"Sonoco" Q2 2026 Earnings Call - Productivity and Pricing Power Offset Inflation, Driving EPS Growth and AI Infrastructure Demand

Operator: Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us, and welcome to the Sonoco Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. After today’s prepared remarks, we will host a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star one again. I will now hand the conference over to Roger Schrum, Head of Investor Relations and Global Marketing Communications. Roger, please go ahead.

Roger Schrum, Head of Investor Relations and Global Marketing Communications, Sonoco: Thank you, Warren. Good morning, everyone. Last evening, we issued a news release and posted an investor presentation that reviews Sonoco’s second quarter 2026 financial results. Both are posted on the investor relations section of our website at sonoco.com. A replay of today’s conference call will be available on our website later today, and we’ll post a transcript later this week. If you would turn to Slide two, I’ll remind you that during today’s call, we will discuss a number of forward-looking statements based on current expectations, estimates, and projections. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially. Today’s presentation includes the use of non-GAAP financial measures, which management believes provides useful information to investors about the company’s financial condition and results of operations.

Further information about the company’s use of non-GAAP financial measures, including definitions as well as reconciliations to GAAP measures, is available under the investor relations section of our website. Joining me this morning are Howard Coker, President and CEO, and Paul Joachimczyk, Chief Financial Officer. For today’s call, we will provide prepared remarks followed by your questions. If you’ll turn to Slide four in your presentation, I will now turn the call over to Howard.

Howard Coker, President and CEO, Sonoco: Thank you, Roger. Good morning, everyone. Our Sonoco team delivered solid second quarter results that met our expectations and exceeded consensus estimates as productivity and cost controls helped offset global inflation and logistics, petroleum-based chemicals and coatings and raw materials. Paul will go through the financial details, I’ll concentrate my comments on the solid operating performance of our industrial and consumer segments, where we are the global leaders in uncoated recycled paper and metal and paper cans. Results from our industrial segment exceeded our expectations, with operating profits up 4% from what was a strong quarter last year and up 29% from the first quarter. The segment’s improvement was driven by $16 million in productivity gains, which more than offset price cross headwinds stemming from rising costs for freight, chemicals, OCC and lumber.

Driving industrial growth with strong results from our North American URB mills as trade tons were up 6.4%, which boosted mill utilization rates to 95%, the highest level in years. Much of this increased demand came from new market development, such as saturated URB for laminates as well as share gains. Reels volumes were up 10% as we continue to benefit from demand from wire and cable customers who are helping with the infrastructure build-out of data centers serving artificial intelligence investments. Overall, global industrial volume mix was flat for the quarter as the strong results from our mills were partially offset by lower demand in Latin America and some of our converting operations. On the consumer side, operating profit was off by 5% during the quarter but was up 22% sequentially from the first quarter. Productivity and cost containment initiatives boosted consumer results.

Paper can volumes were up 9% in EMEA and APAC, with Asia volumes being up 29%. Overall, segment volume mix was off 1.8%, driven primarily by lower metal aerosol cans and adhesives and sealants demand in the U.S. I would add that both U.S. food can and aerosol volumes were strong last year in the second quarter, with volume mix up 6%. As shown on Slide 5, global inflationary pressures driven by higher energy expenses stemming from the Middle East situation cost us roughly $10 million of operating profit in the quarter. Freight was the largest component of those cost headwinds. The raw materials were also higher, particularly OCC, which is up $40 per ton year to date to $100 a ton. While we were behind the price cost curve in Q2, recovery mechanisms are now in place to fully offset these costs.

This includes an April URB and converted product price increase, which fully goes into effect third quarter, and a $60 a ton increase for URB, which went in place on July 8th. We have also implemented contracted paper can price increases globally and are adding necessary surcharges to offset higher diesel costs. I’ll take a minute and turn the call over to Paul, and then I’ll come back on with some thoughts regarding second-half expectations.

Roger Schrum, Head of Investor Relations and Global Marketing Communications, Sonoco: Thank you, Howard, and good morning, everyone. Before turning to the quarter, two quick reminders. First, all the results discussed today are on an adjusted basis unless otherwise noted, with a full GAAP reconciliation included in our earnings release and accompanying presentation

Paul Joachimczyk, Chief Financial Officer, Sonoco: Second, while the TFP divestiture has now fully annualized, ThermoSafe continues to affect certain year-over-year comparisons within continuing operations, and I’ll provide underlying context where it is helpful. Turning to the second quarter results on slide seven. The second quarter was another quarter of solid execution in line with the priorities we outlined at Investor Day. We delivered earnings growth, generated strong cash flow, maintained margins, and continued to realize benefits from our profitability performance plan. Most importantly, these results demonstrate that the strategic actions underway across Sonoco are translating into measurable financial improvement and positioning the company for stronger long-term performance. Net sales were $1.9 billion, down 1% compared with the prior year. Pricing gains continued to provide support and helped offset softer demand in select markets, while foreign exchange was a modest tailwind during the quarter.

Adjusted EBITDA was $324 million, down 1% versus the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 17.2% in line with the prior year period. Productivity, pricing actions, and early contributions from our profitability performance plan helped offset inflationary pressures and supported margin stability in the mixed demand environment. Adjusted EPS to $1.51 compared to $1.37 in the prior year, supported by the continued execution across the business, benefits from the profitability performance plans, and lower interest expense resulting from the debt reduction actions completed over the last year. Prior year second quarter results from the divested ThermoSafe businesses were $66 million of revenue, $11 million of EBITDA, and $0.08 of EPS. Excluding those results, second quarter 2026 revenue and EBITDA grew by 2% and adjusted EPS increased by 17%. Operating cash flow was also a highlight, coming in at $301 million, more than $100 million above the prior year.

