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Overview

INTRODUCTION

Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation (Nasdaq: SSCC) is the industry’s leading integrated manufacturer of paperboard and paper-based packaging. The company is the largest North American producer of containerboard, corrugated containers, multiwall and specialty bags, and clay-coated recycled boxboard (CRB). It is also a leading producer of solid bleached sulfate paperboard (SBS), folding cartons, flexible packaging, labels and point-of-purchase displays. SSCC is one of the world’s largest paper recyclers, a key raw material for its products.

As North America’s largest paperboard packaging company, Smurfit-Stone continues to identify developing retail trends, creating innovative packaging concepts and speeding them to market. In the process, Smurfit-Stone is changing customer perceptions of what packaging can do and what the company can deliver.

Smurfit-Stone’s production capabilities and innovation form the broadest product range of any paper-based packaging producer and the ability to meet the growing demand for value-added packaging.

HISTORY

SSCC was formed in November 1998, with the merger of Jefferson Smurfit Corporation (JSC) and Stone Container Corporation (Stone). JSC’s roots go back to 1974, when Dublin, Ireland-based Jefferson Smurfit Group (JSG) acquired partial interest in Time Industries, a Chicago-based paper and packaging company. JSG established a major presence in the United States with the 1981 acquisition of the Alton Box Board Company and the 1982 acquisition of Diamond International’s packaging operations. In 1983, JSG’s U.S. operations reorganized. The majority of these operations became subsidiaries of JSC. JSC went on to establish a leadership position in the U.S. paper and packaging industry with its 1986 acquisition of 50 percent of Container Corporation of America (CCA) from Mobil Corporation. Morgan Stanley Leveraged Equity Fund II (MSLEF II) purchased the other half of CCA. JSC restructured as a privately held company in 1989, jointly owned by JSG and MSLEF II. As part of the restructuring, JSC acquired the remainder of CCA. In 1994, JSC recapitalized as a publicly traded company.

Stone Container was founded in 1926 as J.H. Stone and Company. In 1945, it incorporated under the name Stone Container Corporation. In the 1950s, Stone expanded outside of Chicago, buying and building corrugated container plants in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. The company acquired facilities from Continental Group in 1983 and acquired additional facilities from Champion International in 1986.

The merger of JSC and Stone brought together two leaders of the paper-based packaging industry. In conjunction with the merger closing, JSG purchased 20 million shares of JSC’s stock from MSLEF II and certain other investors. In May 2000, SSCC acquired St. Laurent Paperboard, Inc. In September 2002, the company acquired MeadWestvaco’s Stevenson, Alabama, containerboard mill and related operations. That same month, JSG privatized and distributed its stake in SSCC. Today, neither JSG nor MSLEF II are stockholders of Smurfit-Stone. In March 2003, SSCC exchanged its European assets for JSG’s 50 percent ownership of Smurfit-MBI, a Canadian packaging company, and $189 million cash. SSCC now owns 100 percent of Smurfit-MBI. As a result of this transaction, SSCC is focused almost exclusively on the North American market.

Smurfit-Stone
2005-2006 Investor Fact Book
Statistical Supplement to Annual Report to Shareholders

PRODUCT SEGMENTS

Smurfit-Stone has two reportable business segments. The containerboard and corrugated containers segment accounts for 75 percent of net sales and includes the company’s containerboard mills and corrugated container operations. The consumer packaging segment represents 20 percent of net sales and consists of CRB, folding carton plants, and multiwall and specialty bag operations. It also includes packaging equipment, flexible packaging, tube, and label plants. Other operations include nonreportable segments, which accounts for 5 percent of net sales and primarily consists of recycling operations, including collection centers and brokerage sales offices.

SSCC 2004 Revenue: $8.3 Billion