Displaying items by tag: BillerudKorsnäs

BillerudKorsnäs launches an engaging digital campaign -  Clarifies mission to challenge the conventional for a sustainable future

Leading provider of packaging solutions and materials, BillerudKorsnäs, unveils its first ever brand campaign today. The brand campaign will primarily target customers and customers’ customers in an aim to elucidate the company’s mission, increase brand awareness, boost brand preference and position the brand forward in the value chain.

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 “It has been two and a half years since BillerudKorsnäs was formed and we are now ready to communicate our brand mission more explicitly than we have done so far. We have evolved from Billlerud and Korsnäs, two paper and board manufacturing companies, into a materials and solutions provider to brand owners and retailers”, says Per Lindberg, CEO BillerudKorsnäs.

The campaign will use stories, articles, cases and insights to illustrate the essence of the company’s mission. The notion of challenging the conventional for a sustainable future entails both an ambitious innovation agenda as well as a strengthened sustainability commitment, themes which will be central to the campaign.

 “We want the audience to associate us with fresh thinking and smarter packaging solutions with economic and sustainability advantages. We believe that the best way to do so is to show what we have achieved and realized over the past couple of years, as well as to give the audience a flavour of what we have on our agenda”, says Peter Malmqvist, Marketing Director, BillerudKorsnäs.

The hub of the campaign will be an interactive digital platform where brand ambassadors will be free to share content in their own channels.

“We will be able to engage industry professionals and the general public in a way that we never have done before. Anyone who is moved by what we say can simply click, post, share and comment via social media”, says Peter Malmqvist.

To take part of the BillerudKorsnäs brand campaign, please visit the campaign site, which will be live from the 7th of May until August 2015.

For more information, please contact:

Peter Malmqvist, Marketing Director, BillerudKorsnäs,

+46 72 210 62 45, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

www.billerudkorsnas.com

www.challengeconventional.com

BillerudKorsnäs provides packaging materials and solutions that challenge conventional packaging for a sustainable future. We are a world leading provider of primary fiber based packaging materials and have customers in over 100 countries. The company has 8 production sites in Sweden, Finland and the UK and about 4200 employees in over 13 countries. BillerudKorsnäs has an annual turnover of about SEK 21 billion and is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm.

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CEO Per Lindberg comments on the development during Q1 2015:

“We are proud to report our best quarter so far in our short history as BillerudKorsnäs. Our operating profit in the quarter reached a level of SEK 698 million and the operating margin was over 12%.”

THE RESULT

billkorlogoThe financial performance for the first quarter this year was very strong. On top of a very strong operating result, our operating cash flow was excellent, SEK 733 million, and we have further improved our net debt/equity ratio which is now down to 0.57. Return on capital employed is improving and closing in on our 13% target, but still rounded to 11% and hence we are above all our financial targets except ROCE. Of course, no planned maintenance shutdowns and a weakened SEK had a significant positive impact on the quarter, but I am still very pleased. The one area where we in Q1 fall a little short is volume growth as compared to last year. But keeping in mind that the beginning of last year was exceptional and that production and delivery volume ramp-up rarely is linear, I am still confident in our ability to reach our longer-term growth targets.

MARKET OUTLOOK

The overall market has been stable during the quarter. We expect the stability to continue with quite good demand and little changes in local prices. The pulp price in USD seems to have peaked, but the relative strength of the USD versus other currencies have compensated for the USD nominated price fall.

The relatively high pulp price contributes both to stability and to our own profitability. However, the high pulp cost pressures unintegrated production capacity in the Euro-zone and Sweden. We also see some competitors being forced to take action due to profit squeeze. Meanwhile, and on the balance, we now have a slightly more positive market outlook for our business areas Packaging Paper and Containerboard than we previously expected, whereas the Consumer Board market continues to be stable.

Looking in further detail we can see that within the MF segment in Packaging Paper increased competition pressures local prices and we have not been able to utilise our full capacity during the quarter. This was expected and will most likely continue. On the other hand, the brown sack paper segment shows strength and is trending more positively than expected. Within Containerboard, the fluting segment is currently very strong, with strong order books and we may be looking at price hikes during Q2. In the liner segment competition continues to increase with increased capacity on the market. Even if prices have been kept quite stable during the quarter, white liner continues to be somewhat of a concern.

