Displaying items by tag: Stora Enso

Stora Enso has been included for the 10th consecutive year in the FTSE4Good Index Series, one of the most widely recognized indexes for socially responsible investments. Companies chosen for the FTSE4Good Index Series must meet stringent social, ethical and environmental criteria. The FTSE4Good index facilitates responsible investments by continuously measuring the performance of leading companies.                                                                     
The criteria used for the index cover environmental management, climate change, human rights, supply chain labour standards, and efforts to counter bribery. The criteria are regularly revised to ensure that they reflect the highest standards of responsible business practice.                                               

“For us, being listed in the FTSE4Good index for the 10th year running is a sign of real improvement. The index is uncompromising - if you stop improving, you risk dropping out,” says Stora Enso CEO Jouko Karvinen. “This fits well with the way we see corporate responsibility at Stora Enso. It is not something you accomplish once and then stop working on - it forms the core of everything we do, and we have to find ways to improve every day.”                             

The FTSE4Good index is revised twice a year, when companies receive information about whether they have been selected for the list. The index has been designed by FTSE with the support of UNICEF, and uses data provided by the Ethical Investment Research Service (EIRIS).                                            

About the FTSE Group                                                            
FTSE is an independent company jointly owned by The Financial Times and the London Stock Exchange. FTSE does not give financial advice to clients, which allows for the provision of truly objective market information. FTSE indexes are used extensively by a range of investors such as consultants, asset owners, fund managers, investment banks, stock exchanges and brokers.                        

Stora Enso's responsibility work has also been recently recognised by:          
                                           
The Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes are the first global indexes to track the financial performance of leading sustainability-driven companies. Companies are included in or deleted from the indexes based on their economic, environmental and social performance. The indexes provide investors with reliable and objective benchmarks to manage their sustainability portfolios.                 

The Ethisphere Institute's World's Most Ethical Companies for 2010 Stora Enso has also been named as one of the World's Most Ethical Companies for 2010 by the Ethisphere Institute. This research institute is a leading international think tank dedicated to the creation, advancement and sharing of best practices in business ethics, corporate social responsibility, anti-corruption work and sustainability.                                        

For further information, please contact:                                        

Heidi Puusa, Director, Group Identity and Sustainability Communications, tel.   
+358 2046 21309                                                                 

www.storaenso.com

The Group has been included in the Index ten times

Stora Enso has received the highest score among the forestry and paper companies listed in the European Dow Jones STOXX Sustainability Index. This is the 10th year running that Stora Enso has been included in the index. This year Stora Enso was also listed in the DJSI World Index.                                   

Stora Enso was given a higher score than any other company in the industry for eco-efficiency and social reporting. The Group was also equal top-ranked for the sustainable management of forests, as well as environmental policies and management systems.                                                             

The members of the DJSI for 2010-2011 were announced on Thursday 9 September 2010.                                                                      

“We have been listed in the index for ten years already, but to be ranked the best European company in the DJSI World Index is a great achievement. I am happy to see that our efforts are paying off,” said Stora Enso's CEO Jouko Karvinen.  
“It is all about improvement. To be listed in this index you need to improve your performance every single year. We have been working hard to get here, and we will keep on making such efforts.”                                           

The Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes are the first global indexes to track the financial performance of leading sustainability-driven companies. Companies are included in or deleted from the indexes based on their economic, environmental and social performance. The indexes provide investors with reliable and objective benchmarks to manage their sustainability portfolios.                 

For more information about the indexes, see www.sustainability-index.com

For further information about Stora Enso's sustainability work, please contact:

Eija Pitkänen, SVP Sustainability, tel. +358 2046 21348                         
Eeva Taimisto, Communications Specialist, tel. +358 2046 21263                  

www.storaenso.com                                                               
 

Stora Enso will, subject to decisions by the respective German corporate bodies, permanently shut down the 195 000 tonnes per year newsprint machine at Maxau Mill in Germany by the end of November 2010. Newsprint production at Maxau will end due to weak European market outlook and high production costs. Sales prices have fallen significantly while recovered paper and wood costs have risen strongly. As a result, there is no realistic prospect of newsprint production at Maxau Mill becoming profitable again in the foreseeable future.

