Glatfelter reports full year and fourth quarter earnings
Glatfelter reported 2014 full year adjusted earnings per diluted share of $1.55 (GAAP $1.57) compared with $1.40 per diluted share in 2013 (GAAP $1.52). For the 2014 fourth quarter Glatfelter reported adjusted earnings of $19.7 million, or $0.45 per diluted share, compared with $15.0 million, or $0.34 per diluted share, in the 2013 fourth quarter. On a GAAP basis, fourth quarter 2014 net income totaled $19.6 million, or $0.45 per diluted share, compared with $16.5 million, or $0.37 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 2013. Consolidated net sales totaled $436.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2014 compared with $434.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2013.
“Our fourth-quarter adjusted earnings were 32 percent higher than the same period a year ago, but fell short of our expectations,” said Dante C. Parrini, chairman and chief executive officer. “In Composite Fibers, near-term macro-level challenges, including the fluid economic and political situation in Russia and Ukraine, weak economic growth in Europe as well as increased competitive pressures, impacted results for the business. Specialty Papers reported improved performance over the same period a year ago, although its results were weaker than anticipated mainly due to production and medical costs being higher than expected. Advanced Airlaid Materials delivered another solid quarter, and we continue to evaluate capacity expansion opportunities for this business.”
Mr. Parrini continued, “Looking ahead in 2015, we expect to see strong performance and growth opportunities in Advanced Airlaid Materials. However, Composite Fibers, in particular the wallcovering business, is likely to continue to face economic headwinds in Europe and Russia, where weaker currencies and political uncertainty are impacting our business. We expect Specialty Papers to again outperform the uncoated free-sheet market and we continue to focus our efforts to improve the reliability and efficiency of our pulp and paper operations.
“We remain confident in our long-term business strategy and opportunities in targeted growth markets. We are focused on solid execution in key areas such as operational excellence, continuous improvement, innovation and customer service – all of which will help advance our strategic objectives. With the near term headwinds the business is facing, we are also committed to significantly reducing costs throughout our organization by accelerating our continuous improvement initiatives and implementing a number of cost cutting measures including broad based workforce reductions of approximately 3 percent to 5 percent of our global workforce. These continuous improvement and cost reduction efforts are expected to improve operating profit by $25 million to $30 million in 2015,” Mr. Parrini concluded.
In the picture: Dante C. Parrini, chairman and chief executive officer of Glatfelter.