STRATEGY

I feel that we have prepared the company well both financially and operationally to be ready to take an additional step towards becoming the leading player in the primary fibre packaging market. Our mid-term strategic target is to grow the company organically with 3-4% per year until 2018. This requires debottleneck investments, and several decisions have already been made and I expect more to come. Looking beyond mere organic growth, we have by now strengthened our balance sheet enough to also consider additional growth by acquisitions or significant investments. However, shareholder value will not be compromised and any such step will be subject to utmost scrutiny.

Our mission is to challenge conventional packaging for a sustainable future. In order to emphasize the importance of sustainability we are partnering with the Tara expedition. We share the vision of a future where plastics floating in the oceans are a memory only, and what brings us together is that we constantly seek new answers to sustainability challenges. We want to be active in driving the development towards a more sustainable future, and several lessons from this cooperation will be fed into our own product development.

For further information, please contact:
Per Lindberg, President and CEO 46 (0)8 553 335 00
Susanne Lithander, CFO, 46 (0)8 553 335 00

BillerudKorsnäs – Packaging manufacturers and brand owners are offered added value in the form of brand-strengthening, productivity-boosting and environment-enhancing packaging solutions. BillerudKorsnäs has a world-leading market position within primary fibre-based packaging paper. The company has annual sales of around SEK 21billion and is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm. www.billerudkorsnas.com

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CEO Per Lindberg comments on the development during Q4 2014:

billkorlogo“We end the year with another stable quarter. The operating profit level of SEK 460 million is good considering the short delivery month of December and some unexpected hick-ups in the production, of course helped by the weakened SEK. During 2014 we reached all time high volumes, in line with our growth plans. We are starting to see that our efforts to reduce working capital are paying off and we have a working capital level that has decreased substantially in spite of increased net sales. Our net debt/equity ratio is down to 0.67.

The overall market for our business has been stable but as expected a bit slow. We did not run full capacity for Packaging Paper due to seasonally lower demand during the fourth quarter. Containerboard market remained under pressure on the liner side due to the increased capacity on the market. The Consumer Board market was stable.

During the quarter we have announced investments in the production unit in Skärblacka that support Packaging Paper in their selective growth strategy. The investment of SEK 260 million will increase quality and volume of brown sack paper where we see good growth potentials.

Finally to sum up the year, we have delivered what we have promised. We reached our synergy targets ahead of plan. We are on track to reach our growth targets. We have developed a strong and stable platform for the future and I believe we have proven the brilliance in merging the two companies.’’

  The information is such that BillerudKorsnäs AB (publ) is obligated to publish under the Swedish Securities Market Act. Submitted for publication at 07.02 CET, 3 february 2015.

For further information, please contact:
Per Lindberg, President and CEO 46 (0)8 553 335 00

Susanne Lithander, CFO, 46 (0)8 553 335 00

BillerudKorsnäs – Packaging manufacturers and brand owners are offered added value in the form of brand-strengthening, productivity-boosting and environment-enhancing packaging solutions. BillerudKorsnäs has a world-leading market position within primary fibre-based packaging paper. The company has annual sales of around SEK 20 billion and is listed on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm. www.billerudkorsnas.com
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A pop-up store made from BillerudKorsnäs material and designed for use in petrol stations has won the top prize when students from Berghs School of Communication competed to package the digital music service Spotify.

Throughout autumn, students at Berghs School of Communication have been participating in a contest to find the best analogue packaging solution for the digital music service Spotify. The competition, dubbed SPICE:14, was held across September and October in partnership between Berghs, Spotify and BillerudKorsnäs.

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Road Trip winner
A total of 12 teams participated in the event, each presenting Spotify with two solutions to make a total of 24 entries. The winning concept is called Spotify Road Trip and centres on a pop-up store that can be placed in petrol stations. The idea behind the concept was to exploit the fact that petrol stations are not simply places to refuel, but also environments where customers purchase items to make their car journeys more pleasant.

The team behind the winning concept comprises project managers Sofia Göthlin and Richard Holmquist and graphic designers Sofie Redtzer and Malin Strömblad.

"We were a bit puzzled by the brief," says Holmquist. "How could we make a physical packaging for a digital service? It really forced us to think outside the box."

