International Paper Co (IP) CEO Mark Sutton on Q2 2022 Results Earnings Call Transcript

International Paper Co (NYSE:IP) Q2 2022 Earnings Conference Call July 28, 2022 10:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Mark Nellessen - VP, IR

Mark Sutton - Chairman and CEO

Timothy Nicholls - SVP and CFO

Conference Call Participants

Mark Weintraub - Seaport Research Partners

Gabe Hajde - Wells Fargo Securities

George Staphos - Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Mark Wilde - BMO Capital Markets

Kyle White - Deutsche Bank

Adam Josephson - KeyBanc

Mike Roxland - Truist Securities

Phil Ng - Jefferies

Cleve Rueckert - UBS

Operator

Good morning, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to today's International Paper's Second Quarter 2022 Earnings Call. All lines have been placed on mute to background noise. After the speakers' remarks, you'll have an opportunity to ask question. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

I would now like to turn today's conference over to Mark Nellessen, Vice President, Investor Relations. Sir, the floor is yours.

Mark Nellessen

Thank you, Paul. Good morning and thank you for joining International Paper's second 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 two, 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. A reconciliation of those figures to U.S. GAAP financial measures is also available on our website. Our website also contains copies of our second quarter 2022 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 three. In the second quarter, International Paper delivered strong revenue growth and earnings growth on both a year-over-year and sequential basis, all while expanding our margins.

In addition, our second quarter earnings were better than our prior outlook, driven by strong price realization, solid operating performance, and cost benefits. All of this helped us overcome significantly higher input costs, especially for energy, chemicals, and distribution.

Our mills and converting system performed very well as we managed through continued logistics constraints, which negatively impacted our operating costs. We successfully executed our second highest maintenance quarter of the year and have completed about 65% of our planned maintenance in the first half of the year.