WestRock Provides Update of Financial Impact Following Hurricane Florence

Thursday, September 27, 2018 2:00 pm

WestRock Provides Update of Financial Impact Following Hurricane Florence | WestRock,

ATLANTA (News release) -- WestRock Company has provided an estimate of the impact of Hurricane Florence on its business and fiscal fourth quarter financial results.

As previously announced, as a precaution, we idled our kraft linerboard mill located in Florence, South Carolina in advance of the landfall of Hurricane Florence. All three paper machines at the mill resumed normal production in the middle of last week. The mill lost approximately 10,000 tons of containerboard production.

The financial impact from Hurricane Florence on the September quarter is expected to be approximately $12 million on a pre-tax basis. This estimated impact is related to advance storm preparation costs across our regional mill and converting network; lost containerboard production; increased operating costs; higher regional input costs, including wood, transportation and logistics issues; and other storm-related costs. Some additional increased costs are expected to carry over into the December quarter, and we will provide additional details, as appropriate, during our fiscal fourth quarter earnings conference call.