904 356-JOBS (5627)

904 356-JOBS (5627)

August 24, 2020 (Courtesy the Jacksonville Daily Record)

Rayonier Inc. relocated its offices three years ago from Downtown Jacksonville to a new 55,000-square-foot building at the company’s Wildlight mixed-use development in Nassau County.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, there isn’t much need for that headquarters building these days.

During Rayonier’s quarterly conference call last week, CEO David Nunes said the timber and real estate company put all U.S. office employees on a work-from-home model in March.

“Given the current state of the pandemic, we anticipate remaining in this mode in many of our locations through at least the end of the year and will likely not fully reopen our offices until a vaccine has been implemented or the number of new cases has dramatically subsided,” he said.

Rayonier is able to operate with workers out of the office but its adjusted second-quarter earnings fell to 11 cents a share, from 14 cents in the second quarter of 2019.

“While we are very encouraged by the resiliency that our business has exhibited over the past several months, we also expect some continued volatility in end markets as the pandemic evolves,” Nunes said.

A sixth straight loss at Rayonier AM

Rayonier Advanced Materials Inc., which split up with Rayonier Inc. in 2014, reported a second-quarter loss from continuing operations of $13 million, or 20 cents a share, its sixth straight quarterly loss.

“Second quarter results were below expectations primarily driven by the impacts of COVID-19,” CEO Paul Boynton said in a news release.

“High Purity Cellulose was impacted from reduced demand for textile, automotive and construction related products and ocean carrier delays, while newsprint demand was adversely affected, severely impacting price realizations and volumes,” he said.