MEMPHIS, Tenn. (News release) -- Sylvamo (NYSE: SLVM), the world's paper company, is releasing second quarter earnings.

Management Summary from Chief Executive Officer John Sims

Our second quarter highlights include implementing uncoated freesheet price increases with our customers across all regions. We're advancing our lean transformation journey to embed continuous improvement into how we run the business, so performance improvement becomes employee-driven, systematic and self-sustaining. Our teams also continue to make good progress on our high-return strategic investments at our Eastover, South Carolina, mill.

2026 is a transition year as we adjust our North America footprint while working through the termination of the Riverdale supply agreement with International Paper (NYSE: IP), changing tariffs and the extended outage to complete our strategic investments at our Eastover mill. Our commercial and supply chain teams have done an outstanding job to ensure our customers are well served.

Our strategic investments at Eastover continue to progress:

The woodyard modernization project is going well, with the hardwood line yielding improved reliability and chip quality since its startup in May. The softwood operation remains on schedule for the first quarter of 2027.

The paper machine optimization project remains on schedule, on budget and is expected to be completed during a planned maintenance outage in the fourth quarter, which will add an additional 60,000 short tons of uncoated freesheet capacity annually.

The new cutsize sheeter passed equipment acceptance testing in June, arrived in the U.S. a few weeks ago and teams are preparing for installation.

We are expanding warehouse capacity at our existing sheeting plant through a sale-leaseback transaction with a third party. The project will reduce supply chain costs, improve service to our customers and provide additional flexibility. We expect this project to be completed in the first quarter of 2027.

In the second quarter, Sylvamo generated a net loss of $11 million and adjusted EBITDA^* of $60 million. Cash from continuing operations was $38 million, and free cash flow^* was negative $23 million. In the last few years, we generated most of our free cash flow in the second half, and we expect to do so again this year.

Overall, we expect a much better earnings performance for the last six months of the year as price and mix, volume and operations should be better compared to the first half.

Our board of directors declared a $0.45 dividend for the third quarter, which we paid July 28.

*See "Non-GAAP Financial Measures" for definitions of non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations are included in the financial schedules below.

-Regional Business Conditions

In Europe, pulp prices improved throughout the first half of the year and seem stable. We continue to realize previously communicated price increases and announced another price increase effective in mid-June, which we expect to realize through the third quarter.

In Latin America, we expect seasonally higher demand through the second half of the year, positively impacting volume and geographic mix. We continue to realize previously communicated price increases to export customers across other Latin American countries as well as customers in the Middle East and Africa. Realization of these increases should continue through the third quarter.

In North America, industry supply and demand dynamics improved as roughly 7% of the annual uncoated freesheet industry supply was removed with the Riverdale paper machine conversion. In the second quarter, we saw imports into North America increase compared to the previous quarter, a reaction to the 10% global tariff window. We also continue to realize previously communicated paper price increases and expect to see additional realization through the third quarter.

We expect the Middle East conflict to continue pressuring energy, chemical and transportation costs across our regions as we go through the year.

-Looking Ahead

We continue to execute in the six areas I outlined in my letter to shareowners earlier this year that define how Sylvamo will be legendary for the way we relentlessly pursue and achieve world-class excellence. These areas are safety and well-being, employee engagement, customer centricity, operational excellence, cost leadership and sustainability, all of which support our long-term value creation strategy for shareowners.

We will make disciplined, data-driven decisions that position us for sustainable success and strengthen Sylvamo for decades to come. As industry conditions turn, our capital spending normalizes and the benefits from our investments begin to materialize, we have the potential to generate annually:

> $300 million in free cash flow

> 15% return on invested capital