Unless the context otherwise requires, “ we ” , “ us ” , “ our ” , “ WestRock ” and “ the Company ” refer to the business of WestRock Company, its wholly-owned subsidiaries and its partially-owned consolidated subsidiaries for periods on or after November 2, 2018 and to WRKCo (formerly known as WestRock Company) for periods prior to November 2, 2018.

General

WestRock is a multinational provider of paper and packaging solutions for consumer and corrugated packaging markets. We partner with our customers to provide differentiated paper and packaging solutions that help them win in the marketplace. Our team members support customers around the world from our operating and business locations in North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. We also sell real estate primarily in the Charleston, SC region.

WestRock was formed on March 6, 2015 for the purpose of effecting the Combination (as defined below).  Pursuant to the second amended and restated business combination agreement, dated April 17, 2015 and amended as of May 5, 2015 by and among WestRock, WestRock RKT Company (formerly known as Rock-Tenn Company, and a wholly-owned subsidiary of WestRock) (“ RockTenn ”), WestRock MWV, LLC (formerly known as MeadWestvaco Corporation, and a wholly-owned subsidiary of WestRock) (“ MWV ”), Rome Merger Sub, Inc. and Milan Merger Sub, LLC (the “ Business Combination Agreement ”), on July 1, 2015, (i) Rome Merger Sub, Inc. merged with and into RockTenn, with RockTenn surviving the merger as a wholly-owned subsidiary of WestRock, and (ii) Milan Merger Sub, LLC merged with and into MWV, with MWV surviving the merger as a wholly owned subsidiary of WestRock (the “ Combination ”). Prior to the Combination, WestRock did not conduct any activities other than those incidental to its formation and the matters contemplated by the Business Combination Agreement. On July 1, 2015, pursuant to the Business Combination Agreement, RockTenn and MWV completed a strategic combination of their respective businesses and RockTenn and MWV each became wholly-owned subsidiaries of WestRock. RockTenn was the accounting acquirer in the Combination. See “ Note 2. Mergers, Acquisitions and Investment ” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.

On May 15, 2016, WestRock completed the distribution of the outstanding common stock, par value $0.01 per share, of Ingevity Corporation, formerly the Specialty Chemicals business of WestRock (“ Ingevity ”) to WestRock’s stockholders (the “ Separation ”). As a result of the Separation, we disposed of our former Specialty Chemicals segment in its entirety and ceased to consolidate its assets, liabilities and results of operations in our consolidated financial statements. Accordingly, we have presented the financial position and results of operations of our former Specialty Chemicals segment as discontinued operations in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for all periods presented. See “ Note 7. Discontinued Operations ” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.

On April 6, 2017, we completed the sale (the “ HH&B Sale ”) of our Home, Health and Beauty business, a former division of our Consumer Packaging segment (“ HH&B ”). We used the proceeds from the HH&B Sale in connection with the MPS Acquisition (as defined below). We recorded a pre-tax gain on sale of HH&B of $192.8 million in fiscal 2017. See “ Note 1. Description of Business and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies — Description of Business ” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.

On June 6, 2017, we completed the acquisition (the “ MPS Acquisition ”) of Multi Packaging Solutions International Limited, a Bermuda (“ MPS ”) exempted company. MPS is reported in our Consumer Packaging segment. See “ Note 2. Mergers, Acquisitions and Investment ” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.

We report our financial results of operations in the following three reportable segments: Corrugated Packaging, which consists of our containerboard mills and corrugated packaging operations, as well as our recycling operations; Consumer Packaging, which consists of consumer mills, folding carton, beverage, merchandising displays and partition operations; and Land and Development, which sells real estate primarily in the Charleston, SC region. Following the Combination and until the completion of the Separation, our financial results of operations had a fourth reportable segment, Specialty Chemicals. Prior to the HH&B Sale, our Consumer Packaging segment included HH&B.

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Products

Corrugated Packaging Segment

We are one of the largest integrated producers of linerboard and corrugating medium (“ containerboard ”) in North America measured by tons produced, and one of the largest producers of high-graphics preprinted linerboard measured by net sales in North America. We have integrated corrugated operations in North America, Brazil and India. We believe we are one of the largest paper recyclers in North America and our recycling operations provide substantially all of the recycled fiber to our mills, as well as to third parties. Our Brazil operations own and operate forestlands that provide virgin fiber to our Brazilian mill.