This performance reflects strong earnings conversion and continued discipline around working capital and capital deployment. Taken together, the quarter reinforces the strength of our operating priorities and demonstrates continued progress off of the strategy we laid out at Investor Day. Turning to the EPS bridge on slide eight, I’ll take you through the primary drivers of the year-over-year improvement in earnings per share. Adjusted EPS grew $0.14 or 10% year-over-year within the business. Both the consumer and industrial segments benefited from pricing gains and productivity improvements, which helped mitigate input cost pressures and softer volume in several markets. Non-operational items also contributed meaningfully to the year-over-year improvement. Lower net interest expense provided $0.14 of a benefit, driven by debt reduction actions completed over the past year. Foreign exchange and improved tax rate and other elements also supported the EPS improvement.

Our profitability performance plan contributed $0.07 during the quarter, marking the second consecutive quarter of realized benefits. This is an important proof point that the program is gaining traction and beginning to deliver the structural cost and productivity improvements we committed to at Investor Day. The key takeaway from the bridge is straightforward. While the operating environment remains uneven, our teams are executing well. Pricing, productivity, and cost discipline actions are helping offset external pressures and support continued earnings growth. While the earnings bridge highlights the benefits of those initiatives on profitability, turning those earnings into cash is equally important. Turning to the cash flow on slide nine. Cash generation remains a central priority for the company. The second quarter results were strong. Operating cash flow of $301 million was up 56%, and free cash flow of $237 million was up 139% year-over-year.

Gross capital investment was $64 million, consistent with the first quarter spending levels. We continue to monitor capital spending very closely and remain focused on projects that generate attractive returns. Our capital allocation priorities remain unchanged. Fund the business, support the dividend, and continue strengthening the balance sheet through disciplined capital deployment. Turning to our segment performance on slide 10. Looking at the consumer segment first, sales increased 1% year-over-year to $1.24 billion. Despite continued demand variability in select markets, pricing discipline remained strong at plus two points, and favorable foreign exchange contributed an additional point. We are seeing volume improvements in several served markets. Looking at metal cans, we had double-digit unit growth in our pet food in EMEA, which now represents 15% of our global food can units. As Howard mentioned earlier, we are seeing strength in the paper can volumes in EMEA and APAC as well.

The consumer team continues to make steady progress through pricing discipline, productivity improvements, and profitability initiatives. The team remains focused on simplifying processes, strengthening their cost structure, and improving operating performance. These actions are helping position the segment for stronger execution as we move through the balance of the year. Turning now to industrial. Industrial sales were $643 million, up 4% versus the prior year. Pricing contributed three points of growth, while favorable foreign exchange rate added another point. Volume and mix were flat as growth in the global URB reels and Industrial Plastics offset softer demand in the LATAM market and converting. Segment adjusted EBITDA increased 3% year-over-year to $122 million. The industrial segment delivered solid execution in the quarter, supported by productivity improvements, commercial initiatives, and disciplined cost management.

While inflation of materials and freight and other operating costs exceeded price recovery during the quarter, productivity initiatives more than offset the remaining pressures and supported year-over-year earnings growth. Given the exit rates we are seeing in both pricing and productivity initiatives, the current actions underway position the segment as we move through the second half of the year. On the next slide, I’ll take you through the progress of our profitability performance plan. On Investor Day, we outlined a three-year initiative designed to strengthen margins, simplify our operating structure, improve commercial execution, and enhance the long-term profitability and competitiveness of Sonoco. We are encouraged by the progress we’ve made through the first half of the year. During the second quarter, the program delivered $10 million of savings, bringing the year-to-date savings to $18 million.

Annualized savings now stand at roughly $38 million for modeling purposes, representing 25% of the low end of our three-year target range. More importantly, these benefits are already visible in our financial results today and reinforce our confidence in margin improvement and earnings growth objectives we outlined at Investor Day. The progress we are seeing reflects the quality of the initiatives underway and the organization’s ability to execute. While we are still early in the program, the results achieved to date are encouraging and reinforce our confidence in the path ahead. Turning now to our full year guidance on slide 12. Based on our year-to-date performance, the momentum we are seeing across our operating initiatives, and our expectations for the balance of the year, we remain confident in our ability to deliver results within our previously communicated guidance.

For the full year, we continue to expect net sales of $7.25 billion-$7.75 billion, adjusted EBITDA of $1.25 billion-$1.35 billion, adjusted earnings per share of $5.80-$6.20, and operating cash flows of $700 million-$800 million. As we move through the second half of the year, our priorities remain unchanged. We are focused on executing the profitability performance plans, driving productivity improvements, maintaining pricing discipline, and strengthening the working capital performance. Sonoco is becoming a more focused, more streamlined, and more financially disciplined company. In summary, the second quarter demonstrated continued execution aligned with the priorities established at Investor Day. We generated strong cash flow, maintained our EBITDA margins, advanced our profitability performance plans, and delivered year-over-year EPS growth. Collectively, these actions are improving the quality of our earnings, strengthening the balance sheet, increasing the company’s long-term value creation.

