DS Smith backing

DS Smith, the cardboard-packaging company, has secured 98.6 per cent backing for its £466m rights issue.

The shares were priced at 95p in a deal which was part of DS Smith's £1.3bn swoop on the packaging division of the tissue maker SCA of Sweden, the company's biggest acquisition. The rights issue was underwritten by JPMorgan, RBS Hoare Govett and HSBC.

DS Smith collects boxes from retailers, recycles them, and supplies them to customers as little as a week later.Its shares rose 7.4p to end at 174p yesterday.