Benefits for Spotify and BillerudKorsnäs

According to the prize jury, the winning concept shows a clear understanding of users and of the target audience’s emotional drives. It also embodies direct problem-solving and simple distribution, while completely meeting the brief.

Jenny Hermansson is Business Director at Spotify and a member of the jury.

"The winning concept has a clear understanding and a good idea," she says. "We believe in the target group and the concept is nicely packaged. It was also a fierce competition with lots of very good ideas. I’m confident that we will be able to realise a number of the concepts and we are very pleased with the competition."

The competition was run by Jimmy Nyström, Business Development Director, BillerudKorsnäs and Jon Haag, Corporate Innovation Manager, BillerudKorsnäs.

"As managers for the project, we think this year’s competition has reached an entirely new level. The students have worked really hard for six weeks and are presenting concepts that are fully up to the standard of what’s provided by creative agencies. We’re impressed!"

This year’s SPICE:14 competition was the fifth to be held, and it has expanded from a competition for Berghs student to being an integrated part of the Sustainable Packaging Design class at the school.

Read more about SPICE:14 at www.spice14.com

For more information, please contact:

Jon Haag, Corporate Innovation Manager, BillerudKorsnäs

+46 702072557, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Jimmy Nyström, Business Development Director, BillerudKorsnäs

+46 703832442 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Pål Pettersson, Head of Graphic Design, Berghs School of Communication.

+46 792540239, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

billkorlogoBillerudKorsnäs provides high quality paper and state of the art packaging expertise. Together with our global network of converters we develop smarter packaging solutions that save costs, boost brands thanks to improved design, and contribute towards smoother logistics and a cleaner environment. We have a turnover of SEK20 billion and employ 4,300 people in 13 countries.’www.billerudkorsnas.com

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billkorlogoBillerudKorsnäs continues to act according to their growth agenda. This time with an investment of SEK 260 million at their production unit in Skärblacka that will increase the volume and improve the quality of sack papers produced there.

The BillerudKorsnäs Board of Directors has approved a SEK 260 million investment for sack paper machine 9 at the Skärblacka production unit. The investment will further add to the quality leadership of the BillerudKorsnäs sack paper range and will also increase the capacity of the machine by 20 000 t/a up to 180 000 t/a. The investment is a part of the growth agenda Selective Growth for BillerudKorsnäs Business Area Packaging Paper.

Paper machine 9 produces high quality brown sack papers that are used for the construction of sacks primarily for packaging of cement, other construction minerals and chemicals. Most of these papers are sold in emerging markets outside of Europe.

- We see strong potential for our sack papers in South East Asia, where our sack paper brand QuickFill is a quality leader. In those regions, cement and other construction minerals are very often packed in plastic sacks. Sacks made out of our material offer the brand owner large benefits when it comes to production economy, but also when it comes to sustainability and health – says Johan Nellbeck, SVP Packaging Paper.

The investment includes the head box and wire section of the paper machine and it will be carried out during 2015. For BillerudKorsnäs, the investment is an outcome of the asset review that has been conducted. It is an important step in the development of the Skärblacka production unit and follows after successful investments in energy and environment since 2012.

As previously communicated, the BillerudKorsnäs capex levels for 2015 and 2016 will be above the depreciation level.

For further information, please contact:

Johan Nellbeck, SVP Packaging Paper, +46 8 553 335 00
Henrik Essén, SVP Communication and Sustainability, +46 8 553 335 00

BillerudKorsnäs – Förpackningstillverkare och varumärkesägare erbjuds mervärde i form av varumärkesförstärkande, produktivitetshöjande och miljöbefrämjande förpackningslösningar. BillerudKorsnäs har en världsledande marknadsposition inom nyfiberbaserade förpackningsmaterial. Bolaget omsätter ca SEK 20 miljarder och är noterat på NASDAQ OMX Stockholm. www.billerudkorsnas.se

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Thursday, 28 August 2014 09:43

BillerudKorsnäs invests for growth

billkorlogoA new investment makes the board machine in Frövi the largest of its kind in the world. The investment is a concrete example of BillerudKorsnäs ambitious growth agenda.

The BillerudKorsnäs Board of Directors has today approved an investment of approximately SEK 900 million in the Frövi and Rockhammar mills. The investment targets increased capacity and improved quality of the output cartonboard and liquid packaging board. 

