Sylvamo Corp Q1 FY2025 earnings call

• Jean-Michel Ribiéras announced retirement, with John Sims to become CEO on January 1, 2026, and Don Devlin named CFO effective May 1. • First quarter highlights: successful heavy planned maintenance outages in Europe and North America (with some North American operational challenges), implemented uncoated freesheet price increases in Brazil and North America, and returned nearly $40 million to shareowners ($18 million via dividend, $20 million in share repurchases). • John Sims discussed first quarter adjusted EBITDA of $90 million, second quarter adjusted EBITDA guidance of $75M to $95M, European business challenges including wood cost increases and mill performance issues, and plans to improve product mix and reduce costs in Europe.

No detailed breakdown of product segment financial performance provided in the transcript. Key financial metric was adjusted EBITDA of $90 million with a margin of 11%.

• Expect second quarter adjusted EBITDA of $75 million to $95 million. • Anticipate significantly better adjusted EBITDA performance in the second half due to lower planned maintenance outage expenses, improved commercial results, and better operations. • 2025 Latin America and North America combined full year adjusted EBITDA expected to be slightly better than 2024; Europe's 2025 performance to be significantly worse than 2024 due to maintenance outages and weaker market conditions.

• Global economic slowdown and tariff uncertainty could impact uncoated freesheet demand. • Higher risk of inflation on raw materials, transportation, and capital spending.

Q: George Staphos asked about operational issues and order recapture.

A: John Sims said major reliability issues at Ticonderoga and Eastover mills were mostly behind us, with one issue still ongoing, and Riverdale volume issues continuing affecting volume.

Q: Matthew McKellar asked about upgrades at Saillat and Nymolla.

A: Jean-Michel Ribiéras said Saillat upgrades enable selling more specialty rolls, and Nymolla has opportunities to improve operations and reduce wood costs. John Sims added options like sourcing wood directly and operational improvements to reduce wood costs.

Q: Daniel Harriman asked about capital spending.

A: John Sims said full-year capital guidance of $220 million to $240 million remains, and Jean-Michel Ribiéras noted strong second half cash flow historically.

Q: George Staphos asked about North American demand and imports.

A: John Sims explained apparent demand includes imports, underlying demand is down 3%-4%, and imports are in inventory. Jean-Michel Ribiéras added strong order flow with customers.

Q: George Staphos asked about Eastover projects.

A: John Sims said operational issues do not affect Eastover projects, which are on schedule.