Ahlstrom - Company Announcement

Ahlstrom announces new strategic agenda and updates long-term financial targets

Ahlstrom Corporation STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE September 19, 2013 at 9.15



Ahlstrom, a global high performance fiber-based materials company, announces its
new strategic agenda and updates its long-term financial targets.

During the last four years, Ahlstrom has undergone a major transformation as a
company and refocused its business portfolio to become a global high performance
materials company. The divestment of the Home and Personal business and the
demerger of specialty papers, the Label and Processing business, were key steps
in executing the 2009 strategy.

Ahlstrom has now defined a growth strategy extending to the year 2020. The
company's current and future product offering is driven by global megatrends,
such as resource scarcity, environmental awareness, demographics and
urbanization.

The company aims to grow with a high performance product offering for a clean
and healthy environment. Ahlstrom's strategy is built on three strong strategic
enablers: environmentally sound technologies and manufacturing platforms,
capability to co-create unique products together with customers and partners,
and global reach in operations.

Products with purpose

The company has selected to serve the following market segments:

·         Food, beverage & household

·         Medical care & life science

·         Transportation

·         Energy & environment

·         Building & decoration


The current businesses and the selected market segments offer good opportunities
for growth globally. In addition, the company has identified new high priority
growth areas in clean air and water, medical diagnostics and composite materials
for the construction and transportation industries.

 "Through our unique knowledge of fibers and materials, we provide customers
with improved performance and resource-efficiency such as reduced usage of
materials, energy and water. Our platforms already provide cleaner air and water
with our filtration products. We also see very lucrative growth opportunities in
medical diagnostics, composites and safe drinking water," said Jan Lång,
President and CEO.

Long-term financial targets

To support Ahlstrom's sustainable growth strategy, the Board of Directors has
approved the company's updated long-term financial targets over the economic
cycle:

·         Net sales: at least 5% underlying annual growth

·         Net sales from new products[1]: At least 20%

·         Operating profit[2]: 7% of net sales by 2016 and 10% of net sales
beyond 2016. With the current balance sheet structure, this implies a return on
capital employed of approximately 13% and approximately 15%, respectively.

·         Gearing ratio: to be maintained within 50-80% range"Our updated long-term financial targets reflect our determination to improve
our profitability. I am confident that the new targets are achievable,
considering our more focused business portfolio and the identified new growth
opportunities. We also expect that our rightsizing program will deliver
significant savings and improve shareholder return," stated Lång.

Ahlstrom's financial reporting segments remain unchanged. The company will
elaborate more on its strategy during the fall and at its Capital Markets Day on
November 21, 2013.



For more information, please contact:
Liisa Nyyssönen
Vice President, Communications
Tel. +358 10 888 4757



Ahlstrom in brief
Ahlstrom is a high performance fiber-based materials company, partnering with
leading businesses around the world to help them stay ahead. Our products are
used in a large variety of everyday applications, such as filters, medical gowns
and drapes, diagnostics, wallcoverings, flooring and food packaging. We have a
leading market position in the businesses in which we operate. In 2012,
Ahlstrom's net sales from the continuing operations (excluding Label and
Processing business) amounted to EUR 1 billion. Our 3,800 employees serve
customers in 24 countries. Ahlstrom's share is quoted on the NASDAQ OMX
Helsinki. More information available at www.ahlstrom.com.


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[1] Developed in the last three years
[2] Excluding non-recurring items

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