Sonoco reported a return to profitability in the fourth quarter of 2025, supported by acquisition-related growth and gains from divestments, according to its official earnings release dated February 16, 2026.
For the three months ended December 31, 2025, the US-based packaging group posted net income attributable to Sonoco of $332.2m, compared with a net loss of $43.0m in the same period of 2024. Operating profit increased to $520.2m from $56.1m a year earlier. Diluted earnings per share were $3.33, versus a loss of $0.44 per share in the prior-year quarter.
The company stated that the year-on-year improvement primarily reflected a gain on the sale of a business.
Quarterly net sales totalled $1,768m, an increase of 29.7% compared with the fourth quarter of 2024.
Consumer Packaging Expansion
In the Consumer Packaging segment, net sales were $1,142m, up 62.1% year-on-year. Sonoco attributed the increase to the inclusion of Metal Packaging EMEA following the December 4, 2024 acquisition of Titan Holdings I B.V. (Eviosys), as well as pricing and foreign exchange effects.
Industrial Paper Packaging net sales were $568m, compared with $571m in the prior-year quarter. According to the company, price improvements were offset by the impact of a 2024 divestiture of two production facilities in China and modest volume declines.
Cash Flow And Divestments
Operating cash flow was $413m in the fourth quarter and $690m for the full year 2025. Sonoco noted that full-year operating cash flow included $196m of one-time tax payments related to gains from the sale of the TFP business.
In November 2025, the company completed the sale of its ThermoSafe business unit to Arsenal Capital Partners for gross cash proceeds of $656m.
During the fourth quarter, Sonoco reduced net debt by $965m, and by $2.7bn across the full year. At year-end, net leverage stood at approximately 3.0x net debt to adjusted EBITDA, according to the company.
Full-Year 2025 Performance
For the full year, Sonoco reported net income attributable to the company of $1,003m, compared with $164m in 2024. Total net sales increased 41.7% to $7,519m.
Consumer Packaging net sales were $4,874m, an increase of 92.5% year-on-year. Industrial Paper Packaging net sales declined 2.1% to $2,299m.
2026 Outlook And Reporting Changes
For 2026, Sonoco expects adjusted diluted earnings per share in the range of $5.80 to $6.20 and adjusted EBITDA between $1.25bn and $1.35bn. Operating cash flow is projected at between $700m and $800m.
The company also announced that beginning in 2026, industrial plastics packaging will be included under Industrial Paper Packaging, leaving two reportable segments. Sonoco said the revised structure “appropriately represents the management of its business portfolio going forward”.
Howard Coker, president and chief executive, said: “Our Sonoco team executed well despite a difficult macroeconomic environment, delivering strong operating results, reducing net debt by approximately 40% year-over-year and lowering the company’s net leverage ratio to approximately 3.0x.
“In addition, we substantially concluded our portfolio transformation following the successful divestiture of ThermoSafe and further simplified our consumer packaging segment by consolidating our global metal packaging and rigid paper containers businesses into a single integrated structure — driven geographically — which we believe enhances our consumer go-to-market strategy, focuses our technology expertise and drives additional synergies across our global channels.”
