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GENERAL INFORMATION
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2024
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
GENERAL INFORMATION GENERAL INFORMATION
Nature of Business

Graphic Packaging Holding Company (“GPHC” and, together with its subsidiaries, the “Company”) is committed to providing consumer packaging that makes a world of difference. The Company is a leading provider of consumer goods packaging made from renewable resources or recycled materials. The Company designs and manufactures sustainable packaging solutions including cartons, multipack cartons, trays, carriers, paperboard canisters, and cups and bowls made primarily from unbleached paperboard, recycled paperboard, and bleached paperboard.

The Company serves a wide variety of consumer nondurables (consumer staples) markets, from food and beverage, to foodservice, to household products, beauty and health care. It produces packaging solutions at over 100 locations in over 25 countries around the world, serving customers ranging from local consumer products companies and retailers to the largest multinationals. The Company offers one of the most comprehensive ranges of packaging design, manufacture, and execution capabilities available. The Company currently manufactures most of the paperboard it consumes in the Americas and purchases from third parties the majority of the paperboard it consumes in its Europe Paperboard Packaging segment.

Graphic Packaging works closely with its customers to understand their needs and goals and to create new and innovative designs customized to their specific needs. The Company’s approach serves to build and strengthen long-term relationships with purchasing, brand management, marketing, and other key customer functions. The Company is organized to bring the full resources of its global and local innovation, design, and manufacturing capabilities to all of its customers with the goal of delivering packaging solutions that are more circular, more functional, and more convenient.

Basis of Presentation and Principles of Consolidation

The Company’s Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements include all subsidiaries in which the Company has the ability to exercise direct or indirect control over operating and financial policies. Intercompany transactions and balances are eliminated in consolidation.

In the Company’s opinion, the accompanying Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements contain all normal recurring adjustments necessary to state fairly the financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the interim periods. The Company’s year-end Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet data was derived from audited financial statements. The accompanying unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with instructions to Form 10-Q and Rule 10-01 of Regulation S-X and do not include all the information required by accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) for complete financial statements. Therefore, these Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements should be read in conjunction with the Company's 2023 Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023. In addition, the preparation of the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual amounts could differ from those estimates and changes in these estimates are recorded when known.
Revenue Recognition

The Company has two primary activities, the manufacturing and converting of paperboard for and into consumer packaging made from renewable and/or recycled resources, from which it generates revenue from contracts with customers. Revenue is disaggregated primarily by geography and type of activity as further explained in “Note 10 - Segment Information”. All reportable segments and the Australia and Pacific Rim operating segments recognize revenue under the same method, allocate transaction price using similar methods, and have similar economic factors impacting the uncertainty of revenue and related cash flows.

Revenue is recognized on the Company's annual and multi-year supply contracts when the Company satisfies the performance obligation by transferring control over the product or delivery of a service to a customer, which is generally based on shipping terms and passage of title under the point-in-time method of recognition. For the three months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023, the Company recognized $2,206 million and $2,340 million, respectively, of revenue from contracts with customers. For the nine months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023, the Company recognized $6,685 million and $7,146 million, respectively, of revenue from contracts with customers.

The transaction price allocated to each performance obligation consists of the stand-alone selling price, estimates of rebates and other sales or contract renewal incentives, and cash discounts and sales returns (“Variable Consideration”) and excludes sales tax. Estimates are made for Variable Consideration based on contract terms and historical experience of actual results and are applied to the performance obligations as they are satisfied. Packaging purchases by the Company’s principal customers are manufactured and shipped with minimal lead time; therefore, performance obligations are generally satisfied shortly after manufacturing and shipment. The Company uses standard payment terms that are consistent with industry practice.

The Company's contract assets consist primarily of contract renewal incentive payments to customers which are amortized over the period in which performance obligations related to the contract renewal are satisfied. As of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, contract assets were $28 million. The Company's contract liabilities consist principally of rebates, and as of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023 were $69 million and $60 million, respectively.
Accounts Receivable and Allowances

Accounts receivable are stated at the amount owed by the customer, net of an allowance for estimated uncollectible accounts, returns and allowances, and cash discounts. The allowance for doubtful accounts is estimated based on historical experience, current economic conditions and the creditworthiness of customers. Receivables are charged to the allowance when determined to be no longer collectible.

The Company has entered into agreements to sell, on a revolving basis, certain trade accounts receivable to third party financial institutions. Transfers under these agreements meet the requirements to be accounted for as sales in accordance with the Transfers and Servicing topic of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (the “Codification”). The loss on sale is included in Other Expense, Net in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations. The following table summarizes the activity under these programs for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively:

Nine Months Ended September 30,
In millions20242023
Receivables Sold and Derecognized
$2,687 $2,811 
Proceeds Collected on Behalf of Financial Institutions2,665 2,697 
Net Proceeds (Paid to) Received from Financial Institutions(32)59 
Deferred Purchase Price at September 30(a)
35 19 
Pledged Receivables at September 30171 173 
(a) Included in Other Current Assets on the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets and represents a beneficial interest in the receivables sold to the financial institutions, which is a Level 3 fair value measure.

