Packaging supplier Cascades Inc. posted a $47-million net loss in the fourth quarter of 2014, which included a number of expenses such as asset write-downs and a loss on discontinued operations.
Excluding those items, the Kingsey Falls, Que.-based company reported $8 million of net earnings, down from $18 million a year earlier. Sales rose to $879 million, up from $844 million a year earlier.
The fourth quarter included the sale of some of its container business, the startup of a new tissue paper machine in Oregon and the startup of a new tissue converting line at a plant in North Carolina.
The net loss for the quarter ended Dec. 31 includes a $36-million loss from discontinued, operations, $13-million to recognize the impaired value of assets in its packaging group, a $13 million foreign-exchange loss, and a $5 million provision following settlement of a class action against the packaging group.
Cascades makes packaging products such as boxboard and containerboard as well as bathroom tissue, much of it using recycled material. The company’s Specialty Products Group is said to be Canada’s largest manufacturer of polystyrene trays for the food processing industry.
