International Paper Company (IP) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

International Paper Company (NYSE:IP) Q4 2022 Earnings Conference Call January 31, 2023 10:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Mark Nellessen - Vice President of Investor Relations

Mark Sutton - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer

Tim Nicholls - Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Gabe Hajde - Wells Fargo Securities

George Staphos - Bank of America

Mark Weintraub - Seaport Research Partners

Mike Roxland - Truist Securities

Matthew McKellar - RBC Capital Markets

Cleve Rueckert - UBS

John Dunigan - Jefferies

Adam Josephson - KeyBanc

Anthony Pettinari - Citi

Operator

Good morning and thank you for standing by. Welcome to today's International Paper's Fourth Quarter 2022 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, today's conference call is being recorded.

I'd now like to turn today's conference over to Mark Nellessen, Vice President, Investor Relations.

Mark Nellessen

Thank you, Paul. Good morning and thank you for joining International Paper's Fourth Quarter 2022 Earnings Call. Our speakers this morning are Mark Sutton, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and Tim Nicholls, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. There is important information at the beginning of our presentation on Slide 2, 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. And a reconciliation of those figures to U.S. GAAP financial measures is available on our website. Our website also contains copies of the fourth quarter earnings press release and today's presentation slides.

I will now turn the call over to Mark Sutton.

Mark Sutton

Thank you, Mark and good morning, everyone. We'll begin our discussion on Slide 3, where I will touch on our full year 2022 results. First of all, as I think about 2022, I'm very proud and appreciative of all the hard work our employees have done during the year. And for our strong customer relationships as we've managed through a very dynamic and uncertain market environment.

Looking at our performance. International Paper grew revenue and earnings driven by solid commercial and operational execution, while facing significant inflation and lower demand in the second half of the year. We also made solid progress in building a better IP. We delivered $250 million of earnings benefits from our initiatives, focused on lowering our cost structure and accelerating profitable growth. And as a result, we exceeded our full-year target and have strong momentum going forward. We're also confident in the profitable growth opportunities across our Industrial Packaging business and have made strategic investments to support this growth. We will continue to invest to grow earnings and cash generation by building additional capabilities and capacity in our U.S. box system during the next few years.