May 05, 2010. /Lesprom Network/. Boise Inc. reported a net loss of $12.7 million for 1Q 2010 compared with a 1Q 2009 net loss of $0.9 million. Net income excluding special items in 1Q 2010 was $3.0 million, compared with $2.7 million in 1Q 2009, company said in a statement received by Lesprom Network. EBITDA excluding special items was $54.9 million for 1Q 2010 compared with $58.6 million for 1Q 2009. Total sales for 1Q 2010 were $494.1 million, down $6.2 million, or 1%, from $500.3 million for 1Q 2009 and up $3.8 million from 4Q 2009 sales of $490.3 million. "We operated well during the 1Q and saw improving conditions in our key markets," said Alexander Toeldte, President and CEO of Boise Inc. "We grew our premium office, label and release, and flexible packaging products sales volumes 17% over the prior year, experienced strong demand in our corrugated packaging products, and continued to deliver solid results in our office papers business. We extended debt maturities and reduced balance sheet risk through the debt refinancing we completed in March. As expected, fiber and energy input costs increased during the quarter, and we experienced seasonal increases in working capital and increased maintenance expenditures from our planned annual outage at DeRidder. Looking ahead, we expect to begin to benefit from recent price increases across our businesses in the 2Q." Boise Inc. manufactures packaging products and papers including corrugated containers, containerboard, label and release and flexible packaging papers, imaging papers for the office and home, printing and converting papers, newsprint, and market pulp.