We are encouraged by the momentum we have built through the first half of the year and remain focused on delivering our commitments for 2026. With that, I’ll turn the call over to Howard.

Howard Coker, President and CEO, Sonoco: Thanks, Paul. To your point, Sonoco is well positioned entering the second half. Let me explain why I’m bullish, starting with our industrial side. Shown on slide 14, our team continues to ramp up production of saturated URB for a growing opportunity in high pressure laminates. Recognizing an unmet need in this market, we took more than a year of technical development, trialing, and testing to develop a recycled paper grade that can be used in making laminate products for countertops, flooring, composite boards, and decorative panels. By the end of this year, we’ll be producing roughly 10,000 tons annually. With added capability, we expect to increase to 20,000 tons annually by the end of 2027. We’re being conservative about this new market. We think there is additional growth potential. We will need further capacity to meet domestic demand.

In addition to market leadership in URB, we also are the North American market leader in the production of nailed wood, metal, and poly fiber reels, as shown on slide 15. In the second quarter, we completed a $20 million expansion at our Hartselle, Alabama wire and cable reels production center. This capacity addition is vitally needed to address the fast-growing wire and cable industry’s demand in building out artificial intelligence data centers, along with serving the growing power grid and communication markets. Even though we increased sales by 13% and volumes 10% in the second quarter, we have been essentially sold out and needed this additional capacity to meet market demand. Currently, we’re starting up new robotic equipment that will enable us to increase our nailed wood reels production by approximately 15%.

Switching to our consumer packaging segment, we continue to develop new commercial opportunities through new products and market developments, as illustrated on slide 16. Our new paper can plant in Thailand, which came online in March, is continuing to ramp up production and recently started a second line that allow us to produce roughly 200 million units annually, with room for additional growth. In addition, we’ll be adding new paper can production lines in South America and the U.S. in 2027 to serve growing snack customers. In Europe, Sonoco is the largest producer of metal cans, serving seafood and vegetables, which are two of the largest can markets. To improve efficiency and to meet demand in the Italian market, we’re installing two new can lines to serve tomato and tuna customers.

As Paul mentioned, pet food grew double digits in the quarter and represents one of the fastest-growing markets globally. We’re launching new projects to grow our position, particularly in Europe. We recently opened a new metal can and ends production line in France that will enable us to work more closely in partnership with key brands and co-packers. Finally, our commercial teams have been working with our engineers as we invest to grow new products, which include examples such as Orbit easy-open closures, which make opening jars easier than regular twist closures. Eco-Fill, an easy-open feature for metal food cans, which uses less materials. New microwaveable safe metal bowls, which are a highly recyclable alternative to traditional plastic trays for ready meals and convenience foods. Finally, our proprietary GreenCan packaging innovation, featuring up to 98% paper content that is able to package a wide range of dry food products.

Turning to slide 17, we are encouraged that several key indicators are strengthening in our favor as we begin our busiest period of the year. Demand for Sonoco URB in North America, as we’ve noted, is very strong, and our backlogs have grown, which requires that we import paper from Europe and Latin America mills all the way through the third quarter. To remind you, this is a very complex market, and this allows us to not only ensure supply security, but also enables longer sustainable grade runs in North America, which further drives our productivity. In consumer, as I mentioned, new paper can growth in Europe, Asia, South America and North America has us exploring additional capacity expansions while customer promotions and new product launches are projected to lift can volumes as we enter the important pack season in both the U.S. and EMEA.

Finally, we now have in place inflation recovery mechanisms, which will help us restore our margins. While we remain mindful of external macroeconomic conditions, we are confident in our strategy, our portfolio, and ability to execute through economic cycles. With that, Operator, we’d be happy to take any questions that folks may have.

Operator: We will now begin the question and answer session. Please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star one again. We ask that you pick up your handset when asking a question to allow for optimum sound quality. If you are muted locally, please remember to unmute your device. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from the line of George Staphos with Bank of America Securities Inc. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

George Staphos, Analyst, Bank of America Securities Inc.: Thanks. Hi, everyone. Good morning. Thanks for the details. My two questions. Howard, over the weekend, we got some of the market commentary from the trade publications regarding some of the markets, and there was commentary that the URB market actually loosened, at least in terms of what the trade pubs were hearing from their respondents. Is there anything-- I recognize you’re bringing in paper from Europe, but did any of your markets loosen? What, if anything, do you think might be observed by respondents, and I guess, do you remain comfortable with your pricing for July? The second question, as we look back at our notes and what you were talking to coming out of 1Q, looks like industrial did better. Looks like consumer maybe was a bit off from kind of your trajectory coming into 2Q. Would you agree with that?

Where were, if there were, some of the variances in consumer, especially in consumer volume in North America, if you can talk to that. Thank you.

Howard Coker, President and CEO, Sonoco: Sure, George. Look, no, we are not seeing any weakness in our served markets under URB. As you know, we focus on the high end of the market. Frankly, that was a bit of a surprise for us to read that. We have gained some share along the way, but I really can’t comment because we, as I said in my commentary, are actually looking at backlogs all the way through the third quarter. We are bringing paper in support of demand here in North America. As I noted again in my commentary, we can serve the market. It’s just when we get to these type of operating rates, in order to be as efficient as we can, it makes better sense for us to set up on our high-quality, high-performing grades and run, and fill in with material from overseas.

