Sonoco's net sales for the 3Q 2017 were a record $1.32 billion, an increase of $115.9 million, or 9.6%, from last year’s quarter. The improvement in sales was a result of higher selling prices, largely driven by rising raw material prices; sales added from acquisitions, net of divestitures; and the positive impact of foreign exchange, as the company said in the press release received by Lesprom Network.
Gross profits were a record $250.9 million in the 3Q, an increase of $15.5 million or 6.6%, compared with $235.4 million in the same period in 2016. Gross profit as a percentage of sales declined to 18.9%, compared with 19.5% in the same period in 2016.
For the first nine months of 2017, net sales were $3.74 billion, up $97 million compared with $3.64 billion in 2016. Sales grew modestly during the period due to higher selling prices implemented to recover rising material costs and acquisitions, net of divestitures. These positive factors were partially offset by lower volume/mix, the loss of contract packaging business in Mexico and Brazil and the negative impact of foreign exchange.
Sonoco President and CEO Jack Sanders said: “Sonoco's ‘Grow and Optimize’ strategy continues to gain momentum as we grew top line results by nearly 10% to an all-time quarterly record, while bottom line results (base earnings per diluted share) were near the high end of our guidance. Our businesses were well managed during the quarter, as the Company benefited from strong improvements to total productivity and a positive price-cost relationship.”
Sonoco is a global provider of a variety of consumer packaging, industrial products, protective packaging, and displays and packaging supply chain services.