Receivables sold under all programs subject to continuing involvement, which consist principally of collection services, were $788 million and $770 million as of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively.

The Company also participates in supply chain financing arrangements offered by certain customers that qualify for sale accounting in accordance with the Transfers and Servicing topic of the FASB Codification. For the nine months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023, the Company sold receivables of $793 million and $869 million, respectively, related to these arrangements.
Share Repurchases and Dividends

On July 27, 2023, the Company's board of directors authorized an additional share repurchase program to allow the Company to purchase up to $500 million of the Company's issued and outstanding shares of common stock through open market purchases, privately negotiated transactions and Rule 10b5-1 plans (the “2023 share repurchase program”). The previous $500 million share repurchase program was authorized on January 28, 2019 (the “2019 share repurchase program”) and was completed in May 2024. At September 30, 2024, the Company had $365 million available for additional repurchases under the 2023 share repurchase program.

The following table presents the Company's share repurchases under the 2019 and 2023 share repurchase programs for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023 respectively:

Amount repurchased in millions, except share and per share amountsAmount RepurchasedNumber of Shares RepurchasedAverage Price per Share
2024(a)(b)
$200 7,243,734 $27.61 
2023$37 1,584,515 $23.57 
(a) Including $65 million shares repurchased under the 2019 share repurchase program thereby completing that program.
(b) Excluding $2 million of excise taxes incurred in 2024.

During the first nine months of 2024, the Company's board of directors declared three regular quarterly dividends of $0.10 per share of common stock to shareholders of record as follows:

Date DeclaredRecord DatePayment Date
February 16, 2024March 15, 2024April 5, 2024
May 23, 2024June 15, 2024July 5, 2024
August 1, 2024September 15, 2024October 5, 2024
Accounts Payable and Supplier Finance Program

The Company has arranged a supplier finance program (“SFP”) with a financial intermediary, which provides certain suppliers the option to be paid by the financial intermediary earlier than the due date on the applicable invoice. The transactions are at the sole discretion of both the suppliers and financial institution, and the Company is not a party to the agreements and has no economic interest in the supplier’s decision to sell a receivable. The range of payment terms negotiated by the Company with its suppliers is consistent, irrespective of whether a supplier participates in the program. The agreement with the financial intermediary does not require the Company to provide assets pledged as security or other forms of guarantees for the supplier finance program. Amounts due to the Company’s suppliers that elected to participate in the SFP program are included in Accounts Payable on the Company's Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets and payments made under the SFP program are reflected in Cash Flows from Operating Activities in the Company's Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows. Accounts Payable included $32 million and $30 million payable to suppliers who elected to participate in the SFP program as of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively.

Non-cash additions to Property, Plant and Equipment, Net included within Accounts Payable on the Company’s Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets were $91 million and $145 million as of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively.
Business Combinations, Exit Activities and Other Special Items, Net

The following table summarizes the transactions recorded in Business Combinations, Exit Activities and Other Special Items, Net in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations:

Three Months Ended September 30,Nine Months Ended September 30,
In millions2024202320242023
Charges Associated with Business Combinations(a)
$— $$$
Exit Activities(b)
13 24 35 41 
(Gains)/Charges Associated with Divestitures(c)
(71)
Other Special Items(d)
12 
Total
$16 $28 $(23)$62 
(a) These costs relate to the Tama Paperboard, LLC (“Tama”) and Bell Incorporated (“Bell”) acquisitions.
(b) Relates to the Company's closures of its three smaller recycled paperboard manufacturing facilities (which includes Tama), the closures of multiple packaging facilities and the discontinuation of the Texarkana swing capacity project (see “Note 13 - Exit Activities”).
(c) Includes the sale of the Augusta, Georgia bleached paperboard manufacturing facility (the “Augusta divestiture”) in 2024 and the sale of the Company's Russian operations in 2023 (see “Note 14 - Divestitures”).
(d) These costs include $3 million related to the devaluation of the Nigerian Naira and $8 million related to the change in terms of the 2024 grant of restricted stock units under the Graphic Packaging Holding Company 2014 Omnibus Stock and Incentive Compensation Plan (the “2014 Plan”) through September 30, 2024 (see “Note 5 - Stock Incentive Plans”). In 2023, $7 million related to the devaluation of the Nigerian Naira in June 2023.