“The European newsprint market is structurally heavily oversupplied and there has been no substantial recovery in demand since consumption collapsed in early 2009. The outlook for demand is negative too. In addition, the availability of wood and recycled fibre in Germany has been limited, so costs have been rising fast recently,” says Juha Vanhainen, EVP, Publication Paper Business Area.

The permanent shutdown of the newsprint machine at Maxau Mill will reduce European newsprint capacity by approximately 1.5%.

The shutdown will affect about 180 of the 617 people employed at Stora Enso's Maxau Mill. Stora Enso is working on a social plan for the employees affected by the restructuring measures. The two uncoated magazine paper machines with total annual capacity 530 000 tonnes at Maxau Mill will remain in operation.

Estimated financial impact
Stora Enso expects the permanent shutdown of the newsprint machine at Maxau to have the following financial impacts on the Newsprint segment:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| | EUR million |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| One-time non-cash fixed asset and working capital | 13 |
| write-downs in Q3/2010 | |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| One-time cash provisions in Q3/2010 as non-recurring | 20 |
| items | |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| One-time working capital reduction | 4 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Annual sales reduction | 40 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Annual operating profit improvement | 12 |
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For further information, please contact:
Bernd Rettig, EVP, Country Manager Germany, tel. +49 211 581 2310
Juha Vanhainen, EVP, Publication Paper Business Area, tel. +358 2046 21343
Lauri Peltola, Head of Communications, tel. +358 2046 21380
Ulla Paajanen-Sainio, Head of Investor Relations, tel. +358 2046 21242

www.storaenso.com
www.storaenso.com/investors

Stora Enso Baienfurt GmbH has signed an agreement to divest its Baienfurt mill site real estate in Germany. Buyer is the IGV Industrie- und Gewerbeverwaltungs GmbH, a subsidiary of the Lower Bavarian Karl- Gruppe, which specialises in acquiring and restructuring industrial sites. The transaction includes the land and buildings of the former Baienfurt cartonboard mill except the sheeting centre and the board machine. Following the divestment, Stora Enso will release approximately EUR 45 million of environmental and dismantling provision in the third quarter of 2010 as a positive non-recurring item. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of the third quarter of 2010.              

According to Karl-Gruppe's current plans, the mill site will be developed as a business/industrial park utilising existing buildings as well as erection of new commercial properties. The site will no longer be used for cartonboard production.                                                                    

Cartonboard production at Baienfurt Mill ended in December 2008. Baienfurt Mill, which was part of Stora Enso's Consumer Board segment, had an annual capacity of 190 000 tonnes of folding boxboard.                                            

For further information, please contact:                                       

Bernd Rettig, EVP, Country Manager Germany, tel. +49 211 581 2310              
Päivi Kauhanen, Communications Director, tel. +358 50 598 9560                 
Ulla Paajanen-Sainio, Head of Investor Relations, tel. +358 2046 21242

Stora Enso has today successfully issued two five-year bonds total of SEK 2 300 million under its EMTN (Euro Medium Term Note) programme. Both bonds are due on 1 September 2015. A SEK 1 000 million bond pays a floating coupon 3 months Stibor + 370 basis points and has an issue/reoffer price of 100.000. A SEK 1 300 million bond pays a fixed coupon of 5.75% and has an issue/reoffer price of 99.778 to give a spread of 370 basis points over 5-year mid swap. The bonds have no financial covenants or change of control covenant. Sole arranger and bookrunner for the transaction was SEB.                                         

“These bonds, extending the Group's maturity profile, were issued to benefit from the low levels of interest rates, resulting in an attractive all-in cost. The Group will continue to manage its maturity profile proactively to gain from favourable sources of financing. We have very strong liquidity with EUR 856 million of cash at the end of second quarter,” says Jyrki Tammivuori, SVP, Group Treasurer.                                                                      

