2012-05-03 11:01:00 CEST
2012-05-03 11:01:06 CEST
REGULATED INFORMATION
Metsä Group - Interim report (Q1 and Q3)
Metsä Group’s operating result EUR 52 million excluding non-recurring items in January–March
Metsä Group Interim Report 1-3/2012, Stock Exchange Release 3 May 2012 at noon
EET
Result for the first quarter of 2012
- Sales amounted to EUR 1,284 million (1-3/2011: EUR 1,403 million).
- Operating result excluding non-recurring items was EUR 52 million (130).
Operating result including non-recurring items was EUR 44 million (133).
- Result before taxes and excluding non-recurring items was EUR 18 million
(86). Result before taxes including non-recurring items was EUR 10 million
(89).
Events in the first quarter
- Metsäliitto Group changed its name to Metsä Group and adopted a new corporate
identity. Wood Products Industry is now Metsä Wood, Metsä-Botnia is Metsä Fibre
and M-real is Metsä Board. The name of Metsä Tissue remained unchanged.
Metsäliitto Cooperative's Wood Supply is now Metsäliitto Puunhankinta in
Finland and Metsä Forest internationally.
- A new investment product, Equity Bonus, has been available to owner-members
of Metsäliitto Cooperative from the beginning of the year.
- The unprofitable operations of Metsä Board's Gohrsmühle mill were
discontinued and the Alizay mill in France was closed down.
- Metsä Board sold the Premium Paper business operations of the Reflex mill to
Hahnemühle FineArt GmbH.
Events after the period
- Metsä Group agreed on a transaction in which the Japanese Itochu Corporation
acquires a 24.9 per cent holding in Metsä Fibre. The transaction is expected to
be completed within the next couple of days. In addition, on 24 April 2012,
Metsäliitto Cooperative used its purchase option concerning Metsä Fibre shares
owned by UPM-Kymmene. The realisation price of the purchase option concerning
UPM's 11 per cent holding in Metsä Fibre was EUR 150 million.
- At the beginning of May, Metsä Board signed a committed syndicated credit
facility totalling EUR 600 million, in order to refinance a EUR 500 million
bond maturing on 1 April 2013.
“Our performance in the first quarter of 2012 was as expected: both sales and
the result improved compared with the final quarter of 2011. In particular,
Metsä Board and Metsä Fibre improved their operating results, due to higher
delivery volumes of board, improved utilisation rates and increased sales
volumes of pulp. However, the continuing uncertainty over the world economy
affected financial performance in all of our business operations.
Metsä Board's restructuring measures, initiated in 2005, and the strategic
review of its paper business are close to completion. Measures taken due to the
discontinuing of businesses have proceeded according to plan and within the
estimated cost budget. The company is now focusing on fresh forest fibre
board, its foundation is stronger and results will start to show in the next
quarters. Our position as one of the leading players in the global pulp market
will be strengthened by the ownership arrangement carried out in April.
Metsä Group's new corporate identity has been received well in the market, and
it enhances the Group's competitiveness. Thanks to our focused strategy, we can
allocate our development investments to areas where we see the best
opportunities for growth. Our investment programme to improve the productivity
and efficiency of our production plants is progressing as planned.”
Kari Jordan, President & CEO, Metsä Group
Key figures
Metsä Group
Income statement 2012 2011 2011 1-3 1-3 1-12
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Sales 1 284 1 403 5 346
Other operating income 21 29 95
Operating expenses -1 195 -1 228 -5 058
Depreciation and impairment losses -66 -71 -354
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Operating result 44 133 29
Share of profit from associates -1 0 4
Exchange gains and losses 1 -1 2
Other net financial items -34 -44 -133
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Result before income tax 10 89 -98
Income taxes -8 -26 -59
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Result for the period 2 63 -157
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Metsä Group
Profitability 2012 2011 2011
1-3 1-3 1-12
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Operating result, EUR mill. 44 133 29
- “ -, excluding non-recurring items 52 130 314
- “ - % of sales 4.0 9.3 5.9
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Return on capital employed, % 4.7 13.2 1.1
- ” -, excluding non-recurring items 5.5 12.8 8.5
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Return on equity, % 0.4 14.7 -9.9
- ” -, excluding non-recurring items 2.5 13.9 8.6
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Financial position 2012 2011 2011
31.3 31.3 31.12
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Equity ratio, % 28.5 30.4 28.3
Net gearing ratio, % 132 112 131
Interest-bearing net liabilities, EUR mill. 1 993 1 933 1 953
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Segments
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Sales and Operating Wood Wood Pulp Paperboard and Tissue and
result Supply Produc Indust Paper Cooking
January-March 2012 ts ry Industry Papers
(EUR mill.) Indust
ry
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Sales 404 222 326 545 244
Other operating income 3 2 4 12 4
Operating expenses -400 -212 -273 -532 -226
Depreciation & -1 -8 -12 -29 -12
impairment losses
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Operating result 6 4 45 -4 10
Non-recurring items - - -2 10 -
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Operating result, excl. 6 4 43 5 10
non-rec. items
- % of sales 1.5 1.9 13.0 0.9 3.9
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Near-term outlook
Demand for logging sites harvested in the summer continues to be good,
particularly with regard to log-dominated regeneration felling and thinning.
Demand for wood from delivery contracts is also good.
The operating result of Wood Products Industry is expected to strengthen during
the second quarter. In particular, building is expected to recover, due to
seasonal variation in demand.
The increases in delivery volumes and prices in the first quarter provide a
good basis for the coming months in the pulp business, provided that there are
no negative developments in the general economic climate.
Order books for board have normalised and utilisation rates have clearly
improved from the year-end level. In the second quarter, board delivery volumes
are expected to improve compared with the first quarter. No essential changes
are expected in board prices in the next few months. No major changes are
expected in paper product delivery volumes in the second quarter. The price of
uncoated fine paper is expected to rise slightly, and the price of coated paper
is expected to remain steady on average.
Demand for tissue and cooking papers is expected to increase moderately.
Additional sales are sought through new products. High energy and raw material
prices will continue to present challenges to the company's profit development.
The increase of sales based on own brands, the increase of cash flow and
improvement of the operating result are the main goals for this year.
Metsä Group's operating result excluding non-recurring items in the second
quarter of 2012 is expected to improve from the first quarter.
Disclosure procedure
Metsä Group follows the disclosure procedure enabled by Standard 5.2b published
by the Finnish Financial Supervision Authority and hereby publishes its Interim
Report for January-March 2012 enclosed to this stock exchange release. Metsä
Group's complete Interim Report is attached to this release in pdf-format and
is also available on the company's web site at www.metsagroup.com.
METSÄ GROUP
Group Communications
For further information, please contact:
Vesa-Pekka Takala, CFO, Metsä Group, tel. +358 (0)10 465 4260
Reeta Kaukiainen, SVP, Metsä Group Communications, tel. +358 (0)10 465 4541,
+358 (0)50 522 0924
www.metsagroup.com
Metsä Group is a responsible forest industry group whose products are part of
people's everyday life and promote sustainable well-being. Metsä Group produces
high-quality products mainly from renewable Nordic wood. The Group's business
areas are tissue and cooking papers, board and paper, pulp, wood products as
well as wood supply. Metsä Group's sales totalled EUR 5.3 billion in 2011, and
it employs approximately 12,500 people. The Group is present in some 30
countries.
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