Commenting on the Company's 3Q results, President and CEO Jack Sanders said, "Our strategy to grow and optimize our balanced portfolio of businesses continued to gain traction in the quarter as consolidated sales and base earnings reached record levels when including the benefits from a legal settlement and lower than anticipated taxes. Excluding those favorable items, our businesses performed relatively well in the quarter as they benefitted from a positive price/cost relationship, modest improvements in manufacturing productivity and lower pension expense. Volume across most of our businesses was higher in the quarter, but earnings were partially impacted by a negative mix of business along with higher labor, maintenance and other operating costs."
Gross profit was $228 million in the 3Q, up 2%, compared with $224 million in the same period in 2013. Despite the increase in gross profit, gross profit as a percent of sales declined to 18%, compared with 18.2% in the same period in 2013, due primarily to changes in mix.
For the first nine months of 2014, net sales were $3.7 billion, up 2%, compared with $3.6 billion in the same period in 2013. The increase was due to higher selling prices, increased volumes, and acquisitions, partially offset by the negative impact of foreign exchange.
Net income attributable to Sonoco for the first nine months of 2014 was $184.7 million, up 12%, from $164.4 million in the same period in 2013. Earnings in the first nine months of 2014 were negatively impacted by after-tax charges of $9.2 million stemming from restructuring costs, asset impairment charges, acquisition expenses and non-base income tax charges. During the same period in 2013, earnings were negatively impacted by $13.2 million of restructuring and other related charges.
Sonoco is a global provider of a variety of consumer packaging, industrial products, protective packaging and packaging supply chain services.