For further information, please contact:                                        
Jyrki Tammivuori, SVP, Group Treasurer, tel. +358 2046 21043                    
Ulla Paajanen-Sainio, Head of Investor Relations, tel. +358 2046 21242

Stora Enso has appointed Lars Häggström (42) as new Head of Group Human Resources and member of the Group Executive Team. He is currently Head of Group HR at Nordea Bank AB.                                                           

Prior to his appointment at Nordea in 2008, Lars Häggström worked in number of managerial HR positions in Gambro AB, AstraZeneca and Telia. From 1995 to 2002 he worked for one of the world's leading medical companies, Eli Lilly & Co., in several HR positions including Director of Human Resources in Latin America.    

Lars Häggström has a B.Sc. in HR Development and Labour Relations from the University of Linköping and has specialised in Personnel Management and  Educational Planning at the University of Uppsala.                              

“I am very happy to see Lars Häggström joining our team and taking over the Group HR function. His international background, strategic orientation and  hands-on experience in leading change processes is a perfect fit for Stora Enso in its current phase,” says CEO Jouko Karvinen.                                 

“Stora Enso provides an exciting global challenge and its strong drive for change has become very evident to me already. I am very much looking forward to sharing the Group's passion for people, planet and profit,” says Lars Häggström.

Lars Häggström will join Stora Enso on 1 October 2010 and report to CEO Jouko Karvinen.                                                                       

For further information, please contact:                                        

Jouko Karvinen, CEO, +358 2046 21410                                            
Lars Häggström, +46 76 823 62 45                                                
Lauri Peltola, Head of Group Communications, +358 2046 21380

“Our second quarter results are strong by all measures. Operating profit excluding NRI and fair valuations at EUR 213 million, cash flow from operations at EUR 305 million, ROCE at 10.5% and net cash position at EUR 856 million are all not only huge improvements from a year ago, but also testimony to the early and often difficult actions we have taken in the past three years. Our robust performance this quarter was facilitated by external factors, especially the significant volume recovery from the very low levels in the second quarter of 2009, our clearly lower cost base and the weaker euro. We also benefited from pulp price increases and actions we took on prices and customer mix in almost all segments. The fact that all six segments except Newsprint show a strong year-on-year improvement in earnings is another positive proof point for continuing on our path of managing those factors we can affect.                 

“Although the second quarter performance was generally strong, the losses that have accrued in Newsprint clearly show that the structural overcapacity issues have not disappeared. This unfortunately means that the recent decision to shut down permanently two newsprint machines at Varkaus was not only necessary, but not even enough to solve the issue. We will therefore continue to actively manage pricing and customer mix to maximise our earnings, but also review the earnings performance of all of our assets, and when necessary will not hesitate to take actions.                                                                

“The outlook for the third quarter is mixed and still uncertain. Although volumes have recovered from the very low levels of 2009, clearly market demand in all paper segments has still been and will for a long time remain clearly below the pre-crisis levels of 2008. To operate profitably in that environment requires continued focus on costs and capacity management - as before, waiting for the good times to return will help nobody. In addition to the price rises implemented in the second quarter, we have announced further price increases that will already have an impact in the latter part of the third quarter - and we expect sequential pricing improvements of varying degrees in practically all segments, even in Newsprint. This is absolutely essential to keep our earnings at an acceptable level as increases in wood and other costs now clearly start   
coming through in our operations. Specifically, we foresee Wood Products facing an issue later in the year due to rapidly rising sawlog costs, which is why we have signalled that we are planning to take temporary curtailments as required at our sawmills. At the same time, however, I am glad to see the wood trade in domestic wood in Finland has returned closer to normal levels. Now we must ensure there is no repeat of the excessive wood costs and high inventory levels of late 2007.                                                                
“Stora Enso has demonstrated that it is willing and able to do difficult things to safeguard and improve the Group's performance. We will continue on our path of never-ending improvement of what we have, and in parallel building our futurein new markets and new products. And we are already well on our way.”           