Can’t answer the question on where that data came from, because we certainly are not seeing that. On the consumer side, particularly in North America, we did see a bit of a slowdown, but it was somewhat, I would call, macro-related, particularly in adhesives and sealants. As you know, we are the largest producer of caulking cartridges, mastic cartridges in the U.S., and particularly in June, we saw a bit of a pullback. That is more of a housing-related, remodeling type. Could that be an indicator of what’s to come? Maybe. That was probably the biggest. Aerosols were slightly down. We had a tough comp, for sure. The two, you can say portions of that are related to that segment, spray paints, et cetera. Other than that, things seem to be well in order. Also talked about the international side.

Really strong snack performance and overall performance outside the United States that really helped balance things.

Paul Joachimczyk, Chief Financial Officer, Sonoco: Yeah, George, on the commentary too, on the URB markets, our North American mills are running at 95% utilization. Our European mills are at 92%, and we’re not seeing any slowdown in there. I echo what Howard said too is, we have a very technical quality grade of paper, and our servicing industry goes out there really well. We’re not seeing any slowdown in the markets that we serve today in that URB space. It is a very strong demand still.

George Staphos, Analyst, Bank of America Securities Inc.: Okay. I’ll go back in queue. Thank you, guys.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Anthony Pettinari with Citi. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Anthony Pettinari, Analyst, Citi: Good morning. Just following up on George’s question. I was wondering if you could talk about maybe second half volume expectations that are assumed for your full year guide, and if there’s any finer point you’d put on RPC versus metal cans and any early reads on pack season, or maybe it’s too soon.

Howard Coker, President and CEO, Sonoco: No, I’d say year-over-year, as we’ve entered the second quarter, pack season looks to be solid in both regions. What are we modeling? Low to mid-single digits on the consumer side of things year-over-year, and low single digits on the industrial side. The pack seasons are starting out pretty impressively at this point in time. We’ll see if that sustains itself through the quarter.

Anthony Pettinari, Analyst, Citi: Okay. That’s helpful. I was wondering, over the weekend, we heard news about potential tariffs on Canadian paperboard maybe coming into place next month. I think in the past, some URB had come from Canada, and I’m just wondering, does that impact any part of your business?

Howard Coker, President and CEO, Sonoco: I would say it’s still an understanding and process of how this is going to settle out. While we do cross-border, it’s relatively immaterial. However, it ends up.

Anthony Pettinari, Analyst, Citi: That’s helpful. Got it. Thank you.

Howard Coker, President and CEO, Sonoco: Yep. Thanks, man.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of John Dunigan with Jefferies. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

John Dunigan, Analyst, Jefferies: Good morning, Howard, Paul, Roger. Thanks for all the details, and congrats on the solid quarter. I just wanted to touch first on the news that one of your peers, who hasn’t been in URB, is now looking to add about 10% to URB capacity by the end of 2027. I’m just wondering how much of your open market tons would you say is insulated from this, and whether that be from longer-term contracts or markets like laminates that you have a clear competitive advantage. Just trying to gauge the potential impact going into next year.

Howard Coker, President and CEO, Sonoco: All right. Thanks, John. Yeah, I heard the same. What I would say is URB is a very complex market. As you’re well aware, we have invested heavily. Frankly, we’ve been in it for over 125 years. In the last five to eight years, we have really invested in our capabilities, and one thing that we have been clear about is that we are focused on the high-end, high-quality, truly demanding markets. It’s not just about the product that we produce, but it’s what you behind the scenes, the service, the various applications and our deep knowledge of usage of our product and how we can solve problems for our customers. We don’t target, we don’t play in a commodity side of this business on a regular basis, and we are full as we can be servicing the high end of the market.

We note bringing materials in from Europe, and Latin America, that’s because they too can make and do make and participate in these higher end markets. Yep. I’ve heard that and I don’t see where that has any bearing on what we do for a living.

John Dunigan, Analyst, Jefferies: That’s great to hear. Just going back to the comments on tariffs. I understand that you guys don’t really ship a lot from Canada into the U.S. I believe some of your peers in Canada do. Do you think that’s material enough to maybe offset the new capacity coming online from one of your U.S. competitors? Obviously, the whole situation’s fluid and we got to actually see 50% tariffs on URB get implemented. I’m just wondering how much could actually be constrained if these tariffs go into place.

Howard Coker, President and CEO, Sonoco: I think first off, it depends on what the ultimate ruling is, meaning is of what’s tariffed, what’s not tariffed. I’m not all that familiar. I agree with you that there’s a couple of folks in Canada that probably do cross border. I would imagine they participate. I would assume, in the tube and core side of things with smaller players, I’d only be speculating, there’d be a real effort there to re-qualify someone that’s not been a participant in this market, to make sure they’ve got a product that would perform outside of the simplest grades that are available in the marketplace.

John Dunigan, Analyst, Jefferies: Appreciate it. Thanks for the insights. I’ll get back in the queue.

Howard Coker, President and CEO, Sonoco: Yep.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Michael Roxland with Truist Securities. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Michael Roxland, Analyst, Truist Securities: Thank you, Howard, Paul, Roger, for taking my questions. One quick one just on your guide. Howard, based on your comments, it sounds like your guidance for the year embeds the July price increase of $60 per ton. As George knows, the trade publication didn’t reflect that in the latest print. Can you help us understand any downside risk to the guide should that price increase not ultimately be implemented? Particularly, I would assume that you’d still be negative price cost if you don’t get that additional 60 through. Any color you can provide on negative or downside risk to your guide should that $60 per ton not be reflected?

