Sylvamo Corporation (NYSE:SLVM) Q1 2023 Earnings Conference Call May 9, 2023 10:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Hans Bjorkman - Vice President, Investor Relations

Jean-Michel Ribieras - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

John Sims - Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

George Staphos - Bank of America Securities

Paul Quinn - RBC Capital Markets

Jonathon Luft - Eagle Capital Partners

David Steinhardt - Contrarian Capital Management

Operator

Good morning. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to Sylvamo's First Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, your conference is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the call over to Hans Bjorkman, Vice President, Investor Relations. Sir, the floor is yours.

Hans Bjorkman

Thanks, Greg. Good morning, and thank you for joining our call today. Our speakers this morning are Jean-Michel Ribieras, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and John Sims, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

Slides 2 and 3 contain important information, including certain legal disclaimers. For example, during this call, we will make forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. We will also present certain non-U.S. GAAP financial information. Reconciliations of those figures to U.S. GAAP financial measures are available in the appendix. Our website also contains copies of the first quarter earnings press release as well as today's presentation.

With that, I'll turn the call over to you, Jean-Michel.

Jean-Michel Ribieras

Thanks, Hans. Good morning, and thank you for joining our call. I'll begin my comments on Slide 4. Our first quarter results were strong and in line with our expectation. Adjusted operating earnings per share were $2.51 and we achieved $208 million in adjusted EBITDA with a 22% margin. We maintained a strong financial position with net debt at 1.1x adjusted EBITDA.

Price and mix as well as input transportation costs were favorable to our outlook. Our volume reflected continued inventory destocking and the worse than expected seasonal demand slowdown in Latin America.

Our recently acquired Nymolla mill posted a strong quarter. The ramp up of cost savings from the recent port mill modernization are on schedule. We are also pleased with our progress on other operational and commercial synergies. We returned $21 million in dividends and share repurchases to share owners in the first quarter.

I am now on Slide 5. We remain committed to operating as a sustainable corporation that creates profits for its shareowners while protecting the environment and improving the life of those with whom we interact. With that in mind, since the spinoff, we've been pursuing the formal approval of our 2030 goals for greenhouse gas emissions.