We operate an integrated corrugated packaging system that manufactures primarily containerboard, corrugated sheets, corrugated packaging and preprinted linerboard for sale to consumer and industrial products manufacturers and corrugated box manufacturers. We produce a full range of high-quality corrugated containers designed to protect, ship, store, promote and display products made to our customers’ merchandising and distribution specifications. We convert corrugated sheets into corrugated products ranging from one-color protective cartons to graphically brilliant point-of-purchase packaging. Our corrugated container plants serve local customers and regional and large national accounts. Corrugated packaging is used to provide protective packaging for shipment and distribution of food, paper, health and beauty, and other household, consumer, commercial and industrial products. Corrugated packaging may also be graphically enhanced for retail sale, particularly in club store locations. We provide customers with innovative packaging solutions to promote and sell their products. We provide structural and graphic design, engineering services and custom, proprietary and standard automated packaging machines, offering customers turn-key installation, automation, line integration and packaging solutions. To make corrugated sheet stock, we feed linerboard and corrugating medium into a corrugator that flutes the medium to specified sizes, glues the linerboard and fluted medium together, and slits and cuts the resulting corrugated paperboard into sheets to customer specifications. Our containerboard mills and corrugated container operations are integrated with the majority of our containerboard production used internally by our corrugated container operations. The balance is either used in trade swaps with other manufacturers or sold domestically and internationally.

Our recycling operations primarily procure recovered paper (also known as recycled fiber) from our converting facilities and from third parties, such as factories, warehouses, commercial printers, office complexes, grocery and retail stores, document storage facilities, paper converters and other wastepaper collectors. We handle a wide variety of grades of recovered paper, including old corrugated containers, office paper, box clippings, newspaper and print shop scraps. We operate recycling facilities that collect, sort, grade and bale recovered paper and, after sorting and baling, we transfer it to our mills for processing or sell it principally to manufacturers of paperboard or containerboard in the United States (“ U.S. ”), as well as manufacturers of tissue, newsprint, roofing products and insulation, and to export markets. We operate a nationwide fiber marketing and brokerage system that serves large regional and national accounts, as well as our recycled containerboard and paperboard mills, and sells scrap materials from our converting businesses and mills. Brokerage contracts provide bulk purchasing, often resulting in lower prices and cleaner recovered paper. Many of our recycling facilities are located close to our recycled containerboard and paperboard mills, which helps promote the availability of supply with reduced shipping costs. In fiscal 2019, we plan to operate our recycling operations primarily as a procurement function, shifting its focus to the procurement of low cost, high quality fiber for our mill system. As a result, we will no longer record recycling sales. Sales of corrugated packaging products to external customers accounted for 54.9%, 55.5% and 54.6% of our net sales in fiscal 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively. See “ Note 6. Segment Information ” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, as well as Item 7. “ Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations ”, for additional information.

Consumer Packaging Segment

We operate integrated virgin and recycled fiber paperboard mills, consumer packaging converting operations, which convert items such as folding and beverage cartons, displays, interior partitions, inserts and labels. Our integrated system of virgin and recycled mills produces paperboard for our converting operations and third parties. We internally consume or sell to manufacturers of folding cartons and other paperboard products our coated natural kraft, bleached paperboard and coated recycled paperboard, and internally consume or sell to manufacturers of solid fiber interior packaging, tubes and cores, book covers and other paperboard products our specialty recycled paperboard. The mill owned by our Seven Hills Paperboard LLC (“ Seven Hills ”) joint venture in Lynchburg, VA manufactures gypsum paperboard liner for sale to our joint venture partner.

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We are one of the largest manufacturers of folding and beverage cartons in North America. We believe we are one of the largest manufacturers of temporary promotional point-of-purchase displays in North America measured by net sales and the largest manufacturer of solid fiber partitions in North America measured by net sales. Our folding and beverage cartons are used to package items such as food, paper, beverages, dairy products, tobacco, confectionery, health and beauty and other household consumer, commercial and industrial products primarily for retail sale. Our folding and beverage cartons are also used by our customers to attract consumer attention at the point-of-sale. We manufacture express mail packages for the overnight courier industry, provide inserts and labels as well as rigid packaging and other printed packaging products, such as transaction cards (e.g., credit, debit, etc.), brochures, product literature, marketing materials (such as booklets, folders, inserts, cover sheets and slipcases) and grower tags and plant stakes for the horticultural market. For the global healthcare market, we manufacture secondary packages designed to enhance patient adherence for prescription drugs, as well as paperboard packaging for over-the-counter and prescription drugs. Our customers generally use our inserts and labels to provide customer product information either inside a secondary package (e.g., a folding carton) or affixed to the outside of a primary package (e.g., a bottle). Folding cartons typically protect customers’ products during shipment and distribution, and employ graphics to promote them at retail. We manufacture folding and beverage cartons from recycled and virgin paperboard, laminated paperboard and various substrates with specialty characteristics, such as grease masking and microwaveability. We print, coat, die-cut and glue the cartons to customer specifications and ship finished cartons to customers for assembling, filling and sealing. We employ a broad range of offset, flexographic, gravure, backside printing, coating and finishing technologies, as well as iridescent, holographic, textured and dimensional effects to provide differentiated packaging products, and support our customers with new package development, innovation and design services and package testing services. We manufacture and sell our solid fiber and corrugated partitions and die-cut paperboard components principally to glass container manufacturers and producers of beer, food, wine, spirits, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, and to the automotive industry.

