Clearwater Paper reports Q4 earnings increase
Tissue division sale, Georgia mill acquisition factor into 2024 financials
Spokane-based paperboard manufacturer Clearwater Paper Corp. reported fourth-quarter net income of $199.1 million, or $11.91 per diluted share, compared with $17.6 million, or $1.06 per share, in fourth-quarter 2023.
The net income increase includes a $307 million gain from the sale of the company’s tissue division.
Clearwater sold its tissue business for $1.06 billion to Sofidel America Corp., a subsidiary of Italian company Sofidel S.p.A. That transaction was completed on Nov. 1.
For all of 2024, Clearwater reported net income of $196.3 million, or $11.70 per share, compared with $107.7 million, or $6.39 per share, in 2023.
The gain on the sale of the tissue operation was offset some by lower sales prices and planned major maintenance at the company’s Augusta, Georgia facility, according to a Clearwater press release.
Clearwater acquired the Georgia paperboard manufacturing facility for $700 million on May 1 from Graphic Packaging Holding Co.
Fourth-quarter 2024 net sales from total operations dropped to $482.8 million from $512.9 million in the year-earlier period.
On the year, net sales from total operations were $2.2 billion, up from $2.1 billion in 2023.
Clearwater Paper (NYSE: CLW) stock traded at $29.08 per share at the close of the market on Feb. 13, below its 52-week high of $57.13 and above its 52-week low of $23.97.
