Sylvamo Corporation

Good morning, thank you for standing by welcome to so vamos first quarter 2024 earnings call all lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers remarks, you will have an opportunity to ask questions to ask a question, please press one then zero on your telephone keypad to withdraw a question, please press one then zero again as a reminder your conference is being recorded. I'd now like to turn the call over to Hans Bjorkman, Vice President, Investor Relations. Sir, the floor is yours.

Thanks, Leah. Good morning, and thank you for joining our first quarter 2024 earnings call. Our speakers this morning are Jean-Michel Rivieras, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and John Sims, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Slides two and three contain important information, including certain legal disclaimers. For example, during this call, we will make forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. We will also present certain non-U.S. GAAP financial information. Reconciliations of those figures to U.S. GAAP financial measures are available in the appendix. Our website also contains copies of the earnings release, as well as today's presentation. With that, I'll turn the call over to Jean-Michel.

Thanks, Hans. Good morning, and thank you for joining our call. Let's turn to slide four, please. As anticipated, we experienced improving uncoated fruit sheet and pulp condition in the first quarter, which resulted in improved order books. Our mill system ran near full capacity, and our earnings reflect much less economic downtime. We're making good progress with Project Horizon, our program to streamline overhead, manufacturing, and supply chain costs. We are on track to meet our year-end run rate target of $120 million in savings. We also continue to return substantial cash to shareholders. We distributed $12 million via the first quarter dividend, and as of today, we have repurchased $20 million in shares this year.