  • We have set an ambitious growth agenda for BillerudKorsnäs. For the business area Consumer Board the strategy is profitable volume growth. This investment is an important part of realising that strategy. – says Per Lindberg, CEO of BillerudKorsnäs .

The investment includes a rebuild of the board machine at the Frövi mill as well as a capacity upgrade of the Rockhammar pulp mill. After completion in 2017, the investment will bring the Frövi mill to an output of 550 000 t/a of high quality cartonboard and liquid packaging board and the Rockhammar mill up to 150 000 t/a of CTMP. After the investment, BillerudKorsnäs will operate the largest machine for production of cartonboard and liquid packaging board integrated to chemical pulp in the world.

  • The demand for BillerudKorsnäs cartonboard and liquid packaging board is increasing. Through this investment we will maintain and strengthen our competitiveness and deliver on the increasing demands on our products and services, and thereby achieve sustainable growth within our business area Consumer Board. – says Ulf Eliasson, Senior Vice President Consumer Board

BillerudKorsnäs long term estimate for capital expenditure is for capex to be in line with depreciation i.e. approximately SEK 1400 million per year. The Frövi and Rockhammar investments imply that BillerudKorsnäs will exceed previous guidance for capex with approximately SEK 150 million for 2014 and that the capex level will be above the depreciations also for the coming two years.

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CEO Per Lindberg comments on the development during Q2 2014:

billkorlogo“We deliver a strong and stable result for the second quarter. Our adjusted operating profit reached SEK 467 million and our operating margin was 9%. Overall, I am pleased with our financial performance. The market place has been quite good with solid demand and stable prices within all business areas. Business area Packaging Paper has managed to keep the prices stable during the quarter in spite of increased capacity on the market, and has increased prices on new orders within the sack segments thanks to a seasonally strong demand. Within business area Consumer Board we have launched the next generation of Cartonboard products on the market, which has been very well received by customers. Business area Containerboard has delivered a stable result for the second quarter but is beginning to feel a real pressure from the increased capacity on the market.

We continue with our ambition “Challenging conventional packaging for a sustainable future” with the aim of increasing the level of innovation and leadership. During the quarter we have received confirmation in several areas that we are right on target with our mission. Several countries are putting regulations in place for reducing the use of plastics in packaging. We offer sustainable alternatives to several plastic applications, and sustainability is our top priority. We have received recognition from both EcoVadis and "oekom research", meaning that the company is acknowledged for its sustainability work. During the quarter, we have also made a decision to further improve the environmental profile of the company through a major investment in Gävle. Following our ambition to increase innovation and product leadership, we have during the quarter decided to invest in next generation fluting at Gruvön, enhancing both product performance as well as machine capacity. On the more innovative side, BillerudKorsnäs and Berghs School of Communication are giving Spotify a physical form. It is this year’s edition of a packaging design contest for students at Berghs and this is the first time an online brand will be physically packaged.

During the first half of 2014 we have delivered an operating margin of 10%, and a growth in sales volumes over last year with 4%, in line with our profitable growth targets and our long term strategy. The integration work has progressed as planned and as already communicated, the realisation of synergies is happening faster than first planned. All employees have done a fantastic work all across the company, in numerous different projects that constitutes the integration program. However, the pace of integration in combination with synergy-related incentives will increase the non-recurring costs for realising the synergies with approximately SEK 25 million for the year. It is my belief that this is money well spent.’’

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With the European Parliament voting to significantly cut plastic bag use by 2019, BillerudKorsnäs has launched two new families of paper for use in carriers for the food and retail sectors. The products offer outstanding value, quality, and flexibility and are produced from renewable raw materials. The fact that they are biodegradable means they pose far less of a threat to waterways than plastics

BillerudKorsnäs has launched two new paper product families, aimed at meeting growing demand for paper bags and carriers within the retail and food sectors. The Xpression and Basix product lines both offer outstanding strength, printability and environmental credentials, but are carefully designed for use in distinct applications.

bill bags

The Xpression range of high-quality kraft paper products is suitable for use in paper carriers produced for use in retail and in other sectors. Papers in the range offer benefits across the value chain. They allow for outstanding colour and text reproduction during printing and enable brand owners to produce strong, durable and appealing carrier bags that reflect on their brands in the best possible way.

