Displaying items by tag: Metsä Tissue

Serla’s good deed for 2013 is donating 100,000 euros to prevent the social exclusion of underprivileged kids.

Serla is participating in the charity campaign Nuorten hyväksi’ (Let’s Help Young People) organised in Finland by the Tukikummit Foundation. The aim of the campaign, which has President of the Republic, Sauli Niinistö, as its patron, is to encourage people to make donations that will be used to improve and promote debate on the wellbeing of young people.

“Serla wants to encourage everyone to do good deeds locally, both great and small. In 2011–2012 we donated 50,000 euros for various community projects as part of our Local Good campaign. Our good deed for 2013 is our new cooperation with the Tukikummit Foundation,” says CEO Mika Joukio from Metsä Tissue.

Through the Tukikummit Foundation Serla will provide financial support to underprivileged children and teens living in Finland. The funds will go in full towards improving their prospects and circumstances. The church welfare fund will handle the practical coordination of these efforts, but the donated funds will not support church institutions.

“We feel that everyone deserves a wonderful everyday life, so we want to help and encourage people to make their lives with their families as rewarding as possible. A happy childhood consists of simple things: hobbies, friends, stress-free school and the support of responsible adults. Serla wants to be part of building a better future for our kids,” says Brand Director Moona Pohjola. “We believe that responsible daily acts are the path to a better everyday life.”

Serla’s donations will be granted to cover expenses for which no other funding is available, such as the immediate cost of schooling, training, recreation or travel to visit a parent or grandparent. Priority status will be given to children and teens in single-parent families. Individual donations will range between 200 and 2,000 euros.

In addition to providing monetary support, Serla will also support the Tukikummit Foundation by presenting its work through channels such as the Serla Squirrel’s Facebook page and Serla marketing material, packaging and retail displays.

Metsä Tissue, Metsä Group’s tissue and cooking paper business has finished the statutory negotiations commenced in September in its Finnish units. The negotiations were part of Metsä Tissue’s on-going company-wide organisational restructuring targeted to improve profitability. As a result of the statutory negotiations the reduction of personnel will be 19 people. Metsä Tissue’s Finnish operations are based in Espoo and Mänttä and it employs approximately 480 people in Finland.

“By restructuring and reorganising our operations, we aim to secure our future competitiveness on the growing tissue and cooking paper market,” says Metsä Tissue’s CEO Mika Joukio.

Metsä Tissue, Metsä Group’s tissue and cooking paper business, is to commence statutory negotiations in its Finnish units. The negotiations are part of company-wide organisational restructuring targeted to improve profitability.

The statutory negotiations announced today will concern white-collar personnel in Finland, excluding frontline sales teams. Roughly 150 employees will be involved in the process and themaximum headcount reduction is not expected to exceed 40. Metsä Tissue’s Finnish offices are based in Espoo and Mänttä.

“Increasing competition and continuous tightening of EU regulation pose additional challenges for Metsä Tissue. Additionally, the Finnish government’s stricter national adaptation of EU directives concerning areas such as waste taxation and landfill regulations is a major threat to our competitiveness. By restructuring and reorganising our operations, we aim to secure our future competitiveness on the growing tissue and cooking paper market,” says Metsä Tissue’s CEO Mika Joukio.

Metsä Tissue, producer of tissue and cooking papers, posted net sales of 478 (456) million euros for January-June. Operating profit excluding non-recurring items dropped to 10 million euros (31). Net sales showed a year-on-year increase of roughly 5 per cent on the corresponding period last year. Growth in net sales was largely attributable to a favourable sales mix as well as advantageous exchange rates. Sales of Metsä Tissue’s own brands showed a year-on-year increase of 10 per cent, with healthy growth reported especially for Lambi, Katrin and Serla. Lambi sales for the first half of the year showed an increase as great as 13 per cent on the previous year.

Operating profit was dampened by the rising cost of pulp, recovered paper, other materials and energy as well as relatively high incremental costs related to the start-up of production in Düren, Germany.

