Sonoco is a global packaging manufacturer focused on two core segments after a multi-year portfolio transformation that consolidated the business from roughly 20 diverse units. The Consumer Packaging segment (~65% of sales) produces steel food cans, aluminum aerosol cans, and rigid paper composite cans for CPG companies and food brands packaging products like vegetables, pet food, baby formula, snack chips, and spray cleaners. Sonoco significantly expanded its metal can business with the ~$3.8B acquisition of Eviosys in late 2024, making Sonoco the leading food can and closures manufacturer in Europe. The Industrial Paper Packaging segment (~30% of sales) is vertically integrated from fiber collection through paper mills to converting, producing paperboard tubes and cores used by textile, film, wire, and industrial customers, as well as uncoated recycled paperboard sold externally. Sonoco is the world's largest buyer of tinplate, giving it procurement leverage in its metal can business. Consumer segment profitability is driven by metal can volumes, price/cost spread on steel and aluminum inputs, and synergies from Eviosys, where Sonoco targets $100M in run-rate savings by end of 2026. Industrial segment profitability is driven by the spread between recovered paper costs and paperboard selling prices, plus operating rates across its 19 mills. Near-term strategy prioritizes margin expansion over volume growth, targeting ~200 bps of EBITDA margin improvement by 2028 through structural simplification, footprint rationalization, and commercial excellence initiatives.
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