Long versions: 
Stora Enso’s results improved on previous quarter despite difficult market conditions
Stora Enso’s earnings per share excluding non-recurring items improved to EUR 0.23, compared with EUR 0.18 in the previous quarter, mainly due to lower financial costs. The profit before tax and minority interests excluding non-recurring items was EUR 287.6 million (EUR 248.3 million in previous quarter). Sales for the quarter at EUR 3 200.5 million were about 6% less than the previous quarter’s EUR 3 388.4 million. The operating profit excluding non-recurring items was EUR 339.0 million, which is 2.1% less than the previous quarter’s EUR 346.4 million and 10.6% of sales. Lower prices and decreased sales volumes were partially compensated by lower costs, mainly due to the lower average exchange rates of the Swedish krona and US dollar.
Third quarter production curtailments amounted to 706 000 tonnes, including 507 000 tonnes due to weak market demand (342 000 tonnes in the second quarter). The remainder was mainly due to machine rebuilds.
|
EUR million |
Full year 2000 |
Jan.-Sep. 2000 |
Jan.-Sep. 2001 |
Apr.-Jun. 2001 |
Jul.-Sep. 2001 |
|
Sales |
13 017.0 |
9 339.0 |
10 225.9 |
3 388.4 |
3 200.5 |
|
Magazine |
2 818.8 |
1 881.6 |
2 589.5 |
847.6 |
831.7 |
|
Newsprint |
1 766.7 |
1 282.6 |
1 464.3 |
490.7 |
471.9 |
|
Fine paper |
3 473.2 |
2 410.1 |
2 764.0 |
904.1 |
838.6 |
|
Packaging boards |
2 975.0 |
2 219.1 |
2 078.9 |
704.2 |
672.8 |
|
Timber products |
1 242.1 |
926.6 |
885.3 |
311.8 |
266.2 |
|
Other activities and
eliminations |
741.2 |
619.0 |
443.9 |
130.0 |
119.3 |
|
Operating profit* |
2 371.3 |
2 040.7 |
1 216.8 |
336.8 |
357.0 |
|
Magazine |
399.4 |
321.6 |
269.8 |
72.3 |
83.9 |
|
Newsprint |
268.3 |
186.6 |
388.4 |
125.6 |
128.7 |
|
Fine paper |
688.8 |
491.1 |
320.1 |
81.9 |
70.6 |
|
Packaging boards |
441.3 |
337.4 |
302.8 |
90.2 |
97.5 |
|
Timber products |
73.3 |
62.0 |
16.0 |
7.9 |
2.5 |
|
Other activities and |
|
|
|
|
|
|
eliminations |
500.2 |
642.0 |
-80.3 |
-41.1 |
-26.2 |
|
Profit before tax and minority interests |
2 099.0 |
1 848.9 |
973.8 |
238.7 |
305.6 |
|
Profit for the period |
1 435.0 |
1 259.2 |
651.8 |
154.8 |
213.7 |
|
EPS, Basic, EUR |
1.77 |
1.62 |
0.72 |
0.17 |
0.24 |
|
EPS, Diluted, EUR |
1.76 |
1.61 |
0.72 |
0.17 |
0.24 |
|
ROCE, % |
16.8 |
18.6 |
11.7 |
9.9 |
9.8 |
|
Debt/equity ratio |
0.59 |
0.65 |
0.55 |
0.62 |
0.55 |
* Operating profit includes non-recurring items of EUR 445.7 million in 2000, EUR 555.8 million in Jan.-Sep. 2000, EUR 8.4 million in Jan.-Sep. 2001 and EUR 18.0 million in Jul.-Sep. 2001.
Commenting on the results, Stora Enso’s CEO Jukka Härmälä said, "We are pleased that we were able to improve our results even though the markets were demanding during the quarter and uncertainty has increased. We shall continue to adjust our capacity to market demand. By keeping capital expenditure low, as we have done, we can maintain good cash flow.
"Continuing weakness in the markets combined with seasonal curtailments and planned downtime for rebuilds will affect the fourth quarter earnings per share. The full year financial results will depend very much on prices, our internal efficiency and cost awareness."
For further information, please contact:
Jukka Härmälä, Chief Executive Officer, tel. +44 20 8432 1520
Björn Hägglund, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, tel. +44 20 8432 1530
Esko Mäkeläinen, CFO, tel. +44 20 8432 1540
Kari Vainio, EVP, Communications and Investor Relations, tel. +44 77 9934 8197
In North America:
Tim Laatsch, SVP, Communications, tel. +1 715 422 4023
Scott Deitz, VP, Communications and Investor Relations, tel. +1 715 422 1521
The full-length version of the Stora Enso interim review is available on the Stora Enso website at http://www.storaenso.com/investors.
An image bank of pictures that may be freely used to illustrate articles about Stora Enso is available at http://www.storaenso.com/images.
Stora Enso’s fourth quarter interim review and full year 2001 financial results will be published on 30 January 2002.
