2Q net sales were $1,468 million compared to 2Q 2013 net sales of $800 million and 1Q 2014 net sales of $1,431 million.
Commenting on reported results, Mark W. Kowlzan, CEO of PCA, said “We had an outstanding quarter driven by strong corrugated products volume, higher prices and lower costs. We also successfully completed annual maintenance outages at three of our mills. Synergy realization from the Boise acquisition at both our mills and box plants was also ahead of our projections as we continued to implement a broad range of actions to improve productivity and reduce costs. While office papers volume declined slightly, our overall paper segment EBITDA margins improved to over 15%.”
“Looking ahead to the 3Q, we expect higher sales volumes and lower operating costs from both higher synergies and less scheduled annual mill maintenance downtime. These items will be partially offset by higher amortization of annual outage repair costs, higher electricity prices, higher freight and chemical costs, and increased depreciation expense. Considering these items, we expect third quarter earnings of $1.25 per share.”
PCA is the fourth largest producer of containerboard and corrugated packaging products in the United States and the third largest producer of uncoated freesheet paper in North America.
