M-real chief executive Jorma Vaajoki has given the strongest indication yet that his group has not finished on the acquisition trail.

He admitted that the company was looking at further buys in the merchanting area.

"Both e-business and merchant operations can help to serve the smaller business operation, and it is in this latter sector that we are looking at further acquisitions," he said.

Vaajoki said the Finnish paper group was still one to two years away from completing its integration process, and that at some stage non-core business Mets-Tissue would also be sold.

Vaajoki was speaking at the Confederation of Paper Industries (CPI)
Conference on Competitiveness in London last week.