International Paper recently reported first-quarter 2012 net earnings attributable to common shareholders totaling $188 million ($0.43 per share) compared with net earnings of $281 million ($0.65 per share) in the fourth quarter of 2011 and $354 million ($0.81 per share) in the first quarter of 2011. Amounts in all periods include the impact of special items.
Earnings from continuing operations and before special items in the 2012 first quarter totaled $247 million ($0.57 per share), compared with $312 million ($0.72 per share) in the fourth quarter of 2011 and $334 million ($0.77 per share) in the first quarter of 2011. Temple-Inland earnings were neutral, net of incremental interest expenses (before one-time costs and special items), for the first-quarter of 2012.
Quarterly net sales were $6.7 billion compared with $6.4 billion in both the fourth and first quarters of 2011.
Operating profits were $462 million in the first quarter of 2012, down from $577 million in the fourth quarter of 2011 both of which included special items.
"First-quarter results reflect solid performance in an uneven global recovery," said John Faraci, chairman and chief executive officer. "I'm encouraged with the early progress we are making integrating Temple-Inland and we are off to a very strong start in identifying and capturing the merger benefits. As we move into our seasonally heavy maintenance outages in the second quarter, we remain confident in the full year earnings and cash flow outlook of our global portfolio."