We design, manufacture and, in certain cases, pack temporary displays for sale to consumer products companies and retailers. These displays are used as marketing tools to support new product introductions and specific product promotions in mass merchandising stores, supermarkets, convenience stores, home improvement stores and other retail locations. We also design, manufacture and, in some cases, pre-assemble permanent displays for these customers. We make temporary displays primarily from corrugated paperboard. Unlike temporary displays, permanent displays are restocked with our customers’ product; therefore, they are constructed primarily from metal, plastic, wood and other durable materials. We provide contract packing services, such as multi-product promotional packing and product manipulation, such as multipacks and onpacks. We manufacture and distribute point of sale material utilizing litho, screen and digital printing technologies. We manufacture lithographic laminated packaging for sale to our customers that require packaging with high quality graphics and strength characteristics.

Sales of consumer packaging products to external customers accounted for 44.2%, 42.8% and 44.6% of our net sales in fiscal 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively. See “ Note 6. Segment Information ” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, as well as Item 7. “ Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations ”, for additional information.

Land and Development Segment

We are responsible for maximizing the value of the various real estate holdings we own that are concentrated in the Charleston, SC region, some of which are held through partnerships. We are in the process of accelerating the monetization of these holdings and expect to complete the monetization during fiscal 2019. After we complete the monetization, the segment will cease to exist. Sales in our Land and Development segment to external customers accounted for 0.9%, 1.7% and 0.8% of our net sales in fiscal 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively. See “ Note 6. Segment Information ” and “ Note 9. Assets Held For Sale ” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, as well as Item 7. “ Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations ”, for additional information.

Raw Materials

The primary raw materials used by our mill operations are recycled fiber at our recycled containerboard and paperboard mills and virgin fibers from hardwoods and softwoods at our virgin containerboard and paperboard mills. Certain of our virgin containerboard is manufactured with some recycled fiber content. Recycled fiber prices and virgin fiber prices can fluctuate significantly. While virgin fiber prices have generally been more stable than recycled fiber prices, they also fluctuate, particularly during significant changes in weather, such as during prolonged periods of heavy rain or drought, or during housing construction slowdowns or accelerations.

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Containerboard and paperboard are the primary raw materials used by our converting operations. Our converting operations use many different grades of containerboard and paperboard. We supply substantially all of our converting operations' needs for containerboard and paperboard from our own mills and through the use of trade swaps with other manufacturers. These arrangements allow us to optimize our mill system and reduce freight costs. Because there are other suppliers that produce the necessary grades of containerboard and paperboard used in our converting operations, we believe we would be able to source significant replacement quantities from other suppliers in the event we incur production disruptions for recycled or virgin containerboard and paperboard. See Item 1A. “ Risk Factors — We May Face Increased Costs or Inadequate Availability of Raw Materials, Energy and Transportation ” .

Energy

Energy is one of the most significant costs of our mill operations. The cost of natural gas, coal, oil, electricity and wood by-products (biomass) at times has fluctuated significantly. In our recycled paperboard mills, we use primarily natural gas and electricity, supplemented with coal and fuel oil to generate steam used in the paper making process and, at a few mills, to generate electricity used on site. In our virgin fiber mills, we use natural gas, biomass and coal to generate steam used in the pulping and paper making processes and to generate some or all of the electricity used on site. We primarily use electricity and natural gas to operate our converting facilities. We generally purchase these products from suppliers at market or tariff rates. See Item 1. “ Business — Governmental Regulation — Environmental and Other Matters ” for additional information. See also Item 1A. “ Risk Factors — We May Face Increased Costs or Inadequate Availability of Raw Materials, Energy and Transportation ” .