Howard Coker, President and CEO, Sonoco: Thanks, Michael. I’ll let Paul jump in this in a little deeper, what I would say, what we really feel good about is 3Q, that we’ve got the recognition and pricing. While it was recognized in 2Q, contractually July 1 is when we really start seeing complete pass-through of the inflation that we have seen and the pricing that we deserve going into 3Q. I’ll add to it on the consumer side, we have some major contracts that, based on our customers’ financial years, were pricing in the first half of the year, was not passed that will be passing July 1, August 1 timeframe. It’s on both sides of the business for the 3Q. Q4, Paul, do you have?

Paul Joachimczyk, Chief Financial Officer, Sonoco: Yeah. Michael, just I echo what Howard’s saying there too, is our demand is really strong, and even though the guide came out last Friday and it didn’t indicate any movement in the pricing that’s out there, we’re not seeing any slowdown. Our full expectations is that we will be able to pass it. Just as a reminder, we’re shifting to like Tan Bending Chip as an indicator for our profitability, and a $10 movement in that is about a $10 million annualized number that’s out there. Call it $2.5 million a quarter of an impact. If you do see some movement, it’s hard to predict the future that’s out there. Given our demand levels across our industrial space today, we are not seeing any weakening. That would help us position for a very strong pricing position on a go-forward basis.

We do have that this round of price increase would impact primarily the 4Q. Given the timing and the nature of it would go live into basically starting kind of October-ish timeframe. It’d be more of a 4Q impact than it would be a 3Q impact for us.

Michael Roxland, Analyst, Truist Securities: Got it. Very clear. Appreciate the color. Then just one quick follow-up. Paul, since I have you, it seems like in terms of profitability performance, you stressed that’s gaining traction, it seems like there was a little bit of a deceleration in 2Q relative to 1Q. Is that just a function of the macro higher inputs, or is there something else going on? Can you help us think about the profitability performance acceleration, in 3Q and 4Q? Thanks.

Paul Joachimczyk, Chief Financial Officer, Sonoco: Yeah. The profitability performance plans that we outlayed at Investor Day, feel really good about it. We are focusing more on kind of the back office functions in the first early phases of this, and that’s really what you’re seeing in that $8 million in Q1. $10 million in that’s accelerating. We do have plans on the operations fronts to focus on our footprints and some more of the improvements that are out there. Those structural changes take a little bit longer to implement. We need to move lines, things of that nature. You’ll see larger acceleration of the profitability performance plan kind of in Q3, Q4, and then also in 2027 and 2028 beyond. I feel really good about where we sit today, confident that the teams are doing the right things and the whole organization is focused in on it.

Howard Coker, President and CEO, Sonoco: Thank you.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Mark Weintraub with Seaport Research Partners. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Mark Weintraub, Analyst, Seaport Research Partners: Thank you. First, just one quick clarification on the URB. You talked about $10 million-ish or so. I thought, though, that some of the pricing is actually tied to OCC, not necessarily what Pulp & Paper Week is doing. Could you just sort of clarify? Recognizing the expectation is that you are going to see that pricing freeze reflected, but if it were not to be, what type of impact does it have? I think it’s less than the numbers you were saying, but if you could just clarify, please.

Paul Joachimczyk, Chief Financial Officer, Sonoco: Mark. OCC is definitely an input cost that’s out there, but really what we had shifted the market to is Tan Bending Chip a while ago.

Mark Weintraub, Analyst, Seaport Research Partners: Okay.

Paul Joachimczyk, Chief Financial Officer, Sonoco: OCC will move, if it moves up or down, that’s a reflection of our input costs. I think before we have said a $10 movement in OCC is a $6 million-$8 million impact on an annualized basis. Call it a million and a half to $2 million a quarter type of a number.

Mark Weintraub, Analyst, Seaport Research Partners: Okay, got it. You have moved more to. Oh, you did say that. I’m sorry. Thank you.

Paul Joachimczyk, Chief Financial Officer, Sonoco: All good.

Mark Weintraub, Analyst, Seaport Research Partners: Second. It’s sort of interesting because you’re pointing out a lot of areas where you’re seeing nice growth on the consumer side and where it can make sense for you to be investing, and some of it going on right now. Yet, sort of the overall number still hasn’t been very good. Are there certain areas where you would highlight where you think it’s cyclical, i.e. like the building products area? Are there other areas where there are cyclical or secular concerns that are offsetting the areas where you are talking about growth? Just sort of trying to get a sense as to, with all these specific areas of opportunity, where are the risks of offset that it doesn’t translate to as much upside as potentially one looking at the specifics of growth might believe is possible?

Howard Coker, President and CEO, Sonoco: Well, let me start with the positive side of things. I noted in my commentary that globally, our snack volumes have been turbocharged, if you will. 29% increase in Asia, 9% in the EMEA/APAC total region. We’ve talked about this in many, many calls about one of our largest customers on the consumer side that’s changed hands. Prior to that, we had invested capital that kind of got put on hold. We’re seeing that capital go to work now. I’ve had folks independently ask about, well, cup and that impact. What we’re really seeing is an acceleration of market expansion from a couple of customers, actually, on an international perspective. That’s really a positive thing for the rigid paper side of the business.

