MEMPHIS, Tenn. (News release) -- International Paper has announced results for the quarter ended June 30, 2026.

"Our teams delivered strong second quarter results as execution continued to improve across the company," said International Paper Chairman and CEO Andy Silvernail. "In North America, we improved mill performance and successfully completed the Riverdale machine conversion, while continuing to grow box volumes and remain on track to outperform the market. In EMEA, we accelerated cost-out actions, advanced transformational investments and continued preparing for the separation as previously communicated."

"Looking ahead to the second half of the year, our priorities remain clear: execute with discipline, improve reliability and performance across our network, mitigate rising input costs in a dynamic environment, and deliver commercial and cost-out initiatives," Silvernail added. "While there is still work to do, we are building momentum across the businesses. The progress we are making gives us confidence in our ability to deliver strong performance through the remainder of 2026 and create sustainable value for our stakeholders."

Select Financial Measures

The preliminary second quarter 2026 results discussed in this release will be finalized in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, which we intend to file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on August 6, 2026. This release refers to certain non-GAAP financial measures, which are defined below.

Diluted EPS from Continuing Operations and Adjusted Operating EPS

NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES
The Company believes that these non-GAAP financial measures, when viewed alongside the most directly comparable GAAP measures, provides for a more complete analysis of the Company's results from continuing operations. Reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP measures and an explanation of why management believes these non-GAAP financial measures provide useful information to investors are included later in this release.

Adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations is a non-GAAP financial measure defined as earnings (loss) from continuing operations (a GAAP measure) before income taxes, equity earnings (loss), interest expense, net, net special items, non-operating pension expense (income) and depreciation and amortization. The most directly comparable GAAP measure is earnings (loss) from continuing operations.

Adjusted operating earnings (loss) and adjusted operating earnings (loss) per share are non-GAAP financial measures defined as earnings (loss) from continuing operations (a GAAP measure) excluding net special items and non-operating pension expense (income). Earnings (loss) from continuing operations and diluted earnings (loss) per share from continuing operations are the most directly comparable GAAP measures. The Company calculates adjusted operating earnings (loss) (non-GAAP) by excluding the after-tax effect of non-operating pension expense (income) and net special items from the earnings (loss) from continuing operations reported under U.S. GAAP. Adjusted operating earnings (loss) per share is calculated by dividing adjusted operating earnings (loss) by the diluted average shares of common stock outstanding.

Free cash flow is a non-GAAP financial measure defined as cash provided by (used for) operating activities (a GAAP measure) less capital expenditures. The most directly comparable GAAP measure is cash provided by (used for) operations.

For discussion of net special items and non-operating pension expense (income), see the disclosure that follows Effects of Net Special Items and Consolidated Statement of Operations and related notes included later in this release.

SEGMENT INFORMATION
The following table presents net sales and business segment operating profit (loss), which is the Company's measure of segment profitability. Business segment operating profit (loss) is a measure reported to our management for purposes of making decisions about allocating resources to our business segments and assessing the performance of our business segments. We present this information in our financial statement footnotes in accordance with ASC 280 - "Segment Reporting". Second quarter 2026 net sales by business segment and operating profit (loss) by business segment compared with the first quarter of 2026 and the second quarter of 2025 are as follows:

Business Segment Results

Packaging Solutions North America (PS NA) business segment operating profit (loss) in the second quarter of 2026 was $204 million compared with $248 million in the first quarter of 2026. In the second quarter of 2026, net sales increased reflecting higher sales prices, higher sales volumes and a favorable mix due to lower export sales. Sales volumes were higher driven by continued growth in our domestic business, normal seasonal improvement and the impact of one additional shipping day. Cost of products sold increased driven by higher planned maintenance outage costs and higher sales volumes, partially offset by lower input costs. Input costs were favorably impacted by the non-repeat of higher natural gas costs and utility costs driven by the winter storm, partially offset by higher recovered fiber and freight costs. Operating costs were slightly improved due to stronger mill performance, additional Ixtac insurance recovery and the non-repeat of winter storm impacts in the first quarter of 2026. These benefits were mostly offset by costs of the Riverdale paper machine conversion and other planned reliability spending. In the second quarter of 2026, we successfully completed several strategic initiatives, including the Riverdale machine conversion and the acquisitions of the NORPAC mill in Longview, Washington and the Delmarva corrugated packaging facility in Dover, Delaware.

Packaging Solutions EMEA (PS EMEA) business segment operating profit (loss) in the second quarter of 2026 was $(80) million compared with $(51) million in the first quarter of 2026. Net sales decreased in the second quarter of 2026 compared with the first quarter of 2026, as higher sales prices for paper were more than offset by lower sales volumes in a continued soft market driven by geopolitical uncertainty and consumer sentiment. Cost of products sold decreased driven by lower sales volumes, cost-out actions and lower input costs for energy, including subsidies, partially offset by higher recovered fiber costs. Packaging margins were impacted by higher paper prices not yet realized in box pricing. Planned maintenance outage costs were higher in the second quarter of 2026 compared with the first quarter of 2026. Selling and administrative expenses were higher driven by planned annual wage increases.

EFFECTS OF NET SPECIAL ITEMS

Continuing Operations
Net special items include items considered by management to not be reflective of the Company's underlying operations. Net special items in the second quarter of 2026 amount to a net after-tax charge of $42 million ($0.08 per diluted share) compared with a net after-tax charge of $23 million ($0.04 per diluted share) in the second quarter of 2025 and a net after-tax charge of $19 million ($0.04 per diluted share) in the first quarter of 2026. Net special items in all periods include the following charges (benefits):