International Paper Company (NYSE:IP) shares gave up prior gains and are trading lower on Thursday. The company reported mixed earnings results and announced its plan to split into two public companies.
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Earnings Snapshot
International Paper reported a fourth-quarter loss of eight cents per share, missing the analyst estimate of EPS of 24 cents.
Meanwhile, sales of $6.01 billion exceeded the $5.93 billion consensus estimate.
Chairman and CEO Andy Silvernail commented, ”In North America, we grew above market in the second half of the year and delivered 37% year-over-year adjusted EBITDA improvement. In EMEA, we moved decisively and made significant progress in applying our commercial and structural cost levers to set us up for a strong year ahead.”
Silvernail added, “As we enter 2026, we anticipate meaningful progress on our commercial and cost-out initiatives and expect to deliver $3.5-$3.7B of adjusted EBITDA for the full year and $740-760 million in the first quarter.”
“We have confidence in the plans to achieve our targets for 2026 and believe our ongoing transformation investments will allow us to build momentum as we work toward forming two scaled, independent, regional packaging solutions leaders in North America and EMEA.”
Company Split
Also, the company disclosed its plan to split into two independent, publicly traded companies.
The new International Paper will include its North American operations, combining legacy IP and DS Smith assets. Meanwhile, the EMEA Packaging business will consist of DS Smith and IP assets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
The move reflects International Paper’s strategy to focus on its North American operations with a targeted capital allocation strategy.
The separation is planned as a spin-off of the combined EMEA Packaging business to shareholders, with International Paper retaining a significant stake.
The new publicly traded company is expected to list on both the London and New York Stock Exchanges; Tim Nicholls will serve as CEO.
IP expects the transaction to conclude within 12–15 months, subject to customary conditions.
IP Price Action: IP shares are down 3.43% at $38.06 at publication on Thursday.
Photo: Piotr Swat via Shutterstock