I guess your question, as we look into the third quarter, and as I said earlier, early indicators, we’re not expecting to see much improvement as it relates to the housing market related caulking cartridge, that type of business. What we’re hearing from our customers is things like pet food, things like canned fish, it’s a global phenomenon going on in terms of the growth rates. We’re seeing tuna volumes in Europe almost outstripping our demand to the point where we’re adding additional capacity. Tomatoes, similarly. Yeah, are there macro, are there weather-related issues that are unforeseen at this point in time that could come in play? That’s certainly always the case, but right now, things are feeling really positive.

Paul Joachimczyk, Chief Financial Officer, Sonoco: Yeah. Mark, just to add onto that too. Last year, we had a really tough comp. We had some really strong growth in our aerosols businesses and all of those categories kind of really tied to that discretionary spend. With the variability in demand and just kind of the current macroeconomic conditions that are out there today, we did see a softness in that in the second quarter here for us. That is not dependent on our Q3 volumes. Q3 volumes are very critical for this organization, our consumer space. They are tied to pack seasons. Pack seasons, it’s a little bit tied to Mother Nature out there, but early indicators, as Howard mentioned too, are really strong for us, and we’re expecting a strong pack season.

Mark Weintraub, Analyst, Seaport Research Partners: Appreciate the color.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Hillary Cacanando with Deutsche Bank Securities. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Hillary Cacanando, Analyst, Deutsche Bank Securities: Hi, thanks for taking my question. Just going back to the weakness in aerosols and sealants, and adhesives. Can you quantify the volume declines? I don’t know if you’ve talked about that. I don’t know if I missed it, but what was the volume decline associated with those? Did you see any improvement just exiting the month of June?

Paul Joachimczyk, Chief Financial Officer, Sonoco: Yeah. Are you saying did we see improvement in those particular markets, Hillary?

Hillary Cacanando, Analyst, Deutsche Bank Securities: Yeah. In the consumer categories, those aerosol

Howard Coker, President and CEO, Sonoco: Yeah

Hillary Cacanando, Analyst, Deutsche Bank Securities: cans.

Howard Coker, President and CEO, Sonoco: On adhesives and sealants side, yeah, no, we don’t have that available in terms of what

Paul Joachimczyk, Chief Financial Officer, Sonoco: Yeah. Hillary, I’ll jump in here a little bit too. On the adhesives and sealants and the aerosols, remember too, there was a

a large player that exited the space in 2024. That capacity shifted over to a few markets that are in there. That did pick up

Increase our volumes in 2025, which created a really tougher comp for us. I don’t expect any long-term issues. It just is a comp issue from a year-over-year of as you’re shifting out suppliers to those large aerosol customers, you’re re-qualifying things, they’re restocking your shelves, things of that nature. I’m not seeing any long-term, but now it is tied to obviously discretionary spend that’s out there as well. We have to be cautious of it, but not seeing anything that’s of concern for us at this point in time.

Hillary Cacanando, Analyst, Deutsche Bank Securities: Okay. Got it. Then, I guess, your presentation talked about World Cup related demand and promotions boosting volumes. How much of that, I guess, is in the third quarter and fourth quarter?

Howard Coker, President and CEO, Sonoco: The World Cup volume impact is really hard to read. That would’ve been more.

of a first quarter type as our customers are building to load up.

their distribution chains. What we’re really seeing is that our customers, particularly one or two in particular, are actually growing their geographic and distribution channels. We see that going on throughout this year and frankly into the coming years as well. We’re just seeing an overall lift in terms of new ownership of one particular brand that is being very aggressive. Good news is we both have had invested capital that got put on hold during the sales process that is now being fully utilized. I noted Thailand as an example. With the units I noted, that represents about a third of the targeted output of that particular location, and there’s more to come in other parts and regions of the world. It’s not a World Cup pop.

This is what we’ve been looking for for the last couple of, well, 18 months to two years as new ownership comes into play.

Paul Joachimczyk, Chief Financial Officer, Sonoco: Yeah. Hillary, to add onto that too, we are seeing increased promotional activity in that space as well, which is leading to higher volumes. That growth is really sitting in the international markets. You think about Europe, the Asia Pacific regions that are out there too, and seeing really strong generation for that demand. Led to, I’ll say, all of those competitors in that space really promoting the product and driving the growth. That’s just we write on those coattails a little bit.

Hillary Cacanando, Analyst, Deutsche Bank Securities: Got it. Great. Thank you very much.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Ghansham Panjabi with Baird. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Ghansham Panjabi, Analyst, Baird: Yeah. Thank you. Good morning, everybody. Howard, just going back to the consumer business. I know there’s a lot going on depending on specific end markets, including aerosol, et cetera. How has Eviosys been performing relative to your initial plan, including synergy realization, et cetera? It looks like it’s been about 18 months since you closed on the acquisition. Just your thoughts as it relates to the franchise position there, your market share in the region, et cetera, would be helpful. Thank you.

Howard Coker, President and CEO, Sonoco: Yeah, thanks. Things are evolving nicely. It’s a big acquisition. It’s going to take us a while to fully settle things down. We’re seeing the benefits, frankly, we said this from the very beginning, across the globe. We’re seeing benefits here in North America. Certainly, incrementally every day we see improvements in Europe. Not to belabor the point, but volumes, as we’ve mentioned multiple times, continue to improve. Our playbook is being rolled out. It’s going to be a multi-year playbook, and it’s going to be global based as well. Benefit around the world. Volumes look good. Key markets, I talked about investments that we made last year that are already contributing, and I’m talking about volume-related investments as well as productivity. We have a nice funnel over the coming periods related to both growth and productivity.