Transportation

Inbound and outbound freight is a significant expenditure for us. Factors that influence our freight expense are distance between our shipping and delivery locations, distance from our facilities to our customers and suppliers, mode of transportation (rail, truck, intermodal and ocean) and freight rates, which are influenced by supply and demand and fuel costs. We experienced significantly higher freight costs in fiscal 2018, as transportation companies raised prices to address a shortage of drivers and strong demand. The principal markets for our products are in North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. See Item 1A. “ Risk Factors — We May Face Increased Costs or Inadequate Availability of Raw Materials, Energy and Transportation ” .

Sales and Marketing

None of our top ten external customers individually accounted for more than 10% of our consolidated net sales in fiscal 2018. We generally manufacture our products pursuant to customers’ orders. We believe that we have good relationships with our customers. See Item 1A. “ Risk Factors — We Depend on Certain Large Customers ” .

As a result of our vertical integration, our mills’ sales volumes may be directly impacted by changes in demand for our packaging products. During fiscal 2018, approximately two-thirds of our coated natural kraft tons shipped, approximately three-fifths of our coated recycled paperboard tons shipped and approximately one-fifth of our bleached paperboard tons shipped were delivered to our converting operations, primarily to manufacture folding and beverage cartons, and approximately three-fourths of our containerboard tons shipped, including trade swaps and buy/sell transactions, were delivered to our converting operations to manufacture corrugated products. Under the terms of our Seven Hills joint venture arrangement, our joint venture partner is required to purchase all of the qualifying gypsum paperboard liner produced by Seven Hills. Excluding the production from Seven Hills and from our Aurora, IL facility, which is converted into book covers and other products, approximately two-fifths of our specialty recycled paperboard tons shipped in fiscal 2018 were delivered to our converting operations, primarily to manufacture interior partitions. We have the ability to move our internal sourcing among certain of our mills to optimize the efficiency of our operations.

We aim to execute consistent commercial excellence processes across the Company and believe that our ability to leverage our full portfolio of differentiated solutions and capabilities enables us to differentiate ourselves from our competitors.

We market our products primarily through our own sales force. We also market a number of our products through independent sales representatives, independent distributors or both. We generally pay our sales personnel a combination of base salary, commissions and annual bonus. We pay our independent sales representatives on a commission basis. We discuss foreign net sales to unaffiliated customers and other non-U.S. operations financial and other segment information in “ Note 6. Segment Information ” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.

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Competition

We operate in a competitive global marketplace and compete with many large, well established and highly competitive manufacturers and service providers. Our business is affected by a range of macroeconomic conditions, including industry capacity changes, global competition, economic conditions in the U.S. and abroad, as well as fluctuations in currency exchange rates.

The industries we operate in are highly competitive, and no single company dominates any of those industries. Our containerboard and paperboard operations compete with integrated and non-integrated national and regional companies operating primarily in North America, and to a limited extent, manufacturers outside of North America. Our competitors include large and small, vertically integrated companies and numerous smaller non-integrated companies. In the corrugated packaging and folding and beverage carton markets, we compete with a significant number of national, regional and local packaging suppliers in North America and abroad. In the solid fiber interior packaging, promotional point-of-purchase display and converted paperboard products markets, we primarily compete with a smaller number of national, regional and local companies offering highly specialized products. Our recycled fiber brokerage and collection operations compete with various other companies for the procurement and supply of recovered paper, including brokers and companies that export recovered paper to international markets. The Land and Development segment competes in the real estate sales and development market, primarily in the Charleston, SC region.

Because all of our businesses operate in highly competitive industry segments, we regularly discuss sales opportunities for new business or for renewal of existing business with customers. Our packaging products compete with packaging made from other materials, including plastics. The primary competitive factors we face include price, design, product innovation, quality and service, with varying emphasis on these factors depending on the product line and customer preferences. We believe that we compete effectively with respect to each of these factors and we obtain feedback on our performance with customer surveys, among other means.

The businesses we operate in have undergone consolidation. Within the packaging products industry, larger customers, with an expanded geographic presence, have tended to seek suppliers that can, because of their broad geographic presence, efficiently and economically supply all or a range of their packaging needs. In addition, our customers continue to demand higher quality products meeting stricter quality control requirements.

See Item 1A. “ Risk Factors — We Face Intense Competition ” and “Risk Factors — We May Be Adversely Affected by Factors That Are Beyond Our Control, Such as U.S. and Worldwide Economic and Financial Market Conditions, and Social and Political Change ” .