2024

On May 1, 2024, the Company completed the Augusta divestiture to Clearwater Paper Corporation for a total consideration of $711 million. The gain associated with this divestiture is included in (Gains)/Charges Associated with Divestitures in the table above. For more information, see Note 14 - Divestitures”.

During the second quarter of 2024, the Company decided to close multiple packaging facilities by the end of 2024. Production from these facilities will be consolidated into our existing packaging network. Charges associated with this project are included in Exit Activities in the table above. For more information, see
Note 13 - Exit Activities. Current Assets within the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet also includes $11 million relating to multiple packaging facilities, which met the held for sale criteria as of September 30, 2024.

2023

During 2023, the Company decided to close multiple packaging facilities by the end of 2023 and early 2024. Production from these facilities has been consolidated into our existing packaging network. Charges associated with this project are included in Exit Activities in the table above. For more information, see Note 13 - Exit Activities.

On January 31, 2023, the Company completed the acquisition of Tama, a recycled paperboard manufacturing facility located in Tama, Iowa. The costs associated with this acquisition were less than $1 million and are included in Charges Associated with Business Combinations in the table above. For more information, see “Note 3 - Business Combinations. Subsequently, in the second quarter of 2023, the Company closed this facility. For more information, see “Note 13 - Exit Activities”.
On February 7, 2023, the Company announced an approximately $1 billion investment in a new recycled paperboard manufacturing facility located in Waco, Texas. In conjunction with the completion of this project, the Company expects to close two additional smaller recycled paperboard manufacturing facilities in order to strategically expand capacity while lowering costs. Charges associated with these closures are included in Exit Activities in the table above. For more information, see “Note 13 - Exit Activities”.

On September 8, 2023, the Company completed the acquisition of Bell, an independent packaging company for $262 million. The acquisition included three packaging facilities located in South Dakota and Ohio and is reported within the Americas Paperboard Packaging reportable segment. Charges associated with this acquisition are included in Charges Associated with Business Combinations in the table above. For more information, see Note 3 - Business Combinations”.

During the third quarter of 2023, the Company decided to discontinue the project in Texarkana to modify an existing paperboard machine to add swing capacity between bleached and unbleached paperboard in order to focus growth investments in the strategic expansion of recycled paperboard capacity. Through September 30, 2023, the Company incurred charges of $14 million related to the write-off of assets, which were primarily engineering, consulting, and permitting costs for this project. Charges associated with this project are included in Exit Activities in the table above. For more information, see “Note 13 - Exit Activities”.

During the third quarter of 2023, the Company decided to permanently decommission the K3 recycled paperboard machine in Kalamazoo, Michigan as part of its recycled paperboard network optimization plan that the Company initiated in 2019. In 2023, the Company incurred charges of $20 million related to the write-off of inventory and accelerated depreciation for the assets included in Costs of Sales in the Company's Consolidated Statements of Operations. In addition, the Company incurred charges for dismantling of the K3 recycled paperboard machine of $5 million from announcement date through September 30, 2024. The Company expects to incur total charges associated with the dismantling of the K3 recycled paperboard machine in the range of $5 million to $10 million through 2024.

During the second quarter of 2022, the Company began the process of divesting its interest in its two packaging facilities in Russia (the “Russian Operations”). The assets and liabilities to be disposed of in connection with this transaction met the held for sale criteria as of June 30, 2022 and each subsequent quarter end through the date of sale. On November 30, 2023, the Company completed the sale of its Russian Operations. Impairment charges associated with this divestiture are included in (Gains)/Charges Associated with a Divestiture in the table above. For more information, see “Note 14 - Divestitures”.
Adoption of New Accounting Standards

In June 2022, the FASB issued ASU 2022-03, Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820): Fair Value Measurement of Equity Securities Subject to Contractual Sale Restrictions. This ASU clarifies that contractual sale restrictions should not be considered in measuring the fair value of equity securities. The Company adopted this standard in the first quarter of fiscal 2024 with no material impact on the Company’s financial position and results of operations.

Accounting Standards Not Yet Adopted

In November 2023, the FASB issued ASU 2023-07, Segment Reporting (Topic 280): Improvements to Reportable Segment Disclosures, which is intended to improve reportable segment disclosure requirements, primarily through enhanced disclosures about significant segment expenses. This ASU is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2023, and interim periods within fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2024, with early adoption permitted. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of this ASU on its disclosures.

In December 2023, the FASB issued ASU 2023-09, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Improvements to Income Tax Disclosures. This ASU expands disclosures in an entity's income tax rate reconciliation table and regarding cash taxes paid both in the U.S. and foreign jurisdictions. This ASU is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2024. All entities should apply the guidance prospectively but have the option to apply it retrospectively. Early adoption is permitted. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of this ASU on its disclosures.