|
Corporate and Other We report what our Corporate and Other segment includes in Our Business/What We Do/Corporate and Other. Here is a comparison of net sales and revenues and contribution to earnings for the last three years: Net Sales and Revenues and Contribution (Charge) to Earnings for Corporate and Other  HOW WE DID IN 2007 During 2007: • We sold our investment in our New Zealand joint venture and restructured our investment in our Uruguay joint ventures in preparation for a partitioning of the assets between the joint venture partners in 2008. • We continued the migration of major information technology systems to a common technology platform and retired legacy stand-alone systems. The segment’s performance is affected by foreign exchange rate volatility, changes in our stock price and the associated variable compensation expense, and strategic initiatives outside the operating segments. Results for the Corporate and Other segment also include the net gain on divestitures that affect more than one business segment, such as the gain on the Domtar Transaction that occurred in 2007. COMPARING 2007 WITH 2006 In 2007: • Net sales and revenues decreased $40 million, or 8 percent. • Contribution to earnings increased $691 million. Net Sales and Revenues Net sales and revenues decreased primarily due to the sale of the Irish composite panel operations in November 2006. Contribution to Earnings Contribution to earnings increased primarily due to the following: • Pretax gains on dispositions increased $571 million – from $45 million in 2006 to $616 million in 2007.
• A pretax gain of $43 million was recognized in 2007 related to a legal settlement. • Asset impairment and other charges related to prior dispositions decreased $34 million from 2006. • Donations of timberlands to the Weyerhaeuser Company Foundation decreased $27 million. Partially offsetting these improvements was a charge of $26 million related to changing our information technology service providers in 2007. COMPARING 2006 WITH 2005 In 2006: • Net sales and revenues decreased $116 million, or 19 percent. • Contribution to earnings decreased $389 million. Net Sales and Revenues Net sales and revenues decreased primarily due to the sale of the French composite operations in December 2005. Contribution to Earnings Contribution to earnings decreased primarily due to the following: • Pretax gains on dispositions decreased $247 million – from $292 million in 2005 to $45 million in 2006.
• Interest income decreased $26 million as a result of lower average balances of short-term investments. • We recognized $34 million of out-of-period charges during 2006 — $26 million in connection with the additional impairment of assets related to the Prince Albert, Saskatchewan facility that was closed in early 2006 and $8 million related to the write-off of additional goodwill associated with the B.C. Coastal operations that were sold in 2005. • We recognized a $25 million pretax credit in 2005 for the cumulative effect to begin capitalizing interest on excess qualifying assets of our Weyerhaeuser Real Estate Company subsidiary. • Donations of timberland to the Weyerhaeuser Company Foundation increased $22 million. |