WestRock Provides Update Following Hurricane Florence

ATLANTA, Sept. 18, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WestRock Company (NYSE: WRK), a leading provider of differentiated paper and packaging solutions, today provided an update following the landfall of Hurricane Florence.

We are pleased that we have had no reported employee injuries and do not believe we have suffered any material physical damage to our facilities during the recent storm. We are working to restore normal operations at our facilities in the impacted region. We idled our kraft linerboard mill in Florence, South Carolina, in the middle of last week in advance of the landfall of Hurricane Florence. Yesterday, two of the three paper machines at the mill resumed operations, and we expect normal operations to resume after the transportation network in the region returns to normal.

WestRock operates an extensive network of mill and converting facilities in South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia that were in the storm’s potential path. We incurred incremental costs in preparing these facilities and moving inventory, finished product and critical supplies in advance of the storm.  With flooding expected across the region, we may have additional increased input and operational costs and issues in our supply chain, as well as experience negative impact from disruptions at our customers’ locations. We expect to provide an estimate as to the impact on our business and financial results later this month.

About WestRock
WestRock (NYSE: WRK) partners with our customers to provide differentiated paper and packaging solutions that help them win in the marketplace. WestRock’s 45,000 team members support customers around the world from more than 300 operating and business locations spanning North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Learn more at www.westrock.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are based on management’s current views and assumptions and are typically identified by words or phrases such as "may," "will," "could," "should," "would," "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "project," "intend," "plan," "believe," "target," "prospects," "potential" and "forecast," and other words, terms and phrases of similar meaning. Forward-looking statements include statements such as that we (a) do not believe we suffered any material physical damage to our facilities during the recent storm, (b) expect normal operations at our Florence, South Carolina mill to resume after the transportation network in the region returns to normal and (c) with flooding expected across the region, we may have additional increased input and operational costs and issues in our supply chain, as well as experience negative impact from disruptions at our customers’ locations. Factors that may affect these forward-looking statements include our ability to re-start operations at our Florence mill, the ability of employees of the Florence mill to travel to and from the mill, any damage we discover at the mill, and actions taken by our suppliers. General risk factors include, but are not limited to, economic, competitive and market conditions generally, volumes and price levels of purchases by customers; and competitive conditions in WestRock’s businesses and possible adverse actions of their customers, competitors and suppliers. Please refer to the cautionary statements set forth in Item 1A of WestRock’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 2017 and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended December 31, 2017, March 31, 2018 and June 30, 2018. WestRock undertakes no duty to update forward-looking statements.