Lundin will resign the top job at the Swedish group on 31 March, but will remain on the board. He will be replaced by president of Holmens paper business Magnus Hall, while Braviken mill manager Arne Wallin will succeed Hall.

Holmen chairman Fredrik Lundberg paid tribute to Lundin and said he was pleased he would be retaining a board position at the company.

The move comes just one week after Juha Niemel said he was stepping down from the position of president and chief executive of UPM-Kymmene (PrintWeek, 5 February).

Holmen released its full-year figures for 2003 revealing a fall in both operating profit and net turnover. Markets for newsprint and magazine papers remained weak, but deliveries had improved towards the end of the year, it said.

Operating profits for the Holmen Paper business were halved to 55.5m (SEK747m) while net turnover edged down 5% to 572m. Net turnover for the Iggesund Paperboard business fell slightly to 364m while operating profits fell 22% to 74.3m.

The group as a whole reported net sales down 2% on the previous year at 1.1bn, with overall operating profits down 14% at 173m.

Holmen also revealed that it would continue with its plans to build a recycled fibre-based newsprint machine in Spain an investment worth 202m.

The machine, which will have a capacity of 300,000 tonnes per annum, will be installed at the Papelera Peninsular mill. It is scheduled to come on stream at the start of 2006.

Story by Andy Scott