The company’s Baking and Cooking investment programme in Düren, Germany, is proceeding on schedule, with the rebuild of both paper machine 5 and related facilities completed and the new converting lines now operational. The complete facility will be dedicated to the production of baking and cooking papers marketed under the SAGA brand.

Metsä Tissue’s three-year investment programme at the Krapkowice mill in Poland is now into the building stage. The programme announced in April includes two new paper machines, a converting line, the rebuild of one paper machine and general infrastructural development. In June the company signed a near EUR 37.0 million credit agreement with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation for financing the programme. The investment will further strengthen Metsä Tissue’s foothold in Central Europe.

During the second quarter, the company’s project for adopting a new ERP system and harmonised processes proceeded to the preparation phase, with units in four different countries preparing themselves for go-lives to take place on a phased basis. The new system and processes were already successfully adopted in Germany during the first quarter. The project will be finalised at the end of the second quarter next year.

In June, Metsä Tissue announced an exclusive agreement with Georgia-Pacific under which Metsä Tissue will obtain the licence to manufacture, sell and market the Lotus consumer tissue brand in Russia. The deal is expected to close at the end of the third quarter. Last year, Lotus consumer sales in Russia totalled around 20 million euros. The agreement will strengthen Metsä Tissue’s position in the Russian consumer tissue market, making it the second-biggest supplier in the branded category.

As the deteriorating availability and quality of locally sourced recovered paper is threatening the production of recycled fibre-based products, the company has been carefully evaluating options for mitigating the associated risks. Drivers behind the threat are the declining consumption of primary fibre based paper and increasing exports of recovered paper both in and outside Europe. The quality of recovered paper moreover threatens to deteriorate as a result of unsorted waste collection systems in certain European countries and a growing interest in the incineration of recovered paper as an energy source.

Metsä Tissue’s consumer brands, Mola and Tento, renewed their brand identity and launched new products. The new look and feel of the brands utilises key elements from the company’s Serla brand, bringing the three brands closer together and offering consumers enhanced product quality.

Lambi launched a renewed toilet paper grade in Finland last May, featuring new embossing and a new, softer and thicker base paper. In addition, Lambi also introduced new summer prints for its toilet paper, household towels and napkin ranges. Katrin introduced a new plastic-free sauna seat cover called Green Spa. Completely biodegradable and fully compostable, it is the first product of its kind to be awarded the Nordic Swan Ecolabel.

To mark the UN International Year of Forests, the Metsäliitto Group and WWF Finland concluded a cooperation agreement covering 2011 and 2012. Within the framework of this cooperation, Metsä Tissue is organising training for its personnel on themes related to sustainable development. The first training session was organised in cooperation with the WWF in June.

The demand for tissue and cooking papers is expected to remain stable and brand growth looks set to continue. Higher variable production costs and additional expenses will continue to be transferred to prices.

The successful implementation of ongoing strategic development projects, committed efforts to improve the company’s financial result and increase brand growth as well as excellence in customer and supply service will remain Metsä Tissue’s key focus areas throughout the year.

The rebuild of PM10 at Metsä Tissue’s Mänttä Mill was brought to conclusion ahead of schedule, with the first reels produced on 22 April 2010. The revamped machine produces toilet paper and hand towel base paper for products marketed under the Lambi, Serla and Katrin brands.

The investment to rebuild PM10 improves paper formation and enhances product quality and improves energy efficiency. The rebuild will reduce water consumption and contribute to energy savings.

Vaahto Pulp & Paper Machinery was contracted to rebuild PM10 in April 2010. The rebuild schedule was ambitious, but the project proceeded ahead of plan. The delivery included a new Crescent former, headbox and reel plus fully overhauled short circulation and press section. The runnability and speed on the paper machine and converting lines improved clearly resulting in increased efficiency.

Vaahto Group is a globally operating high technology company serving process industry in the fields of pulp and paper machinery and process machinery.

VAAHTO GROUP PLC OYJ

Anssi Klinga
CEO

Information:
Jyrki Strengell
President
Vaahto Pulp & Paper Machinery
tel. +358 400 613800