The figure is smaller than the rumoured amount circulating in the trade, which had run into tens of millions of euros.
Along with its year-end results for 2014, the Spain-headquartered papermaker indicated that its likely exposure would be between €5m-€10m (£3.7m-£7.5m).
However, Lecta group controller Denis Cramazou said that since signing off its results in March, it had reviewed its risk and the figure was now put at between €4m and €5m.
“We still don’t know exactly today what will be the outcome of our relationship with Paperlinx,” Cramazou said. “But we will benefit from a certain number of things we agreed with them prior to their decision to put the business into administration.”
Cramazou said Lecta was not interested in buying any of Paperlinx's UK or European assets.
He told PrintWeek that he expected Lecta to ultimately gain as a result. “Lecta is going to benefit from this modification, from this Paperlinx suppression of activity,” he stated. "The UK paper market is the most important one for Lecta."
Some of the group’s products are already sold in the UK via Premier Paper Group, which Cramazou described as “a very important customer”.
Lecta makes Premier’s ‘Essential’ range of coated and self-adhesive papers at its Condat mill in France, and the group is the largest coated woodfree papermaker in southern Europe.
Premier Paper marketing director David Jones said the business had seen an increase in sales of the products since the Paperlinx administration.
Earlier this week Lecta also signed a new agreement with a second UK merchant, which will involve the Garda silk and gloss grades previously sold by Paperlinx under its Regency brand.
The merchant has requested that details of its identity remain confidential until it has had time to organise the necessary stock and internal systems to deal with customer requests for the grades. “It will be the end of May at the earliest,” said a spokesman for the merchant.
For the year to 31 December 2014 Lecta sales fell 5.6% to €1.5bn. EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) rose 11.2% to €100.3m and it posted an operating profit of €29.4m (2013 loss: €29.7m). The group, which is owned by CVC Capital Partners, halved bottom-line losses to €66.6m after a reduction in restructuring costs.
It still plans further restructuring of its operations to reduce fixed costs, but the details are to be confirmed.
