Welcome everyone to this announcement of our 2022 half-year results. I'm glad to report that demand of our products continues to be strong as consumers prefer natural, recyclable packaging made from renewable fiber-based raw materials. We managed to achieve a good half-year one performance amid great challenges from ongoing spiraling cost inflation, instability of supply chains, and persisting COVID. Our strategy of focused organic growth and value-enhancing acquisitions, combined with a strong focus on productivity and cost reductions, is starting to pay off. This shows the high agility and commitment of our teams and the good execution of our strengthened and broadened organization. Many thanks to everybody in the MM team who have been doing a great job so far this year, and please go on. Organic growth of packaging was close to 5% in the first half, just limited by capacity restrictions.
This demonstrates that our customers value our increased focus on innovation and sustainability, as well as supply chain security due to our backward integration with cartonboard. The acquisition of Essentra Packaging, which should be closed in Q4, marked a further milestone after the two transformational acquisitions in board and paper last year, and the smaller pharma packaging acquisition in Scandinavia in the second quarter this year. Essentra Packaging will take MM to a global leadership position in secondary pharmaceutical packaging in which we had so far a very limited presence. We like an increased exposure to pharma packaging for a number of reasons. It's a growing business, given the aging of our society. It's a resilient business because it depends little on the business cycle, and it is a business with high switching costs.
We specifically like Essentra Packaging because it is a complementary global business for MM with long-term relationships to the top leading pharma companies. It is a global platform for further growth in a still fragmented market. We have spotted substantial synergies on several levels, synergies with our legacy pharma and health packaging business, synergies with the overall packaging division, and synergies with MM Board & Paper, where we are an important board supplier to the pharma industry. On top, our half-year income statement has been particularly influenced by the inclusion of the cartonboard and paper mills, MM Kwidzyn and MM Kotkamills, which we acquired almost exactly a year ago. I am pleased to report that 12 months after closing of these historic acquisitions, we see integration well accomplished and synergies at well above the original number of 25 million EUR per annum, targeted by 2024.
Also, the development of Essentra Packaging, which we acquired in April, is well ahead of expectations. As scheduled, CapEx for the group have been significantly up in order to reduce energy consumption, raise quality, and increase output. In packaging, expansion of our sites, Neupack Kirchberg in Austria, as well as at MM Packaging Romania, could be successfully completed during this first half. The expansion of MMP Neupack Poland and MM Packaging Deeside have however been partially delayed to half year two due to postponements of machine deliveries. In Board and Paper, we are currently executing major CapEx programs at the mills from Frohnleiten in Austria, Neuss in Germany, and Količevo in Slovenia. In totality, we will have minor cost overruns and some time delays, but it's really limited. Our results will be positively impacted from 2024 onward.
Overall, we are convinced there is still much improvement ahead we can achieve through digitalization, sustainability, and innovation. On a profitability level, we've achieved our medium-term target of an operating margin of 12% in order to be in a position to invest, to innovate, and to stay a reliable supplier. Our customers demand higher product quality, higher capacities, more innovation, more sustainability, and enhanced productivity. This will only be feasible if our returns are above our cost of capital. Taking a conservative long-term perspective in financing has always been a fundamental principle at MM. The net debt to EBITDA ratio of around 2 will increase to around 2.5 when the Essentra Packaging acquisition will be closed. This level still provides resilience in uncertain times. Now, looking ahead, we expect sustained solid demand for natural, renewable, and recyclable cartonboard packaging.
Any ongoing cost inflation will be mitigated by timely price adjustments in both divisions. In some cases, if customers cannot accept huge price increases, targeted machine standstills will be necessary. Half year two will be particularly impacted by planned CapEx related downtime. These are our rebuild at Neuss Mill in Germany and Kotkamills in Finland for Absorbex, necessary adjustment measures and supply chain disruptions to an extent which seems quite unpredictable at this point in time. Ensuring business continuity and continuous supply of our customers will stay top priority for us, and this is appreciated by our customers. We will follow up on this through flexible procurement and logistics management, continuous investment activity, and the safeguarding of profitability.
We have already undertaken several measures to mitigate any possible gas rationing, which would affect all our board and paper mills, excluding MM Kwidzyn, which is fortunately not dependent on gas. We've started to build safety stocks for recycled board. We have rented gas storage in Austria, and we invest in alternative oil firing in Finland. Regarding our Russia exposure and packaging, we continue to review all options. Summarizing, our strategy to grow organically and inorganically in environmentally friendly, innovative, fiber-based packaging products is paying off. This has been and will be complemented by a strong focus on productivity improvement and cost management. For any supply chain disruptions, we've undertaken a spectrum of measures to mitigate the impact.
The acquisition of Essentra Packaging to be closed in Q4, as well as ongoing progress in operational efficiency, sustainability and innovation, are expected to feed both more growth and more resilience throughout the business. Thank you.