Investor Presentation slide image

Investor Presentation

Non-GAAP Financial Measures Adjusted Earnings Per Diluted Share We use the non-GAAP financial measure "adjusted earnings per diluted share," also referred to as "adjusted earnings per share" or "Adjusted EPS" because we believe this measure provides our board of directors, investors, potential investors, securities analysts and others with useful information to evaluate our performance since it excludes restructuring and other costs, net, and other specific items that we believe are not indicative of our ongoing operating results. Our management and board of directors use this information to evaluate our performance relative to other periods. We believe the most directly comparable GAAP measure is Earnings per diluted share. Adjusted Operating Cash Flow We use the non-GAAP financial measure "adjusted operating cash flow" because we believe this measure provides our board of directors, investors, potential investors, securities analysts and others with useful information to evaluate our performance relative to other periods because it excludes restructuring and other costs, net of tax, that we believe are not indicative of our ongoing operating results. While this measure is similar to adjusted free cash flow, we believe it provides greater comparability across periods when capital expenditures are changing since it excludes an adjustment for capital expenditures. While this measure is similar to adjusted free cash flow, we believe it provides greater comparability across periods when capital expenditures are changing since it excludes an adjustment for capital expenditures. We believe the most directly comparable GAAP measure is net cash provided by operating activities. Adjusted Segment EBITDA and Adjusted Segment EBITDA Margins We use the non-GAAP financial measures "adjusted segment EBITDA" and "adjusted segment EBITDA margins", along with other factors, to evaluate our segment performance against our peers. We believe that investors also use these measures to evaluate our performance relative to our peers. We calculate adjusted segment EBITDA for each segment by adding that segment's adjusted segment income to its depreciation, depletion and amortization. We calculate adjusted segment EBITDA margin for each segment by dividing that segment's adjusted segment EBITDA by its adjusted segment sales. Leverage Ratio and Net Leverage Ratio We use the non-GAAP financial measures “leverage ratio" and "net leverage ratio" as measurements of our operating performance and to compare to our publicly disclosed target leverage ratio. We believe investors use each measure to evaluate our available borrowing capacity - in the case of "net leverage ratio", adjusted for cash and cash equivalents. We define leverage ratio as our Total Funded Debt divided by our Credit Agreement EBITDA, each of which term is defined in our credit agreement, dated July 1, 2015. Borrowing capacity under our credit agreement depends on, in addition to other measures, the Credit Agreement Debt/EBITDA ratio or the leverage ratio. As of March 31, 2019, our leverage ratio was 3.00 times. While the leverage ratio under our credit agreement determines the credit spread on our debt, we are not subject to a leverage ratio cap. Our credit agreement is subject to a Debt to Capitalization and Consolidated Interest Coverage Ratio, as defined therein. We define net leverage ratio as the product of our Total Funded Debt minus cash and cash equivalents divided by our Credit Agreement EBITDA. As of March 31, 2019, our net leverage ratio was 2.96 times. Forward-looking Guidance We are not providing a reconciliation of forward-looking non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP measure because we are unable to predict with reasonable certainty the ultimate outcome of certain significant items without unreasonable effort. These items include, but are not limited to, merger and acquisition-related expenses, restructuring expenses, asset impairments, litigation settlements, changes to contingent consideration and certain other gains or losses. These items are uncertain, depend on various factors, and could have a material impact on U.S. GAAP reported results for the guidance period. Adjusted Tax Rate We use the non-GAAP financial measure "Adjusted Tax Rate". We believe this non-GAAP financial measure is useful because it adjusts our GAAP effective tax rate to exclude the impact of restructuring and other costs, net, and other specific items that management believes are not indicative of the ongoing operating results of the business. "Adjusted Tax Rate" is calculated as "Adjusted Tax Expense" divided by "Adjusted Pre-Tax Income". We believe that the most directly comparable GAAP measures to Adjusted Tax Expense and Adjusted Pre-Tax Income are "Income tax (expense) benefit" and "Income before income taxes", respectively. 38 WestRock
View entire presentation