around $130 per barrel in the second quarter, a Capital Economics report said. Israel launched an attack on Iran's nuclear and missile facilities, killing at least two top Iranian military commanders, according to reports. Donald Trump cut short his stay at the G7 summit, signaling possible US involvement in military action against Iran, sources said. Oil prices have risen by about $10 a barrel due to the conflict, giving a modest upward jolt to inflation, economists say. The US is much less dependent on imported oil than it once was, and Iran accounts for just 4% of global oil production, according to analysts.
Despite the uncertain outlook, we continue to focus on what we can control – driving operational excellence, rigorous cost and margin discipline, optimising our production footprint and focused cashflow management.
Since January 1, 2026, more than 1,621 companies have announced mass layoffs, according to reports. Blackstone-affiliated UKG laid off 950 employees in April 2026, citing AI, the company said. Meta plans up to 8,000 job cuts in a new round of layoffs as of April 20, 2026, according to sources. Alliance Healthcare will close its Nottingham site, resulting in around 150 job losses, the company announced. GoCardless is cutting 90 jobs as it aims for profitability, the company said. Snap is cutting 1,000 jobs after an activist investor said it over-hired, according to reports. Renault SA plans to reduce its global engineering workforce by 15% to 20% over two years, affecting up to 2,400 employees, the company said. The BBC plans to cut up to 2,000 jobs due to financial pressures, according to reports. Helvetia Baloise plans to cut up to 2,600 jobs following a merger, the company said. Clearwater Paper plans to reduce about 20% of its workforce at its Cypress Bend facility, according to reports.
Wall Street closed sharply higher on March 16, 2026, as oil pulled back below $95 per barrel after Trump called for efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, according to market reports. Asian markets opened higher on March 17, tracking Wall Street's rebound, reports say. The Nikkei 225 rose 0.75%, the KOSPI jumped over 2.9%, and the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.27% in early trading on March 17, according to market data. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose nearly 1% on March 17, reports say. India's GIFT Nifty traded higher by about 111 points or 0.53% on March 17, according to reports. The PSEi closed at 6,026.01, up 19.46 points or 0.32% on March 17, according to market data. Oil prices surged on Friday after Israel attacked Iran, with US oil settling at $72.98 per barrel and Brent at $74.23 per barrel, according to market reports. US oil surged 7.26% and Brent gained 7% on Friday, the biggest single-day gains since March 2022, reports say. US stocks fell on Friday, with the Dow down 770 points (1.79%), S&P 500 down 1.13%, and Nasdaq down 1.3%, according to market data. Gold rose about 1.4% to $3,433 per troy ounce on Friday, reports say. Airlines and travel stocks fell on Friday, while defense contractors rose, according to market reports.
These actions underpin our confidence in our ability to navigate the current headwinds.
The exact timeline of oil price movements and the specific dates for each reported price remain unclear, as different reports cite varying figures. It is also unknown how many of the 1,621-plus layoffs are directly attributable to the Iran conflict versus other factors such as AI or restructuring. The current status of the Strait of Hormuz and whether traffic has resumed has not been confirmed. The full list of factories Mondi is closing and the exact number of job cuts per location have not been disclosed. The actual impact of the conflict on global GDP growth and recession risk remains uncertain.