The Basix range of kraft paper, meanwhile, is intended for use in consumer bags that provide protection for food, or that are used in other daily applications. The range consists of stiff papers with an even quality that allows for effective and functional conversion as well as easy-to-use end products. The papers boast good printability, and grease-resistant variants are available for paper bags that come into close contact with greasy food, such as Danish pastries and French fries.

Marcus Lager, Business Segment Director at BillerudKorsnäs, says there has been an increase in demand for quality paper products, particularly in Europe where tough measures have been introduced to reduce the use of plastic bags and plastic carrier bags.

In April, the European Parliament voted in favour of new targets that will force nations within the EU to reduce plastic bag use by 80 per cent before 2019," Lager says. "Many consumers have also expressed a strong preference for sustainable, non-plastic alternatives, both in retail and food retail situations."

Luigi Fiorini, President of global packaging manufacturer Fiorini International, says a major advantage of the Xpression and Basix ranges is their strong environmental credentials. BillerudKorsnäs is recognised as an industry leader in terms of sustainability and environmental focus.

Patrik Bosander, Business Development Director at BillerudKorsnäs, says, "The independent research body IVL Svenska Miljöinstitutet (IVL Swedish Environmental Institute) conducted climate change impact studies on all the products manufactured in three of our Swedish paper mills. The results showed that our products had a very small carbon footprint. This is due to the paper being made from renewable raw material from sustainable forestry, as well to our investments in environmentally effective technology."

About Fiorini International

Fiorini International is a market-leading company that produces packaging for the industrial, retail and fashion sectors. The company has modern plants in Italy and the Czech Republic, employs some 420 people and has an annual turnover of about 100 million euros. Fiorini International has customers all over the world and recently won the "Best Converter" prize at the prestigious La Vedovella awards in Italy.

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Thursday, 12 June 2014 07:52

BillerudKorsnäs packages Spotify

bill jonBillerudKorsnäs and Berghs School of Communication are giving Spotify a physical form. The collaboration is called SPICE:14 and is this year’s edition of a packaging design contest for students at Berghs. This is the first time an online brand will be physically packaged.

SPICE (Sustainable Packaging & Innovation Communication Event) is taking place for the fifth year in a row. In the first year, the event was merely a contest that Berghs students participated in, but now SPICE is part of the "Sustainable Packaging Design" course at Berghs.

This year, SPICE has been commissioned by the Swedish international music service Spotify. The company wants to try out a new way to reach consumers with its online music service.

"We’re delighted to have the opportunity to take part in SPICE. We get a lot of requests, and the reason we said ‘yes’ to this event was that it felt well organised and planned. There was also a clear schedule for us to consider," says Jonathan Forster, MD of Spotify Nordic.

Spotify is now putting the finishing touches to the brief that the students will receive when the course begins at the end of September.

"We want it to be fun for both Spotify and the students, but still be defined so narrowly so that they know what the scope is and what we want to achieve. It’ll be exciting to see what kinds of creative solutions the students come up with during the autumn," says Jonathan Forster.

Jimmy Nyström, Business Development Director at BillerudKorsnäs and Project Manager for SPICE:14 says that BillerudKorsnäs likes challenging the conventional and finding new packaging solutions.

"This is the first time we’ve been involved in packaging an internationally renowned digital brand, which shows that even digital brands need physical packaging to reach their target audience."

"The collaboration with BillerudKorsnäs is in line with the way Berghs structures its full-time courses – reality-based cases supported by specialists with excellent knowledge of the industry," says Pål Pettersson, Head of Graphic Design, Berghs School of Communication.

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billkorlogoBillerudKorsnäs´ Board of Directors has authorized an investment of over 450 MSEK for environmental improvements at the production unit in Gävle.

The investment includes a new sedimentation basin, developments in the pulp mill and a large number of related water-saving measures. This will be implemented in 2014 and 2015 and will be completed by the beginning of 2016.

- This is an important environmental investment for Gävle completely in line with the vision that our products shall have a minimal environmental impact and the best possible function in order to contribute to a sustainable future, says Christer Simrén, COO at BillerudKorsnäs

In addition to the environmental benefits, improved water quality and reduced use of electricity, the quality of the products will increase. This investment follows on the energy-related investments made in 2012 which greatly improved the production unit's sustainability performance in terms of energy efficiency and reduction of fossil fuel use.

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