"In Europe we have seen quite a lot of recovery in our markets edging toward 1999 levels," said executive chairman Eugene van As.
The forecast came as the South African papermaker reported a 21% fall in sales to 595m, which van As attributed to weak prices and a strong dollar, for the second quarter of its 2002 financial year.
He said margins remained robust despite the weak market for coated fine paper, but pre-tax profits fell 17% to 58m. Van As also said there were signs of an upturn in pulp prices.
During the second quarter Sappi took 150,000 tonnes of pulp and paper production downtime, a strategy it plans to continue.
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""longer run litho work had “now returned to the Far East”?
Is this happening a lot?"
"Thanks Jo, look forward to reading it in due course. Administrators generally argue that they need to act with lightning speed in order to protect the business/jobs, thereby overlooking the fact that..."
"Hello Keith,
The details will be in the administrators' report but that's not available yet. I will write a follow-up piece when that's filed.
Best regards,
Jo"
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