Portland, Ore.-based Willamette's earnings rose to $90.2 million compared with $63.3 million a year earlier. Earnings for the quarter include a pretax charge of $5.1 million from a plant closure and settlement of federal litigation involving the company's building materials operations.
Revenues for the quarter ended June 30 rose about 13 percent to $1.14 billion, up from year-ago figures of $1.01 billion.
The company, whose primary products are pulp, bag paper and corrugated containers, among others, said strong performance in white paper and higher demand in corrugated products accounted for the improved earnings. But the company said it did not expect market conditions to improve soon for its building materials products, including lumber and panel products, due to pricing pressure from high interest rates.
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