Governmental Regulation

Health and Safety Regulations

Our operations are subject to federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations relating to workplace safety and worker health, including the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (“ OSHA ”) and similar laws and regulations. OSHA, among other things, establishes asbestos standards for the workplace. Although we do not use asbestos in manufacturing our products, asbestos containing material (“ ACM ”) is present in some of our facilities. For those facilities where ACM is present, we have established procedures for properly managing the material, including, but not limited to, employee training and work practices to maintain the ACM in good condition and minimize exposure. We do not believe that future compliance with health and safety laws and regulations will have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition or cash flows.

Environmental and Other Matters

Environmental compliance requirements are a significant factor affecting our business. We employ manufacturing processes that result in various discharges, emissions and wastes. These processes are subject to numerous federal, state, local and international environmental laws and regulations, as well as the requirements of environmental permits and similar authorizations issued by various governmental authorities.

On January 31, 2013, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“ EPA ”) published a set of four interrelated final rules establishing national air emissions standards for hazardous air pollutants from industrial, commercial and institutional boilers and process heaters, commonly known as “ Boiler MACT .” Boiler MACT required compliance by January 31, 2016 or by January 31, 2017 for those mills for which we obtained a prior compliance extension. All

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work required for our boilers to comply with the rule has been completed. On July 29, 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a ruling on the consolidated cases challenging Boiler MACT. The court vacated key portions of the rule, including emission limits for certain subcategories of solid fuel boilers, and remanded other issues to the EPA for further rulemaking. At this time, we cannot predict with certainty how this decision will impact our existing Boiler MACT strategies or whether we will incur additional costs to comply with any revised Boiler MACT standards.

In addition to Boiler MACT, we are subject to a number of other federal, state, local and international environmental rules that may impact our business, including the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, fine particulate matter and ozone for facilities in the U.S.

We are involved in various administrative proceedings relating to environmental matters that arise in the normal course of business, and we may become involved in similar matters in the future. Although the ultimate outcome of these proceedings cannot be predicted with certainty and we cannot at this time estimate any reasonably possible losses based on available information, we do not believe that the currently expected outcome of any environmental proceedings and claims that are pending or threatened against us will have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition or cash flows.

See Item 1A. “ Risk Factors — We are Subject to a Wide Variety of Laws, Regulations and Other Requirements That are Subject to Change and May Impose Substantial Compliance Costs ”.

CERCLA and Other Remediation Costs

We face potential liability under federal, state, local and international laws as a result of releases, or threatened releases, of hazardous substances into the environment from various sites owned and operated by third parties at which Company-generated wastes have allegedly been deposited. Generators of hazardous substances sent to off-site disposal locations at which environmental problems exist, as well as the owners of those sites and certain other classes of persons, are liable for response costs for the investigation and remediation of such sites under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (“ CERCLA ”) and analogous laws. While joint and several liability is authorized under CERCLA, liability is typically shared with other potentially responsible parties (“ PRPs ”) and costs are commonly allocated according to relative amounts of waste deposited and other factors.

In addition, certain of our current or former locations are being investigated or remediated under various environmental laws, including CERCLA. Based on information known to us and assumptions, we do not believe that the costs of these projects will have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition or cash flows. However, the discovery of contamination or the imposition of additional obligations, including natural resources damaged at these or other sites in the future could result in additional costs.

On January 26, 2009, Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation (“ Smurfit-Stone ”) and certain of its subsidiaries filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Smurfit-Stone’s Canadian subsidiaries also filed to reorganize in Canada. We believe that matters relating to previously identified third party PRP sites and certain facilities formerly owned or operated by Smurfit-Stone have been satisfied by claims in the Smurfit-Stone bankruptcy proceedings. However, we may face additional liability for cleanup activity at sites that are not subject to the bankruptcy discharge, but are not currently identified. The final bankruptcy distributions were made in fiscal 2018.

We believe that we can assert claims for indemnification pursuant to existing rights we have under purchase and other agreements in connection with certain remediation sites. In addition, we believe that we have insurance coverage, subject to applicable deductibles/retentions, policy limits and other conditions, for certain environmental matters. However, there can be no assurance that we will be successful with respect to any claim regarding these insurance or indemnification rights or that, if we are successful, any amounts paid pursuant to the insurance or indemnification rights will be sufficient to cover all our costs and expenses. We also cannot predict with certainty whether we will be required to perform remediation projects at other locations, and it is possible that our remediation requirements and costs could increase materially in the future and exceed current reserves. In addition, we cannot currently assess with certainty the impact that future changes in cleanup standards or federal, state or other environmental laws, regulations or enforcement practices will have on our results of operations, financial condition or cash flows.

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We estimate that we will invest approximately $22 million for capital expenditures during fiscal 2019 in connection with matters relating to environmental compliance, excluding KapStone. It is possible that our capital expenditure assumptions and the project completion dates may change, and our projections are subject to change due to items such as the finalization of ongoing engineering projects and the outcomes of pending legal challenges to the Boiler MACT rules.

