PCA Box Shipments Hit All-Time Quarterly Record

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Packaging Corporation of America (PCA) reported results for fourth quarter and full-year 2019.

The company reported net income of $136 million or $1.43 per share in Q4 last year. The net income excluding special items was $163 million or $1.71 per share. The fourth quarter sales totaled $1.7 billion. The full year 2019 net income was $696 million or $7.34 per share. Excluding special items, the company reported net income of $726 million or $7.65 per share. The full year net sales totaled around $7 billion in 2019.

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Mark W. Kowlzan, Chairman and CEO noted that the company achieved a new all-time quarterly record for box shipments per day and a new 4Q record for total box shipments. The company’s paper mills operated with great cost control, he said. PCA continued to run its Containerboard and Paper segment systems to demand. The office paper inventory was reduced by nearly 10% in Q4 last year, compared with the prior quarter.

Commenting on the outlook for Q1 this year, Kowlzan noted that the company foresees lower export prices in Packaging segment. The scheduled outages at three large mills are likely to impact containerboard volumes. However, it foresees higher corrugated products shipments in Q1 2020. Meantime, the Paper segment volumes are also expected to remain lower.