Sonoco reports best first-half financial performance in its history

Global packaging producer Sonoco, based in Hartsville, South Carolina, has reported record net sales and net income for its second quarter, which ended July 3.

Sonoco reports net sales were $1.91 billion, an approximately 38 percent increase from second quarter 2021 sales of $1.38 billion, and net income per diluted share was $1.33 compared with a loss of $3.34 in the same period in 2021.

"Our Sonoco team delivered strong second-quarter results which exceeded the high-end of our raised guidance," Sonoco President and CEO Howard Coker says. "Our current-quarter performance represents a step-change improvement year over year and resulted in record sales and record net income driven by continued strong execution in our consumer packaging and industrial paper packaging segments." 

Coker adds that the company's second-quarter earnings primarily benefited from continued strong strategic pricing performances across most of its businesses, continued strong results from the Sonoco Metal Packaging acquisition and productivity gains.

Sonoco says its consumer packaging segment achieved record sales while operating profit grew nearly 114 percent compared with the same period in 2021, and its industrial paper packaging segment improved nearly 57 percent compared with last year.

The company also reports its operating profit is up approximately 6 percent.

"I am extremely proud of the way our team has advanced our value-creation strategy to produce the best first-half financial operating performance in the history of Sonoco," Coker says.

Sonoco also provided an update for its Project Horizon, which includes a planned shutdown of its corrugated medium machine in Hartsville to transform the machine into what it calls the "lowest-cost producer of uncoated recycled paperboard (URB) in North America." The eight-week shutdown is expected to negatively impact the company's third-quarter industrial paper packaging operating profit between $10 million and $15 million.

Project Horizon is a $125 million investment to update the Hartsville machine and will have an annual production capacity of 180,000 tons. The project is expected to be completed at the end of the third quarter and, once finished, will use 100-percent-recycled fibers to produce paper and will allow Sonoco to eliminate the manufacturing complex's virgin pulp mill and chemical recovery operation.

Sonoco's full second-quarter financial report can be found here.