Climate Change

Certain jurisdictions in which we have manufacturing facilities or other investments have taken actions to address climate change. The EPA has issued the Clean Air Act permitting regulations applicable to certain facilities that emit greenhouse gases (“ GHG ”). The EPA also has promulgated a rule requiring certain industrial facilities that emit 25,000 metric tons or more of carbon dioxide equivalent per year to file an annual report of their emissions. While we have facilities subject to existing GHG permitting and reporting requirements, the impact of these requirements has not been material to date.

Additionally, the EPA has been working on a set of interrelated rulemakings aimed at cutting carbon emissions from power plants. On August 3, 2015, the EPA issued a final rule establishing GHG emission guidelines for existing electric utility generating units (known as the “ Clean Power Plan ”). On the same day, the EPA issued a second rule-setting standards of performance for new, modified and reconstructed electric utility generating units. On February 9, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay halting implementation of the Clean Power Plan until the pending legal challenges to the rule are resolved. As directed by Executive Order by the President of the United States (“ Executive Order ”), on April 4, 2017, the EPA issued a proposed rule announcing its intention to review the Clean Power Plan, and, if appropriate, initiate proceedings to suspend, revise or rescind it. A number of states subject to the Clean Power Plan have stopped working on their implementation strategies in response to the litigation and Executive Order; however, certain states where we operate manufacturing facilities have indicated their intention to continue their carbon reduction efforts. On August 21, 2018, the EPA proposed the Affordable Clean Energy (“ ACE ”) rule, which would establish emission guidelines for states to develop plans to address greenhouse gas emissions from existing coal-fired power plants. The ACE rule would replace the 2015 Clean Power Plan, which EPA has  proposed to repeal . The Clean Power Plan was stayed by the U.S. Supreme Court and has never gone into effect. Although the Clean Power Plan and ACE rule do not apply directly to the power generation facilities at our mills, if either rule becomes effective, it would have the potential to increase the cost of purchased electricity for our manufacturing operations and change the treatment of certain types of biomass that are currently considered carbon neutral. Due to ongoing litigation and other uncertainties regarding the Clean Power Plan and ACE rule, their potential impacts on us cannot be quantified with certainty at this time.

In addition to national efforts to regulate climate change, some U.S. states in which we have manufacturing operations are also taking measures to reduce GHG emissions, such as requiring GHG emissions reporting or developing regional cap-and-trade programs. California has enacted a cap-and-trade program that took effect in 2012, and includes enforceable compliance obligations that began on January 1, 2013. In July 2017, California extended the cap-and-trade program to 2030. We do not have any manufacturing facilities that are subject to the cap-and-trade requirements in California; however, we are continuing to monitor the implementation of this program as well as proposed mandatory GHG reduction efforts in other states. Also, the Washington Department of Ecology issued a final rule, known as the Clean Air Rule, which applies to facilities that have average annual carbon dioxide equivalent emissions equal to or exceeding 100,000 metric tons/year. Energy intensive and trade exposed facilities, including our Tacoma, WA and Longview, WA (which we acquired through the KapStone Acquisition (as hereinafter defined)) mills, and transportation fuel importers are subject to regulation under this program. In September 2016, various groups filed lawsuits against the Washington Department of Ecology challenging the Clean Air Rule. In April 2018, the Thurston County Superior Court invalidated the Clean Air Rule, and the Washington Department of Ecology subsequently filed an appeal with the State Supreme Court. The Court has not yet decided whether to grant the appeal. Implementation of the Clean Air Rule has been stayed in the meantime.

The agreement signed in April 2016 among the U.S. and over 170 other countries, which arose out of negotiations at the United Nation’s Conference of Parties (COP21) climate summit in December 2015 (the “ Paris Agreement ”), established a framework for reducing global GHG emissions. By signing the Paris Agreement, the U.S. made a non-binding commitment to reduce economy-wide GHG emissions by 26% to 28% below 2005 levels by 2025. Other countries in which we conduct business, including China, European Union member states and India, have set GHG reduction targets. The Paris Agreement became effective on November 4, 2016. Although a party to the agreement may not provide the required one-year notice of withdrawal until three years after the effective date, in June 2017, President Trump announced that the U.S. intended to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. The

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governors of New York, California and Washington subsequently announced their intent to form a “climate alliance” to coordinate a state response to climate change. At this time, it is not possible to determine how the Paris Agreement, or any potential U.S. commitments in lieu of those under the agreement, may impact U.S. industrial facilities, including our domestic operations.

