Brambles had to endure a torrent of derisory comment after disclosing two years ago that it had managed to lose some 14m pallets in Europe.
Despite management protests that the pallets were not lost but merely misplaced with clients, the “missing pallets” tag stuck. Matters were not helped when in February the company admitted a further 2.5m pallets from Chep US had gone astray.
The farrago dogged former chief executive Sir CK Chow, who resigned last year and was replaced by David Turner. Analysts blamed the problems on rapid expansion.
On Tuesday, when the company releases its full-year figures, it is expected to say that it has dealt with the American problems, and that a new pricing policy in Europe has boosted profits. Brambles, which has a dual listing in London and Sydney, is expected to hit consensus forecasts for pre-tax profits of £290m.