US distribution company Veritiv reported excellent sales and earnings growth in the first quarter of 2022.
The company achieved Q1 sales of $1.9 billion, up by more than 19% versus the same quarter last year. Meanwhile, adjusted EBITDA was $119.5 million and net profit came in at $78.5 million – a record number for any quarter in the company’s history – as Veritiv successfully passed through price increases.
Packaging led the way. Revenue at the division was just over $1 billion, up from $855 million a year ago. This marked the fourth consecutive quarter of double-digit sales growth. Adjusted EBITDA was a Q1 record $97 million, with strong EBITDA margin of 9.7%.
The slimmed down Facilities Solutions division reported Q1 2022 sales of $13 million, a year-on-year improvement of 16.5%. Adjusted EBITDA margin at the unit was up by 20 basis points to 5.8%.
Veritiv has combined its former Print and Publishing divisions into a single reporting segment called Print Solutions. Q1 sales here were $55 million, an increase of more than 200% over last year, while adjusted EBITDA margin grew by 550 basis points to 9.2%.
We will have to see what happens longer term to the Print and Facility Solutions divisions. Veritiv has its eyes firmly focused on the packaging category, where it is targeting above-market growth rates. One of the reasons why it recently sold its Canadian business to Imperial Dade was that less than 20% of its sales in Canada came from packaging.
This story was originally published as premium content by our sister publication OPI.
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