Several of our international facilities are located in countries that have already adopted GHG emissions trading schemes. For example, Quebec has become a member of the Western Climate Initiative, which is a collaboration among California and certain Canadian provinces that have joined together to create a cap-and-trade program to reduce GHG emissions. In 2009, Quebec adopted a target of reducing GHG emissions by 20% below 1990 levels by 2020 and 37.5% from 1990 levels by 2030. In 2011, Quebec issued a final regulation establishing a regional cap-and-trade program that required reductions in GHG emissions from covered emitters as of January 1, 2013. The Province formally linked its carbon trading system with California’s system in January 2014 and with Ontario’s system in January 2018. Our mill in Quebec is subject to these cap-and-trade requirements, although the direct impact of this regulation has not been material to date. Compliance with this program and other similar programs may require future expenditures to meet required GHG emission reduction requirements in future years.

The regulation of climate change continues to develop in the areas of the world where we conduct business. We have systems in place for tracking the GHG emissions from our energy-intensive facilities, and we carefully monitor developments in climate change laws, regulations and policies to assess the potential impact of such developments on our results of operations, financial condition, cash flows and disclosure obligations.

Sustainability

Sustainability is an integral part of our business strategy and one of our four stated key value drivers for our customers. Paper-based packaging has several attributes that, we believe, makes it well-suited to helping our customers provide sustainable solutions for their customers. For example, it is lightweight, durable, versatile, renewable and recyclable. Given the size and geographic breadth of our manufacturing operations and our history of developing innovative products and solutions, we believe that we are uniquely positioned to help our customers improve their sustainability. Also, we are helping to drive the development of the circular economy by recovering used paper-based packaging through our extensive network of recycling facilities and turning the recovered fiber into new packaging or selling it to others to use to make new products. Examples of our commitment to sustainability include having one of the industry’s largest certified virgin fiber procurement systems and heading an industry-leading foodservice recycling initiative. We have been recognized for our sustainability efforts through, among other things, industry award programs and inclusion in the FTSE 4 Good index.

Patents and Other Intellectual Property

We hold a substantial number of foreign and domestic trademarks, trademark applications, trade names, patents, patent applications and licenses relating to our business, our products and our production processes. Our patent portfolio consists primarily of utility and design patents relating to our products and manufacturing operations. It also includes exclusive rights to substantial proprietary packaging system technology in the U.S. or other licenses obtained from a third party. Our brand name and logo, and certain of our products and services, are protected by domestic and foreign trademark rights. Our patents, trademarks and other intellectual property rights, particularly those relating to our converting operations, are important to our operations as a whole. Our intellectual property has various expiration dates. See Item 1A. “ Risk Factors — We Depend On Our Ability to Develop and Successfully Introduce New Products and/or to Acquire and Retain Intellectual Property Rights ”.

Employees

At September 30, 2018, we employed approximately 45,100 people, of which approximately 76% were located in the U.S. and Canada and 24% were located in Europe, South America, Mexico and Asia/Pacific. Of the approximately 45,100 employees, approximately 71% were hourly, and approximately 29% were salaried, employees. Approximately 41% of our hourly employees in the U.S. and Canada are covered by collective bargaining agreements (“ CBA or CBAs ”), which typically have four to six year terms. Approximately 3% of our employees in the U.S. and Canada are working under expired contracts and approximately 2% of our U.S. and Canada employees are covered under CBAs that expire within one year. Approximately 49% of our employees outside the U.S. and Canada are covered by agreements similar to CBAs, which most frequently have four to six year terms. Approximately 5% of our employees not based in the U.S. and Canada are working under expired agreements and approximately 6% of them are covered under agreements that expire within one year.

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While we have experienced isolated work stoppages in the past, we have been able to resolve them, and we believe that working relationships with our employees are generally good. While the terms of our CBAs vary, we believe the material terms of the agreements are customary for the industry, the type of facility, the classification of the employees and the geographic location covered.

In October 2014, we entered into a master agreement with the United Steelworkers Union (“ USW ”) that applied to substantially all of our legacy RockTenn facilities represented by the USW at that time. The agreement has a six year term and covers a number of specific items, including wages, medical coverage and certain other benefit programs, substance abuse testing and successorship. Individual facilities will continue to have local agreements for subjects not covered by the master agreement and those agreements will continue to have staggered terms. Wage increases specified in the master agreement have been negotiated and ratified. The master agreement permits us to apply its terms to USW employees who work at facilities we acquire during the term of the agreement. The master agreement covers approximately 60 of our U.S. facilities and approximately 6,800 of our employees.

