Stora prepares to see stormy patch through

News by

25 April 2002

Stora Enso has seen a drop in business but is holding out for an improvement this year after its first-quarter net profits fell 43% to 99m compared to the same period last year.

Forecasts expect a pick up in Western economies over 2002, said chief executive officer Jukka Hrml. But advertising volumes remain weak and there are no signs of a sustained improvement in the market for graphic papers.

Sales of newsprint fell 17% in a year to 253m. Fine papers dropped 19% to 508m but packaging boards went up 8% to 471m.

Hrml said the added pressure of imported coated papers made the market more challenging in the US than in Europe.

Overall sales for the quarter fell just over 33m to 1.98bn. The Finnish firm totalled 8.3bn of sales in 2001.

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"This is a repeat of what happened to 1066 Capital t/a Crystal a year ago. They also never put this company in administration. We are all still left unable to claim the redundancy and notice pay owed..."