For further information, please contact:                                        
Jouko Karvinen, CEO, tel. +358 2046 21410                                       
Markus Rauramo, CFO, tel. +358 2046 21121                                       
Lauri Peltola, Head of Communications, tel. +358 2046 21380                     
Ulla Paajanen-Sainio, Head of Investor Relations, tel. +358 2046 21242

Stora Enso will permanently close down newsprint and directory paper production at Varkaus in Finland by the end of the third quarter of 2010. The reasons for the planned capacity closure announced on 22 April 2010 have not changed: the European newsprint and directory paper market is strongly structurally oversupplied and sales prices have fallen significantly. As a result, newsprint production at Varkaus Mill is expected to remain unprofitable in the long term.

“The overcapacity position in the European newsprint and directory paper market has persisted in 2010. Consequently, sales prices have fallen significantly. In the longer term demand in Europe is expected to decline further, as has been happening in North America. In addition, the competitiveness of Varkaus is weakened because newsprint production at Varkaus relies on less-competitive virgin fibre, the availability of wood raw material in Finland is not stable and Varkaus is far away from most of its customers and main markets,” says Juha Vanhainen, EVP, Publication Paper Business Area and Country Manager Finland.

The closure of the two newsprint machines PM 2 and PM 4 at Varkaus Mill will reduce newsprint and directory paper annual production by 290 000 tonnes. The co-determination negotiations at Varkaus were concluded at the end of June. As a result of the ending of newsprint production, 175 employees will be made redundant. There are currently 506 employees at Stora Enso's Varkaus Mill.

The Varkaus mill site will continue to produce pulp and fine paper after newsprint and directory paper production ends. The operations of the sawmill and the NSE Biofuels Oy biofuel joint venture with Neste Oil and its demonstration plant will also continue. The ending of newsprint production will not substantially affect the amount of renewable energy produced at Varkaus.

Stora Enso will support redeployment of those affected by the plans through efficiently offering jobs internally and eligibility for outplacement services. The Group works closely with local employment and economic development centres to find new job opportunities for people affected. Stora Enso will also support financially those who would like to start their own business.

Estimated financial impact
As announced on 22 April 2010, Stora Enso anticipates that the planned permanent shutdown of newsprint production at Varkaus will have the following financial impacts on the Newsprint segment:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| | EUR million |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| One-time non-cash fixed asset and working capital | 0 |
| write-downs in Q2/2010 | |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| One-time cash provisions in Q2/2010 as non-recurring | 23 |
| items | |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Annual sales reduction | 148 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Annual working capital reduction | 9 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Annual operating profit improvement | 9 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


For further information, please contact:
Juha Vanhainen, EVP, Publication Paper Business Area and Country Manager
Finland,
tel. +358 2046 21343
Lauri Peltola, Head of Communications, tel. +358 2046 21380

Stora Enso has finalised the divestment of its integrated mills at Kotka in Finland and its laminating paper operations in Malaysia to private equity firm OpenGate Capital as announced on 22 April 2010. The total consideration including earn-out is up to EUR 24 million.                                     

The divestment is part of the plan to focus Stora Enso's business portfolio announced on 19 August 2009. As part of the transaction, Stora Enso is divesting its laminating paper, special coated magazine paper and sawmill businesses at Kotka. The transaction also includes the fully-owned laminating paper subsidiary in Malaysia, and the business operations of the Tainionkoski paper machine 7, which remains in Stora Enso's ownership, but is leased to the new owner. The Kotka mill site and its buildings are included in the divestment.               

Based on 2009 annual figures, the divestment is expected to reduce Stora Enso's annual sales by EUR 203 million, improve its annual operating profit by EUR 11 million and reduce its working capital by EUR 24 million. This operating profit improvement of EUR 11 million is included in the estimate of EUR 140 million to EUR 160 million profit improvement arising from the proposed closures, divestments and product swaps announced on 19 August 2009.                      

