Domtar Corporation reported net earnings of $4 million for the first quarter of 2016 compared to net earnings of $57 million for the fourth quarter of 2015 and net earnings of $36 million for the first quarter of 2015. Sales for the first quarter of 2016 were $1.3 billion.

In the Personal Care segment, first quarter 2016 sales were $216 million, down $2 million from the same quarter a year prior.

“Although our teams were very agile and executed well on things under our control, our results in pulp and paper were negatively impacted by unexpected costs during the extended maintenance outages,” says John D. Williams, president and CEO. “Given the timing of maintenance activity and costs related to the fluff pulp conversion, our first half results are expected to remain subdued before significantly improving in the second half as the benefits from the Ashdown conversion, lower maintenance and higher prices accrue.”

He adds: “We delivered strong year over year EBITDA growth in Personal Care with procurement initiatives and manufacturing cost savings driving the majority of the increase. During the quarter, we began delivering on our new sales growth wins including the successful launch of a partner brand and the ramping up of volume for a major account. We are on track to realize the top-line benefits of the new customer wins through 2016.”

The company says the second quarter is expected to be affected by seasonally higher maintenance activity in its pulp and paper business in addition to costs of approximately $23 million related to the fluff pulp conversion outage at its Ashdown mill. For the remainder of the year, Domtar paper shipments are expected to trend with market demand. Recently announced price increases should positively impact Pulp and Paper. Personal Care results should benefit from the new customer wins, market growth and cost savings from the new manufacturing platform. Costs for raw materials should marginally increase.