Veritiv Corporation, a North American leader in business-to-business distribution solutions, announced financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2017.

"Our solid fourth quarter results brought to a close a challenging, but very important year for Veritiv. Once again led by growth in Packaging and Facility Solutions, our comparative reported quarterly and annual revenue performance was the strongest we have had since becoming a public company," said Mary Laschinger, Chairman and CEO of Veritiv Corporation.  "In the fourth quarter we also reported a nearly 20% increase in consolidated Adjusted EBITDA over the prior year quarter which was largely driven by strength in our Packaging business, and the impact of one extra shipping day."

For the three months ended December 31, 2017, compared to the three months ended December 31, 2016:

• Net sales were $2.2 billion, an increase of 5.0% from the prior year. Net sales increased 2.7% from the prior year, excluding the positive effect of foreign currency (0.5%) and the positive effect of one more shipping day (1.7%) in the fourth quarter of 2017.

• Net income was $12.3 million, compared to net income of $4.2 million in the prior year. Net acquisition, integration and restructuring charges were $(4.9) million in the fourth quarter of 2017 and $11.5 million in the prior year.

• Basic and diluted earnings per share were $0.78 and $0.77, respectively, compared to $0.26 for basic and diluted earnings per share in the prior year.

• Adjusted EBITDA was $60.0 million, an increase of 19.8% from the prior year.

• Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of net sales was 2.7%, an increase of 30 basis points from the prior year.

For the year ended December 31, 2017, compared to the year ended December 31, 2016:

• Net sales were $8.4 billion, an increase of 0.5% from the prior year. Net sales increased 0.7% from the prior year, excluding the positive effect of foreign currency (0.2%) and the negative effect of one less shipping day (0.4%) in 2017.

• Net loss was $(13.3) million, compared to net income of $21.0 million in the prior year. Net acquisition, integration and restructuring charges were $53.2 million in 2017 and $38.3 million in the prior year.

• Basic and diluted loss per share was $(0.85), compared to $1.31 and $1.30 for basic and diluted earnings per share, respectively, in the prior year.

• Adjusted EBITDA was $176.4 million, a decrease of 8.2% from the prior year.

• Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of net sales was 2.1%, a decrease of 20 basis points from the prior year.

"We have now captured 90% of the high end of our expected synergies of $225 million established in 2014.  The initial synergy capture is effectively complete and we consider it to be a success.  Our operating system conversion and warehouse consolidations will be substantially complete by the end of 2018," said Stephen Smith, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Veritiv Corporation.  "With the integration nearing completion during the second half of 2018, we plan to transition to the optimization element of our strategy."