The divestment reduces Stora Enso's annual production capacity by 180 000 tonnes of machine-finished coated paper (MFC), 200 000 tonnes of laminating paper, 40 000 tonnes of Imprex products and 230 000 m3 of sawnwood. The 570 employees affected, including 480 working at Kotka, 50 at Tainionkoski and 40 in Malaysia, are transferring to the service of the new owner. Stora Enso and OpenGate Capital made an agreement about wood supply as part of the divestment.          

About OpenGate Capital                                                          
OpenGate Capital is an opportunistic private equity firm that acquires controlling interests in businesses with solid fundamentals that exhibit opportunities for operational improvements and growth. Established in 2005, OpenGate Capital has a global footprint with headquarters in Los Angeles, California and a principal office in Paris, France. OpenGate is served by a seasoned team of M&A and operating professionals that bring the skills needed to acquire, operate and build successful companies. The partners of OpenGate have executed more than 100 transactions worldwide ranging from corporate divestitures, turnaround acquisitions, industry consolidations and other special situations investments across a wide array of industries and geographic markets.

For further information, please contact:                                        
Markus Rauramo, CFO, tel. +358 2046 21121                                       
Veli-Jussi Potka, EVP, Strategy and M&A, Packaging, tel. +358 2046 21486        
Päivi Kauhanen, Director, Communications in Finland, tel. +358 50 598 9560

Without a doubt, the most memorable event in Sweden this year will be the wedding day of Crown Princess Victoria on 19 June. Rörstrand, the porcelain brand of Sweden, launched a series of bowls, mugs and other serving dishes for the occasion, packed in cartons made from Stora Enso Performa White board.

Kartongbolaget in Helsingborg, Sweden, is the producer of premium folding cartons that has been entrusted by many leading brands to supply packaging of their Official Wedding Series products. "High quality and flexible deliveries of small batches were the benefits that Rörstrand was looking for from us," says Magnus Extergren, Marketing and Sales Manager of Kartongbolaget. Stora Enso's Performa White board was selected as the material due to its good print result and reliable performance in converting
and finishing processes. "We made the first mock-ups within 24 hours, using Performa White board from our own stock. The project grew to cover a whole series of package sizes and different constructions. All of our employees are proud to work for this unique project."

"The house board"

Kartongbolaget has got a reputation among brand owners of being a very flexible and service-oriented package printer. The company specializes in small batches and premium folding cartons for all kinds of prestige brands.  "Like a restaurant's house wine, Performa White is our house board which we offer as the number one option to our customers," says MD Joakim Johansson. "With Performa White, the quality is always the same. We are also very happy with the service provided by the customer service centre in Fors."

"When it comes to service, it helps a great deal that Kartongbolaget always orders the board in full trucks," says Tomas Rosenskold, Sales Manager at Stora Enso Carton Board. "They are also really good at what they do, by which I mean the niche production of exclusive style cartons, so it's absolutely great to have our Performa White chosen as their house board."

More special effects, please!

"We see that the difference between premium segment and low-price volume products is growing. At the high end, everybody wants to have more and more special effects, such as embossing and hot foiling. Thanks to our versatile customer base covering pharma, food, cosmetics, toys, etc., we have been able to refine our skills and can now offer all necessary converting and finishing treatments in-house," says Joakim Johansson. "The company is building its future through carefully targeted investments and development of its service concept."

The cartons for the Rörstrand wedding series have been printed in six colours, featuring the official portrait of the Crown Princess and her fiancé, Daniel Westling. Matt water-based varnishing and high-gloss UV varnishing have been used to create a tactile surface with eye-catching graphics. The Performa White range covers all necessary basis weights for the different package sizes. The customer also appreciates the stiff and bulky board structure.

A direct link to image:
http://bmt.storaenso.com/storaensolink.jsp?imageid=100615CB_01  

For further information:
www.storaenso.com/productnews  
www.storaenso.com/consumerboard  
www.storaenso.com

Tomas Rosensköld, Sales Manager, Tel. +46 411 13 300
Sanna Heiskanen, Marketing Services Manager, Consumer Board, Tel.
+358 20 46 23 440