MeadWestvaco Corporation, a global leader in packaging, reported a four percent sales increase for the first quarter of 2012, reflecting higher volumes in targeted markets for food, beverage, home and garden, and healthcare packaging as well as increased volumes of higher value specialty chemical solutions.
 
Income from continuing operations of $49 million, or $0.28 per share ($60 million or $0.34 per share ex-items), declined compared to the previous year primarily due to lower earnings from the company's land management business and a planned mill maintenance outage in the Food & Beverage segment. The company increased profits in its Home, Health & Beauty; Specialty Chemicals; and Consumer & Office Products segments compared to the prior year. Industrial packaging earnings, primarily from the company's corrugated operations in Brazil, were essentially in-line with the prior year.
 
"With a solid start to 2012, including sales growth and solid earnings in the first quarter, we continue to build on our positive momentum by executing a very clear profitable growth strategy," said John A. Luke, Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of MWV. "We are focused on solving our customers' packaging needs in global end markets and fast-growing geographies, and in doing so we are earning more of their packaging spend and gaining share in the market segments with the greatest profit potential. Our results in the first quarter indicate that our strategy is working."