2020 Westrock Annual Report
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
2020 ANNUAL REPORT BOARD OF DIRECTORS COLLEEN F. ARNOLD RUSSELL M. CURREY TIMOTHY H. POWERS Former Senior Vice President President Former Chairman, President and IBM Boxwood Capital, LLC Chief Executive Officer Compensation Committee, Audit Committee, Finance Committee Hubbell, Inc. Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee Audit Committee, Compensation Committee SUZAN F. HARRISON TIMOTHY J. BERNLOHR Former President STEVEN C. VOORHEES Managing Member Global Oral Care, Colgate-Palmolive Company President and Chief Executive Officer TJB Management Consulting, LLC Audit Committee, Finance Committee WestRock Company Executive Committee, Compensation Committee, Executive Committee Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee JOHN A. LUKE JR. (Non-Executive Chairman) BETTINA M. WHYTE J. POWELL BROWN Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer President and Owner President and Chief Executive Officer MeadWestVaco Corporation Bettina Whyte Consultants, LLC Brown & Brown, Inc. Executive Committee Compensation Committee, Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee Finance Committee GRACIA C. MARTORE Former President and Chief Executive Officer ALAN D. WILSON TERRELL K. CREWS TEGNA, Inc. (Lead Independent Director) Former Executive Vice President Executive Committee, Audit Committee, Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer Compensation Committee McCormick & Company, Inc. Monsanto Corporation Executive Committee, Nominating and Corporate Audit Committee, Finance Committee JAMES E. NEVELS Governance Committee, Finance Committee Chairman The Swarthmore Group Compensation Committee Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee LEADERSHIP STEVEN C. VOORHEES JEFFREY W. CHALOVICH PATRICK E. LINDNER WARD H. DICKSON President and Chief Executive Officer Chief Commercial Officer Chief Innovation Officer Executive Vice President and President and President and Chief Financial Officer DONNA OWENS COX Corrugated Packaging Consumer Packaging Chief Communications Officer JULIA A. MCCONNELL PETER C. DURETTE RAJIV BANAVALI Senior Vice President and AMIR A. KAZMI Chief Strategy Officer Senior Vice President Chief Accounting Officer Chief Information and Digital Officer and Executive Vice President Science and Innovation Container DANIEL P. MCNALLY VICKI L. LOSTETTER BRANDI COLANDER Chief Procurement Officer Chief Human Resources Officer MARGARET HERNDON Chief Sustainability Officer Chief Marketing Officer WILLIAM A. MERRIGAN MARK W. RUSSELL JOHN L. O’NEAL Senior Vice President Senior Vice President THOMAS M. STIGERS Executive Vice President Enterprise Logistics Performance Excellence Executive Vice President Global Food and Beverage and Safety Containerboard Mills TIMOTHY W. MURPHY GEORGE D. OBERNESSER Senior Vice President Senior Vice President Finance ROBERT B. MCINTOSH JAMES B. PORTER III Consumer Mills Executive Vice President President JOHN D. STAKEL General Counsel and Business Development Senior Vice President Secretary and Latin America PATRICK M. KIVITS and Treasurer President NINA E. BUTLER JAIRO A. LORENZATTO Multi Packaging Solutions Chief Environmental Officer President Brazil DEAR FELLOW STOCKHOLDERS: During the past fiscal year, we’ve witnessed how valuable and essential packaging is to our customers and the world at large. Against an extraordinary backdrop, we acted to navigate an ever-shifting supply chain to meet the demand for essential products and services needed by consumers. We are reminded daily that our solutions enable our customers to package and deliver food, beverages, healthcare products, cleaning products and other essential goods to consumers all over the world. Our incredible WestRock teammates deserve our deep appreciation for their resilience and for their uncompromising attention to safety. The safety of the WestRock team always has been a priority, and faced with the global pandemic, our protocols shifted quickly to help protect our teammates. Our dedicated teammates adapted quickly to these changes so that we could continue to serve our customers, support our communities and help protect the health of people and their families. STEVE VOORHEES We acted to ensure our ability to navigate in an unpredictable market Chief Executive Officer from a position of financial strength. Key to this was the initiation in May 2020 of our Pandemic Action Plan, which included flexibly matching our supply with customer demand, reducing executive and discretionary expenses, reducing capital expenditures and resetting our quarterly dividend. We differentiate ourselves in the marketplace with our ability to provide paper, packaging, machinery and displays – and help manage complex supply chains. Our capabilities and approach are unique