Packaging Corporation of America (PCA) reported 1Q 2021 net income of $167 million, or $1.75 per share, and net income of $169 million, or $1.77 per share, excluding special items. 1Q net sales were $1.8 billion in 2021 and $1.7 billion in 2020.
Commenting on reported results, Mark W. Kowlzan, Chairman and CEO, said, “Packaging segment demand remained very strong throughout the 1Q as we set a new all-time quarterly record for containerboard volume and matched our all-time quarterly total box shipments record. The No. 3 machine at our Jackson, Alabama mill produced linerboard for the entire quarter, and the announced plans for permanently converting the machine from uncoated freesheet to linerboard are well underway. We were able to build some containerboard inventory ahead of our busiest planned outage quarter; however, we ended the quarter at a record low weeks-of-inventory supply for this time of year. The containerboard and corrugated products price increases we announced late in the 4Q 2020 were implemented as planned, and in March we began the implementation of the price increases we announced earlier in the 1Q.
“In our Paper segment, volume and prices were lower compared to last year’s 1Q as expected, although late in the quarter we did begin to see the benefit of our announced paper price increases compared to the 4Q 2020. Our mills and box plants did an outstanding job of meeting our customers’ needs by managing through the outages, raw material availability issues, and logistics challenges brought on by the winter storms and other weather-related events. However, we experienced higher inflation than we expected in most of our manufacturing and converting costs and significantly higher freight and logistics expenses. Overall, we were able to deliver solid results to start the new year.”
PCA is the third largest producer of containerboard products and a leading producer of uncoated freesheet paper in North America.
