Chief executive John Dillon said the outlook was tough due to seasonally lower demand and high energy and wood prices. The groups net sales were stable at 3.7bn. It also took a pre-tax charge of 55m for plant closures and redundancy payments.

Operating profits in its printing papers segment fell by a third to 71m. Lower average prices and low demand forced it to take downtime to bring production in line with demand.

But Dillon felt the groups cost-reduction measures had left it in a good position to benefit from any upturn in the market.