Packaging Corporation of America reported unaudited consolidated earnings results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2015. For the fourth quarter the company reported net income of $104.3 million or $1.07 per basic and diluted share against $98.5 million or $1.00 per basic and diluted share a year ago. Net sales were $1,390.9 million against $1,434.0 million a year ago. Income from operations was $175.9 million compared to $173.2 million a year ago. Income before taxes was $153.6 million compared to $150 million a year ago. Capital spending was $96.6 million compared to $165.4 million a year ago. EBITDA was $264.5 million compared to $265.4 million a year ago. EBITDA excluding special items was $264.8 million compared to $283.3 million a year ago. Excluding special items, fourth quarter 2015 net income was $105 million, or $1.08 per share, compared to fourth quarter 2014 net income of $114 million, or $1.16 per share a year ago.

For the year, the company reported net income of $436.8 million or $4.47 per basic and diluted share compared to $392.6 million or $3.99 per basic and diluted share a year ago. Full year earnings, excluding special items, were $443 million, or $4.53 per share, compared to 2014 earnings of $459 million, or $4.66 per share a year ago. Net sales were $5,741.7 million compared to $5,852.6 million a year ago. Income from operations was $750.0 million compared to $702.7 million a year ago. Income before taxes was $664.5 million compared to $614.3 million a year ago. Capital spending was $314.5 million compared to $420.2 million a year ago. EBITDA was $1,106.5 million compared to $1,083.7 million a year ago. EBITDA excluding special items was $1,106.2 million compared to $1,143.6 million a year ago. Net debt was about $2.1 billion.

The company provided earnings guidance for full year of 2016. For the period, the company expects capital expenditures to be between $250 million to $265 million. Interest expense estimated to be $27 million, $5 million below 2015, primarily due to adopting of the spot rate approach for 2016 versus a single discount rate approach for calculating expense. Combined federal and state effective tax rate is expected to be about 35%. Regarding the current planned annual maintenance outages at mills, the total earnings impact of these outages, which include lost production direct costs and amortized repair cost, is expected to be $0.49 per share. The current estimated impact by quarter in 2016 is $0.07 in the first quarter, $0.16 in the second, $0.10 in the third quarter and $0.16 per share in the fourth quarter.