Feel good about how things are heading, looking forward to continued progress, frankly, from a global perspective, as these teams continue to work together to make it a much stronger business than it ever was.

Ghansham Panjabi, Analyst, Baird: Thank you. In terms of URB, as it relates to the strength that you’re specifically seeing, as you step back, is it a function of just tighter capacity in the industry, or improving demand? If it’s improving demand, what is that specifically being driven by, you think?

Howard Coker, President and CEO, Sonoco: We talked about new markets that we’ve entered. Relatively, on scope and scale, small, but really what we’re seeing, good share gain as well. It goes back to an earlier question. We compete with some really good competitors out there, but one thing that Sonoco has done, we’ve probably invested close to $200 million in our network over the last five, six, seven years, obviously including the conversion of the number 10 machine. We continue to separate ourselves from the existing competition. With that, you get market share gains. It’s a combination of new products as well as doing what we do better than the rest of the market.

Paul Joachimczyk, Chief Financial Officer, Sonoco: I think one of the things too, being relatively new to this space is, the innovation that the industrial business keeps driving and keeps challenging to get into those new markets, provide the better customer service across the space, it’s phenomenal. Just seeing the demand generation that they have done and been able to do in the last 12 months is great to see, and they’re not stopping. They’re very aggressive on working with customers to find new solutions to continue to utilize our URB mills to their fullest capacity and keep that funnel completely full.

Howard Coker, President and CEO, Sonoco: I don’t want to belabor the point. We don’t spend a lot of time talking about our adhesives division and the Henkel global relationship and how you take a select grade of board and ensure that it’s going to be bound and wound and meet the needs of customers. It’s not just making paper, it’s making sure that the adhesives are absolute. It’s an enabler for us to be in the saturated kraft market. It’s our adhesives group working with our paper group, which is now all under one roof, to again, separate ourselves from the existing competition and allow us to enter into new markets.

Ghansham Panjabi, Analyst, Baird: Okay, terrific. Thank you.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Matt Roberts with Raymond James. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Matt Roberts, Analyst, Raymond James: Roger, good morning. Second half, that inflation number came in at the high end, I think of the 8-10 since last quarter, ran up again here in July. Maybe what are you betting in 3Q in second half? Would you say your inflation outlook has improved or worsened since April, and where the greatest pressures there would be?

Paul Joachimczyk, Chief Financial Officer, Sonoco: Yeah. Matt, the inflation did come at the high end of the range at $10 million, and that was just due to, I’ll call it, our inability or lack of passing the recovery through it. Q3 though, all of the recovery mechanisms, as Howard talked about it, we have contractual increases that are out there. Fully expect to cover that now as it sits today. The changes can happen in realities. There could be new issues that pop up. As we sit, we feel really confident in our Q3 recovery of that inflation, and we don’t see it as a headwind on a go-forward basis.

Matt Roberts, Analyst, Raymond James: One last clarification, not to harp on it, but what portions of the industrial paper are you able to get the list price into as of July 8? Or is it basically all tied to the Tan Bending Chip Index now that should then start layering in in October, given that one-quarter lag on those index-based contracts? Thanks again.

Howard Coker, President and CEO, Sonoco: I think we’ve been pretty public. About 70% is tied to index, so that’s recovered day one of the following quarter. July 1 or so. The rest is open market, and those we’re able to pass through a big portion of that during the course of the quarter. The real recovery starts as we enter the third quarter.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Gabe Hajde with Wells Fargo. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Gabe Hajde, Analyst, Wells Fargo: Good morning, guys. Thanks for taking the question. I’m going to try to put maybe a little bit of a finer point on consumer and industrial first half, second half. I think you’re actually on a year-over-year basis ahead on price cost and consumer. I think, Howard, you said you’ve got some contracts that kind of reset effective July 1, August 1. On a year-over-year basis, it’s on the first half, you’re down in EBITDA terms about $20 million, all of which I think is attributable, actually a little bit more, to volume.

It sounds like you said low single-digit year-over-year volume growth in the second half. If that’s the case, then you recover, I guess maybe what you’re behind on price cost or what you’re envisioning for the second half, does that mean that we should get back to year-over-year growth of $20 million to $30 million in consumer in the second half? Then the URB hike, I think, Paul, $2.5 million per quarter per $10 a ton. A $15 million swing factor is what we’re thinking about for Q4 should RISI not reflect the price increase. Is that directionally how you’re thinking about it?

Paul Joachimczyk, Chief Financial Officer, Sonoco: Yeah. Gabe, I’ll break this down. The consumer impact, you’re spot on around the positive price cost sitting in consumer. With the contractual targeted increases that are out there, that will help keep that momentum out there for us and still have a positive price-cost relationship in the consumer space. On the industrial side, though, it was lagging on kind of call it the price cost recoveries that are out there, and we’re seeing a little bit more stronger lift. That really had to do with the inflation that was incurred in that second quarter. Saying specifics around numbers, I’ll say I’m going to stay away from that, but we do expect our Q3 to sit still right on top of consensus as it sits today. We’re not seeing anything that’s changing around there.

