WestRock Reports Fiscal 2021 Second Quarter Results and Increase in Quarterly Dividend

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ATLANTA-- WestRock Company (NYSE:WRK), a leading provider of differentiated paper and packaging solutions, today announced results for its fiscal second quarter ended March 31, 2021.

Notable items include:

  • Record second quarter North American per day box shipments up 5.5% compared to the prior year quarter
  • Successfully implementing published PPW price increases across all major paper grades
  • Quarterly dividend of $0.24 per share declared by Board of Directors, an increase of $0.04 per share, or 20%, as separately announced
  • Net sales of $4.4 billion, flat to the prior year quarter despite $189 million of lost sales due to the impact of the ransomware incident and winter weather (“the Events”)
  • Earned $0.42 per diluted share and $0.54 of Adjusted Earnings Per Diluted Share
  • The lost sales and operational disruption from the Events had a negative impact of $80 million pre-tax, or $0.23 per share, on both earnings per diluted share and Adjusted Earnings Per Diluted Share

“WestRock has a broad portfolio of differentiated products that uniquely positions us to serve our customers and the growing demand for sustainable packaging solutions. We have made a remarkable recovery from the incidents in the second quarter, and I want to thank our teammates for their dedication to our company and our customers,” said David B. Sewell, chief executive officer. “With these events behind us, we are confident in our business and our ability to generate strong cash flow, which is evident by our dividend increase announced today. I look forward to what’s ahead for our company.”

Consolidated Financial Results

During the second quarter of fiscal 2021, we lost approximately 167,000 tons of containerboard and paperboard production due to the Events. The impact on net sales and segment income from the lost sales and operational disruption during the quarter was $189 million and $80 million, respectively. We also incurred approximately $20 million of ransomware recovery costs, primarily professional fees, that were added back to Adjusted Earnings Per Diluted Share and Adjusted Segment EBITDA. We expect to recover the ransomware losses from cyber and business interruption insurance in future periods.

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Source: WestRock

 

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