Glatfelter reported its results for the third quarter of 2018. As part of the company’s strategic transformation, Glatfelter completed the sale of its Specialty Papers business unit on October 31, 2018. Accordingly, Specialty Papers’ results are classified as discontinued operations for all periods including the recognition of a $97.5 million after-tax impairment charge in connection with the sale of the business unit.

Consolidated net sales totaled $209.9 million and $210.1 million for the three months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively. On a constant currency basis, Composite Fibers’ net sales decreased by 0.8% and Advanced Airlaid Materials’ net sales increased by 4.8%.

“We made significant progress on our previously announced strategy to transform Glatfelter into a leading, global engineered materials company,” says Dante C. Parrini, chairman and chief executive officer. “We successfully completed two major transactions, both of which closed in October. The sale of the Specialty Papers business and the acquisition of a nonwovens business in Steinfurt, Germany, support our strategic focus and further solidify our platform for long-term growth. In addition, we are well positioned for growth to accelerate in our airlaid business driven by our new Fort Smith, AR, facility and the Steinfurt acquisition.”

Mr. Parrini continues, “While we made progress on our transformation, we continue to face competitive market conditions and the impact of the rapid rise in raw material prices in our Composite Fibers business. We have maintained our focus on reducing costs and improving efficiency to address these challenges and we recently announced price increases for this business. We are also launching a plan to right-size our corporate cost structure now that the sale of the Specialty Papers business is complete and we expect to eliminate $14 million to $16 million of expenses by the end of 2019. The growth opportunities we see in front of us and these actions continue to give me confidence in the longer-term potential of our engineered materials businesses and the value they will deliver to our shareholders.”