Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation, the largest US producer of corrugated packaging, has posted a larger fourth-quarter loss that included charges for restructuring and litigation settlements.
The company's losses widened to $92m, or 36 cents a share, from $9m, or four cents a share, a year earlier. The results included 15 cents a share in charges and seven cents a share in gains and benefits. Analysts on average had expected a loss of 25 cents a share in the quarter.
Litigation settlement charges ran $36m and restructuring charges ran $24m before taxes.
The company said it did not expect 'meaningful sequential earnings improvement' in the first quarter due to lower volume, cost pressures and employee benefit costs.
