Paper mill ranked by Fortune

The owner of the North Charleston paper mill is getting some more ink for being on the fast-track.

Illinois-based KapStone Paper and Packaging Corp. is ranked 20th overall on Fortune magazine’s annual list of the 100 Fastest Growing Companies. Also, it took the No. 2 spot in the industrial category. The list, published in the Sept. 26 issue, is based on three key financial metrics: revenue (44 percent growth rate), earnings per-share (39 percent) and three-year annualized total return to investors (35 percent).

“This is the second year we have placed in the top 20 of the 100 fastest growing companies as ranked by Fortune,” CEO Roger Stone said in a statement last week. “We are diligently working to maintain our profitable growth rate.”

KapStone, which was No. 5 on the Fortune growth list last year, is a relative newcomer to the paper business. It was formed in 2005, though Stone, who was the Stone in Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. and is a grizzled industry veteran.

The company’s flagship operation is the 74-year-old Cooper River mill it acquired from MeadWestvaco Corp. three years ago in a $471 million deal. The acquisition included MWV’s Summerville-based lumber business as well. KapStone’s other major manufacturing site is in Roanoke Rapids, N.C.

Fortune summed up the company: “With end products including pet food bags, beer cartons and grocery bags, KapStone … supplies the material for every paper product you can think of — and some you probably can’t such as floors and even laminated house siding.”

The magazine noted that KapStone has expanded its customer base to more than 500 businesses, a fivefold jump since 2007 and 100 more since last year.

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