Business News

Stora Enso CEO Jouko Karvinen comments on third quarter results announced today

Wednesday 27. October 2010 - "Another strong earnings performance - time to build our future"

“The third quarter was yet another proof point of Stora Enso in action,
determined to build a business that creates value for our shareholders. A very
significant part of our earnings improvement again came through early cost
reductions and active management of both pricing and customer mix. Only this
year we are permanently removing about 700 000 tonnes of paper capacity or four
machines in Europe, a demonstration of our commitment to do what it takes to
improve our cost position and productivity. The recent quarters should also
prove that our actions are starting to pay off.

“We are also continuing to build the future of Stora Enso in line with our
strategy of fibre-based packaging and plantation-based pulp in growth markets,
as well as a focussed competitive paper portfolio. We have been tested in
unforeseen ways during the past few years, and now we are coming out stronger
through our own actions. That is a good starting point for the next part of our
journey.

“As a concrete sign of the next part of our journey, we have today announced the
acquisition of the majority shareholding in Chinese packaging company Inpac
International, which is strategically a perfect fit for our portfolio. The
acquisition offers us an excellent opportunity to increase our presence in China
and India, the two fastest-growing consumer packaging markets in the world.

“Looking into the fourth quarter, the market outlook remains generally
favourable, but pressure on variable costs, seasonal demand weakness in some
products and maintenance stoppages are expected to decrease our fourth quarter
earnings quarter-on-quarter. As before, these challenges will only make us
strive harder to improve the things we can influence ourselves.”