Cascades 1Q 2017 sales were $1,006 million in 1Q 2017, compared to $979 million in Q4 2016 and $1,003 million in Q1 2016.
1Q Operating income was $31 million, compared to $33 million in Q4 2016 (-6%) and $73 million in Q1 2016 (-58%).
Mr. Mario Plourde, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented: “Our first quarter results were hampered by several short-term elements, namely higher raw material prices, our product repositioning and new facility construction initiatives in our Tissue Papers segment, and the ongoing implementation of our ERP platform. That said, our packaging operations executed well in the first quarter, with all three divisions delivering improvements in total shipments and capacity utilization rates on both a sequential and year-over-year basis. In the case of Containerboard, the significant increase in average OCC prices in the first three months of 2017 more than offset benefits accruing from the gradual implementation of the Fall 2016 price increase during the quarter, and put additional pressure on margins due to the timing mismatch ahead of the roll-out of the subsequent US$50 per short ton price increase that was announced in February. While detrimental to Containerboard performance, higher recycled fibre costs benefited results in our Specialty Products division, as higher margin levels obtained from recovery and recycling activities provided a partial hedge against the impact that higher input costs had on manufacturing margins. In Europe, Reno de Medici improved results sequentially, as improving market fundamentals helped mitigate the impact of higher average fibre and chemical costs”.
