Packaging Corporation of America (PKG) CEO Mark Kowlzan on Q1 2022 Results - Earnings Call Transcript

Packaging Corporation of America (NYSE:PKG) Q1 2022 Earnings Conference Call April 26, 2022 9:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Mark Kowlzan - Chairman and CEO

Thomas Hassfurther - EVP, Corrugated Products

Robert Mundy - EVP and CFO

Conference Call Participants

John Babcock - Bank of America

Mark Wilde - Bank of Montreal

Mark Weintraub - Seaport Research Partners

Anthony Pettinari - Citigroup

Cleve Rueckert - UBS

Operator

Thank you for joining Packaging Corporation of America's First Quarter 2022 Earnings Results Conference Call. Your host today will be Mark Kowlzan, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of PCA. Upon conclusion of his narrative, there will be a Q&A session. I will now turn the call over to Mr. Kowlzan and please proceed when you are ready.

Mark Kowlzan

Thank you, Patricia. Good morning, everyone and thank you all for participating in Packaging Corporation of America's first quarter 2022 earnings release conference call. I am Mark Kowlzan, Chairman and CEO of PCA and with me on the call today is Tom Hassfurther, Executive Vice President who runs the packaging business and Bob Mundy, our Chief Financial Officer.

I'll begin the call with an overview of the first quarter results and then I am going to be turning the call over to Tom and Bob who will provide further details. And then I will wrap things up and we'll be glad to take questions.

Yesterday, we reported first quarter net income of $254 million or $2.70 per share. First quarter net income included special items expenses of $0.02 per share primarily for certain cost at the Jackson Alabama mill for paper to containerboard conversion related activities. Details of the special items for both the first quarter of 2022 and 202 were included in the schedules that accompanied our earnings press release.

Excluding the special items, first quarter 2022 net income was $256 million or $2.72 per share, compared to first quarter 2021 net income of $169 million or $1.77 per share. First quarter net sales were $2.1 billion in 2022 and $1.8 billion in 2021. Total company EBITDA for the first quarter excluding special items was $467 million in 2022 and $342 million in 2021.

Excluding the special items, the $0.95 per share increase in first quarter 2022 earnings compared to the first quarter of 2021 was driven primarily by higher prices and mix of $1.83 and volume of $0.23 in the packaging segment; higher prices and mix in our paper segment for $0.15, a lower share count resulting from share repurchases for $0.03; and lower interest expenses of $0.02.