Oct. 24, 2026 - Sonoco Products Company on Oct. 21 reported financial results for the third quarter ended September 27, 2026.
Summary:
"During the third quarter, our businesses faced a combination of external challenges. Drought conditions across parts of Europe and the U.S. impacted crop yields and pressured food can demand, while the impact of inflation on raw materials, freight, energy, and other operating costs exceeded our expectations," said Howard Coker, President and Chief Executive Officer. "Through strong productivity initiatives and rigorous cost control, our teams were able to mitigate a significant portion of this impact and deliver resilient operating results.
"Our Industrial Paper Packaging segment delivered another strong quarter, with results essentially in line with the second quarter despite a challenging operating environment. Productivity improvements remained a key driver of performance, while North America URB trade ton sales increased 10% year over year and mill utilization remained strong at 94%. Segment volume/mix was modestly positive, and additional URB pricing realized in September positions us to further offset inflationary pressures."
"Results in Consumer Packaging fell short of expectations, as volume/mix declined 3% year over year due primarily to adverse weather conditions and unfavorable price/cost dynamics. Encouragingly, international paper can operations performed well, with double-digit volume growth year over year driven by sustained demand for snack products across emerging markets," Coker said.
Paul Joachimczyk, Sonoco's Chief Financial Officer, added, "Our businesses once again generated strong operating cash flow in the third quarter, delivering $285 million despite seasonal working capital headwinds. Year-to-date operating cash flow includes $103 million of one-time tax payments related to gains on our 2025 divestitures. We continued to strengthen our balance sheet during the quarter, reducing total debt and net debt by $162 million and $176 million, respectively, while successfully refinancing an $800 million term loan. The refinancing extends our maturity profile and enhances our financial flexibility, positioning us well to continue executing our capital allocation priorities while maintaining our investment grade credit ratings."
Commenting on Sonoco's outlook, Coker said, "While our third-quarter performance fell short of our expectations, we are taking targeted actions through our Profitability Performance Plan to further reduce costs, improve productivity and address the impact of inflationary pressures. We believe these efforts will better position the Company when market conditions improve. We remain confident in our value-added packaging strategy, our market-leading portfolio of industrial and consumer assets, and the ability of our customer- and quality-focused employees to execute through economic cycles."
Joachimczyk added, "In the fourth quarter of 2026, we expect continued strong performance from our Industrial segment, supported by continued robust URB demand in North America. We also anticipate more stable performance from our Consumer segment, driven by continued growth in international paper cans and a more balanced performance in aerosol and food can volumes. Finally, recovering raw material, freight, energy, and other operating costs remains a key priority as we close out 2026 and head into 2027."
Sonoco (NYSE: SON) is a Mid-cap Value global packaging company. With sales of $7.5 billion from continuing operations in 2025, the Company has approximately 22,000 employees working in 265 operations in 37 countries, serving some of the world's best-known brands.
SOURCE: Sonoco Products Company