See Item 1A. “ Risk Factors — We May Be Adversely Impacted By Work Stoppages and Other Labor Relations Matters ”.

International Operations

Our operations outside the U.S. are conducted through subsidiaries located in Canada, Mexico, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Sales attributable to non-U.S. operations were 19.9%, 17.6% and 17.1% of our net sales in fiscal 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively, some of which were transacted in U.S. dollars. See “ Note 6. Segment Information ” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information. See also Item 1A. “ Risk Factors — We are Exposed to Risks Related to International Sales and Operations ”.

Available Information

Our Internet address is www.westrock.com . Our Internet address is included herein as an inactive textual reference only. The information contained on our website is not incorporated by reference herein and should not be considered part of this report. We file annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“ SEC ”) and we make available free of charge most of our SEC filings through our Internet website as soon as reasonably practicable after filing with the SEC. You may access these SEC filings via the hyperlink that we provide on our website to a third-party SEC filings website. We also make available on our website our board committee charters, as well as the corporate governance guidelines adopted by our board of directors, our Code of Conduct for employees, our Code of Conduct and Ethics for the Board of Directors and our Code of Ethical Conduct for Chief Executive Officer (“ CEO ”) and Senior Financial Officers. Any amendments to, or waiver from, any provision of these codes that are required to be disclosed will be posted on our website. We will also provide copies of these documents, without charge, at the written request of any stockholder of record. Requests for copies should be mailed to: WestRock Company, 1000 Abernathy Road NE, Atlanta, Georgia 30328, Attention: Corporate Secretary. 

Forward-Looking Information

This report contains statements that relate to future, rather than past, events. These statements are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements made in this report often address our expected future business and financial performance and financial conditions, and often contain words such as “may”, “will”, “could”, “would”, “anticipate”, “intend”, “estimate”, “project”, “plan”, “believe”, “expect”, “target” and “potential”, or refer to future time periods. Forward-looking statements are based on currently available information and our current expectations, beliefs, plans or forecasts, and include statements made in this report regarding, among other things:

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Forward-looking statements are based on currently available information and our current assumptions, expectations and projections about future events. You should not rely on our forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to future events, risks and uncertainties — many of which are beyond our control, dependent on actions of third parties or currently unknown to us — as well as potentially inaccurate assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations and projections. Particular uncertainties that could cause our actual results to be materially different than those expressed in our forward-looking statements include: our ability to achieve benefits from acquisitions (including the KapStone Acquisition (as hereinafter defined)) and the timing thereof, including synergies, performance improvements and successful implementation of capital projects; the impact of the Tax Act (as hereinafter defined); risks and uncertainties associated with, the KapStone Acquisition (as hereinafter defined); the level of demand for our products; our ability to successfully identify and make performance improvements; anticipated returns on our capital investments; uncertainties related to planned and unplanned mill outages or production disruptions; investment performance, discount rates, return on pension plan assets and expected compensation levels; increases in energy, raw materials, shipping and capital equipment costs; fluctuations in selling prices and volumes; intense competition; the impact of operational restructuring activities; potential liability for outstanding guarantees and indemnities and the potential impact of such liabilities; changes in law, economic and financial conditions, including interest and exchange rate volatility, commodity and equity prices; our ability to maintain our current credit rating and the impact on our funding costs and competitive position if we do not do so; the amount and timing of our cash flows and earnings and other conditions, which may affect our ability to pay our quarterly dividend at the planned level or to repurchase shares at planned levels; our capital allocation plans, as such plans may change including with respect to the timing and size of share repurchases, acquisitions, joint ventures, dispositions and other strategic actions; the impact of announced price increases or decreases and the impact of the gain and loss of customers; compliance with governmental laws and regulations, including those related to the environment; the scope, and timing and outcome of any litigation, claims, or other proceedings or dispute resolutions, including the Antitrust Litigation (as hereinafter defined) and the impact of any such litigation, claims or other proceedings or dispute resolutions on our results of operations, financial condition or cash flows; income tax rates, future deferred tax expense and future cash tax payments; future debt repayment; the occurrence of severe weather or a natural disasters, such as hurricanes or other unanticipated problems, such as labor difficulties, equipment failure or unscheduled maintenance and repair, which could result in operational disruptions of varied duration; and other factors that are discussed in Item 1A. “ Risk Factors ”.

Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we do not undertake to update these statements other than as required by law. You are advised, however, to review any further disclosures we make on related subjects in our periodic filings with the SEC.