Mail-Well Corp. blamed a continuing soft market for a first-quarter sales downturn.
The company, which sells envelopes, labels and printing services, reported sales of $392 million, compared with $433 million during the same period last year. The quarter ended March 31.
In addition, there was a $21.6 million loss, largely resulting from special charges.
For example, the firm took a charge of $13.6 million before taxes. This resulted from consolidation of some plants and other restructuring programs.
And there was a $8.5 million loss from discontinued operations.
The sales numbers were even lower for the "New" Mail-Well, which excludes the assets held for sale. Revenue totaled $365 million, compared with $411 million in 2001. Continuing operations lost $8.3 million.
"We have yet to see a turnaround in our markets, said CEO Paul Reilly in a statement. "As a matter of fact, they were down in the first quarter 2002 compared to the fourth quarter of 2001."
Reilly added that the company is continuing with cost cutting measures. But the firm downgraded its full-year EBIDTA forecast from $145 million to $130 million.
Englewood, CO-based Mail-Well closed the sale of its Curtis 1000 business during the quarter, and is in the process of selling its label and printed office products segments and other non-core assets.
