Sonoco announced it has completed the divestiture of its Europe contract packaging business to a subsidiary of Prairie Industries Holdings, a Wisconsin-based contract packaging and contract manufacturing firm backed by The Halifax Group, a Washington, D.C.-based global investment firm, for $120 million in cash. Sonoco’s Europe contract packaging business produced net sales of approximately $300 million in 2019 and provides full-service custom packaging and supply chain management solutions to global consumer product goods companies through six contract packaging facilities in three locations and a warehouse all in Poland. The business has been part of Sonoco’s Display and Packaging segment and has approximately 2,600 employees. The divestiture is part of Sonoco efforts to simplify its operating structure to focus on growing its core Consumer and Industrial packaging businesses.

WestRock Company has delivered its flexible and efficient Cluster-Pak® EvoTech™ packaging solution for a joint partnership between Budějovický Budvar and Mattoni 1873 to advance their shared commitment to improving circularity in the Czech Republic. The solution has been deployed to package BIRGO, a non-alcoholic beer featuring unique flavor profiles developed by Mattoni in partnership with Budějovický Budvar, the Czech Republic’s largest international exporter of craft beer and the exclusive producer of BIRGO. Cluster-Pak EvoTech features easy, repeatable changeovers along with an optimized use of water, heat and electricity to improve both energy and operating efficiencies on high-speed lines. Its use of recyclable fiber-based packaging made from materials sourced from responsibly managed forests is key to establishing circularity on the BIRGO production line.

Second Quarter 2020 Highlights: *Second quarter net earnings (loss) attributable to International Paper of $266 million, compared with $(141) million in the first quarter of 2020 and $292 million in the second quarter of 2019. First quarter 2020 net earnings included an after-tax charge of $337 million for the impairment of the net assets and write-off of foreign currency translation adjustment following the announcement of the sale of our Brazil Packaging business. *Second quarter adjusted operating earnings* (non-GAAP) of $305 million compared with $226 million in the first quarter of 2020 and $460 million in the second quarter of 2019 *Second quarter cash provided by operations of $890 million and year-to-date of $1.5 billion compared with $1.8 billion year-to-date in the same period of 2019 *Liquidity position of $3.6 billion at the end of the second quarter compared with $3.5 billion at the end of the first quarter, which reflects cash and unused committed facilities