Caraustar’s Carolina Mill Permanently Stops Production

ATLANTA—Caraustar Industries, Inc. announced that on March 19, 2009 it made the determination to permanently cease production of uncoated recycled boxboard (URB) at its Carolina Paperboard mill in Charlotte, NC. Production was ceased effective today. The company had previously announced, on December 11, 2008, the idling of the Carolina Paperboard mill. The mill had an annual capacity of approximately 62 thousand tons. The company will continue to service customers and their needs from other Caraustar locations.

Associated with this closure, the company will record a pre-tax charge of approximately $9.7 million, of which $7.3 million will be non-cash. It is expected that the rationalization of this facility will generate $11.4 million in annual pre-tax savings. The closure of the Carolina Paperboard mill will affect approximately 111 salaried and hourly employees. Caraustar will provide a comprehensive program of separation compensation, benefits coverage and job assistance to the employees affected by the closure to facilitate their transition to alternate employment.

In making the announcement, Greg Bartlett, vice president, sales Mill Group, stated, “In December, we announced that we were idling the Carolina Paperboard mill and would monitor demand in order to determine whether it was feasible to resume production at the facility. In this increasingly challenging economic environment, it is not economically prudent to resume paperboard production or to continue to keep the paper machine idle. Our focus continues to be on our customers. We are committed to providing superior customer service.”