MeadWestvaco 1Q revenue up, profit down

MeadWestvaco says its first-quarter profit fell nearly 25 percent, as lower earnings from its land management business and a mill outage offset higher sales in its chemical and consumer packaging businesses.

The packaging company, based in Richmond, Va., on Wednesday reported earnings of $49 million, or 28 cents per share. That compares with $65 million, or 38 cents per share, a year ago.

Adjusted for charges related to a coming spin-off of its consumer and office products business, and restructuring charges, MeadWestvaco earned $60 million, or 34 cents per share.

Sales increased 4 percent to $1.42 billion.

Analysts expected earnings of 26 cents per share on revenue of $1.39 billion, according to FactSet.

MeadWestvaco Corp. operates in 30 countries and has customers in more than 100 nations.