Stora Enso bullish after Q4 profits

In the fourth quarter of 2008 the paper-based products group reported a pre-tax loss of EUR 81m, before exceptional items, but the figure rose to an EUR 123m profit in same period last year despite sales falling by 8%.

For the year, the Finnish firm recorded a pre-tax profit before non-recurring items of EUR 194.2m an improvement of 22% on 2008.

Chief executive Jouko Karvinen said 2009 had ended on a strong note, but that while the recovery was underway any pick-up in demand was forecast to be slow and “insufficient to restore supply and demand balance in the short term and alleviate overcapacity”.

“After three years of very significant if different challenges, we could have hoped for an easier 2010. The good news is that, after implementing several improvement actions, consumer board is not only strong but also positioned for continued and further improvement.

“We believe that industrial packaging is also well positioned for further growth with improvement actions such as power plant investment in Poland, and the efforts to divest laminating paper will improve the situation further,” said Karvinen.

Stora attributed the improved result for the year on reducing its cost base, reducing its debt and financing EUR 500m of its capital expenditure.

In 2009, Stora delivered 966m sqm of corrugated packaging, a drop of 10% compared to 2008.

STORA ENSO 2009 RESULTS
(in euros)

Sales 8.95bn (11bn in 2008)
Pre-tax profit (excluding non-recurring items) 194.2m (151.6m)
Pre-tax loss 886.8m (893.8m)
Net loss 878.2m (679m)

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