in our industry and support our vision to be the premier partner and unrivaled provider of sustainable, winning solutions for our customers. As our customers increase their demand for higher-value, more functional packaging solutions, the mix of our business is shifting toward higher-value packaging solutions and away from lower margin paper markets. As a result of the platform we have built, the actions we have taken during the past year and current market trends, we are very well positioned for success over both the short term and long term. FISCAL 2020 HIGHLIGHTS I’m extremely proud of WestRock’s performance in fiscal 2020. In the face of a challenging, uncertain market environment, we delivered $17.6 billion in net sales, adjusted segment EBITDA of $2.8 billion and net cash provided by operating activities of $2.1 billion. In fiscal 2020, sales of packaging solutions accounted for $12.5 billion, or 71%, of our total sales. Increasing demand for e-commerce, more sustainable fiber-based packaging and digitally-enabled solutions drove organic growth of our packaging solutions volumes to record levels in the September quarter. We generated $1.15 billion in adjusted free cash flow, marking the fifth consecutive year in which we generated more than $1 billion in adjusted free cash flow. We achieved this while reducing total debt by $633 million. We have multiple levers to increase productivity that will help offset anticipated cost inflation and price pressures over the next year and beyond. Core to our productivity results are the contributions of our teammates, hundreds of which are trained in Six Sigma, and who execute projects contributing tens of millions of dollars in efficiency savings each and every year. We are investing in strategic capital projects, including those at the Florence, South Carolina, and Tres Barras, Brazil mills. These projects, when combined with the additional run-rate synergies from the KapStone acquisition, are expected to add more than $125 million of EBITDA in both fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2022. All told, fiscal 2020 was highlighted by the incredible efforts of our teammates during the pandemic to stay safe and healthy while nimbly adapting our operations to meet the critical needs of our customers. Working together, we managed through the challenges of this past year while developing and implementing plans to sustain and grow our business for the long term. IMAGINING AND DELIVERING ON A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE COVID-19 has heightened concerns about the environment and the planet. In fact, sustainable packaging features are more impactful today than they were before the pandemic. Sustainable fiber-based packaging is a driving factor with many of our customers as they seek to transition to more sustainable packaging solutions for their customers. We are extremely well positioned to partner with them to meet this growing need. Our commitment to sustainability is part of who we are as a company. Our vision for sustainability, Imagining and Delivering on the Promise of a Sustainable Future, is founded on three main pillars around which we are focusing our attention and resources: Supporting People and Communities Bettering the Planet Innovating for Our Customers and Their Customers Our progress is already evident. For the first time, WestRock was named to the 2020 Dow Jones Sustainability North America and World Indices in recognition of our sustainable business practices. DIVERSITY, INCLUSION, EQUITY AND BELONGING Sadly, the past year included tragic events punctuated by the continued senseless loss of life in the African American community. As we work to support our people and communities, we have developed and are implementing actions that will start with our leadership and ensure that we push for and enable changes that will make a positive difference for our WestRock teammates, their families and our broader communities. Our actions are focused on confronting bias, driving diversity and cultivating equity with a sense of belonging. Everyone at WestRock should feel welcome, heard, valued and safe every day so that we will create our future together to win together over the short and long term. LOOKING AHEAD As we enter fiscal 2021, demand across most of our paper and packaging markets is improving. Over time, we will continue to grow our participation in higher value packaging solutions markets and reduce our participation in lower margin paper markets. We will invest in expanding our commercial, operating and innovation capabilities while building our workplace for the future. Our broad portfolio and capabilities enable us to successfully partner with customers to help them grow their sales, lower their total costs, meet their sustainability goals and manage their risks. I am optimistic