The URB, though, the $15 million, it’s highly dependent upon what actually happens in the market base from a pricing that’s out there. If you do see a drop and we don’t get any recovery, a little bit tough too to balance it out because we have such high demand in our mill utilization that’s out there. It’s challenging to say that that would be the impact. If it did market stop, I’d say you’d be in the right range for that for industrials.

Gabe Hajde, Analyst, Wells Fargo: Okay. Thank you, Paul. Then, I appreciate a little bit of a management philosophy, but you’re talking about low end of the guide for EPS and the range I appreciate is still pretty large for EBITDA for understandable reasons. Is there maybe some justification or thought behind maybe not lowering that to $1.50 to $1.30 or something like that? I don’t want to put words in your mouth, but just given the volatility and seemingly things re-escalating in the Middle East, putting some upward pressure on input costs. Is there something that you see in the second half that can kind of give you still a clear path to maybe mid-range upper end of the guide? Thanks.

Paul Joachimczyk, Chief Financial Officer, Sonoco: Yeah. Gabe, honestly, Q3 is our most critical quarter for this company, and it is highly dependent upon our pack season. Right now the early indicators of the pack seasons are it’s coming in strong. What I wanted to do is give us the optionality. Now after Q3 gets done, we’ll be able to tighten that range up and dial it in right for the full year. Given that close to 40% of all of our profits happen in that third quarter, we wanted to keep the optionality around the range open.

Gabe Hajde, Analyst, Wells Fargo: Thank you.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Anojja Shah with UBS. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Anojja Shah, Analyst, UBS: Hi. Good morning, everyone.

Paul Joachimczyk, Chief Financial Officer, Sonoco: Morning.

Anojja Shah, Analyst, UBS: I just have a quick question. Morning. It sounds like you have the investment in saturating URB. You have some capacity expansion plans in paper cans. Given what we know now, is it correct to say that there will be a step-up in CapEx in 2027? If so, what kind of order of magnitude are we talking about?

Howard Coker, President and CEO, Sonoco: No. First off, on the paper can side of it, what we’ve seen from a growth perspective is actually capital that’s been deployed year-to-date. Going forward, I noted multiple different projects, we’re very comfortable to maintain the type of capital expenditure range that we’ve been in, which is roughly about 4% of our turnover, pacing ourselves through that. As we work with our customers, we think that the timing, we should not see a material step up beyond just what I said, about a 4% rate against our sales.

Anojja Shah, Analyst, UBS: Okay. Thank you for that. Then just sticking with capital allocation, I know you’re planning to continue paying down debt through your three-year plan for 2028, how do you think about share repurchases within there? Is there any opportunity to maybe step that up a bit over the next couple of years, or how are you thinking about that? Thanks.

Paul Joachimczyk, Chief Financial Officer, Sonoco: Yeah, no, it’s a great question, honestly, we remain committed to paying down our debt. Now we do get to a spot once we get our leverage ratio to the right kind of, I’ll call it targeted for the rating agencies. Our cost of debt sits around 3.5% today, if our dividend yield is north of four, now it does create a different equation for us. Now this is just math. Do we buy back shares because it’s costing us more in a dividend, or do we pay down more debt? That’s really an answer that we’ll get to more in the 2027 and 2028 equations. We feel really good about where we sit. Share repurchases can become an option in for us in the future.

Anojja Shah, Analyst, UBS: Great. Thank you. I’ll turn it over.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of John Dunigan with Jefferies. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

John Dunigan, Analyst, Jefferies: Hey guys, thanks for the follow-up. Just looking at 3Q volumes, I get that they’re much more dependent for a consumer on the pack season. But with the businesses that struggled focusing on America’s sealants and aerosols in 2Q, I’m just wondering, what do you have baked into the guide? Have you lapped some of those aerosol gains that you had by this point? Specific comp issues, anything that we should think of in second half as we’re modeling?

Howard Coker, President and CEO, Sonoco: Yeah, I wouldn’t think so from a comp perspective. Our go forward is not to expect that we’re going to see much lift. Let’s don’t overreact in terms of the A&S side. It represents about 15% of our turnover or so in our North America only paper can business. It’s down, but it’s still highly active. It’s just not meeting our original expectations. If we go into the second half, we’re not planning on any material improvements that’s built into our guide.

John Dunigan, Analyst, Jefferies: Great, thanks. I just wanted to touch quickly on the freight surcharge opportunities that you called out in the deck. Just wondering what the opportunities are. Is this contractual price recovery that you guys are able to implement, have implemented? I would think it’s going back up. Maybe you could just touch on how your freight is. Is it mostly spot contracted? I’m thinking particularly on the URB side where you guys are running particularly tight and having to import tons from abroad.

Howard Coker, President and CEO, Sonoco: Mostly contracted and balanced with some spot, to answer that side of it first. We are just simply putting in surcharges. There will be an exception here and there, but for the most part, and this is not new to the world, it’s a line item at the bottom of the invoice that says freight and fuel surcharge, and it’ll come and go as diesel varies.

John Dunigan, Analyst, Jefferies: Understood. Thank you guys for the insight.

Operator: We have reached the end of the question and answer session. I will now turn the call back to Roger Schrum for closing remarks.

Howard Coker, President and CEO, Sonoco: Again, I want to thank everybody’s participation today and look forward to further communication during the next quarter. You can now hang up.

Operator: This concludes today’s call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.