2016-02-03 11:00:01 CET

2016-02-03 11:00:01 CET


BIRTINGARSKYLDAR UPPLÝSNINGAR

Enska Finnska
Metsä Board Oyj - Financial Statement Release

Metsä Board Corporation’s operating result excluding non-recurring items was EUR 180 million in 2015


Metsä Board Corporation Financial Statements 1 January–31 December 2015, 3
February 2016 at noon EET 


January–December 2015 (1–12/2014)
• Sales amounted to EUR 2,007.5 million (2,008.4).
• Operating result excluding non-recurring items was EUR 179.9 million (136.5),
or 9.0 per cent of sales. Operating result including non-recurring items was
EUR 199.0 million (116.5). 
• Result before taxes excluding non-recurring items was EUR 150.2 million
(99.7). Result before taxes including non-recurring items was EUR 167.1 million
(77.6). 
• Earnings per share excluding non-recurring items were EUR 0.34 (0.26), and
earnings per share including non-recurring items were EUR 0.39 (0.20). 
• The Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting to be held on
23 March 2016 that a dividend of EUR 0.17 per share be paid for the 2015
financial period. The proposed dividend equals 44 per cent of the earnings per
share of 2015. 

October–December 2015 (Q3/2015)
• Sales amounted to EUR 462.2 million (497.6).
• Operating result excluding non-recurring items was EUR 35.1 million (54.6),
or 7.6 per cent (11.0) of sales. Operating result including non-recurring items
was EUR 34.1 million (54.6). 
• The result before taxes excluding non-recurring items was EUR 30.4 million
(47.5). Result before taxes including non-recurring items was EUR 29.4 million
(47.5). 
• Earnings per share excluding non-recurring items were EUR 0.07 (0.08), and
earnings per share including non-recurring items were EUR 0.07 (0.08). 

Events in October–December 2015
• Paperboard deliveries declined slightly due to the seasonality, and the price
levels were stable. 
• Metsä Board announced it would increase the price of folding boxboard in
Europe starting from 1 December 2015. 
• The manufacture of uncoated fine paper sheets at Husum ended.
• The integrated mill shutdown related to the investment programme in Husum had
negative impact on the operating profit for the review period of approximately
EUR 20 million. 
• Metsä Board decided to expand its paperboard offering for food service
packaging by investing EUR 38 million in extrusion coating. 

Events after the review period
• Husum's new folding boxboard production line is in the start-up phase,
slightly behind the original schedule. The delay will have a slight negative
impact on the operating result for the first quarter of 2016. 
• Metsä Board's market cap segment changed in Nasdaq's Nordics listing. As of
the beginning of 2016, Metsä Board's segment is Large Cap. 


Mika Joukio, CEO:
“Overall, 2015 was a record year for us. Our operating result excluding
non-recurring items improved by nearly a third from the previous year. Our
paperboard deliveries grew by 12 per cent, and average prices remained stable.
In addition, our profitability was supported by favourable exchange rates and
our exit from the loss-making paper business. We also received significant
recognitions for the quality of our products and sustainability. 

The integrated mill shutdown related to the investment programme at Husum had a
negative impact of approximately EUR 20 million on the last quarter’s result.
This was more than we had estimated in November. The start-up phase of the new
folding boxboard production line was delayed slightly, which will naturally
have some impact on our result in the first quarter of 2016. Our target is to
sell 200,000 tonnes of Husum's new folding boxboard in 2016. Husum's folding
boxboard deliveries will mainly target the Americas and the food service
packaging segment globally. 

In 2015, we invested in product development in order to continue to offer our
customers the most lightweight and high-quality paperboard on the market. Among
other things, we began testing foam forming at an industrial scale and made a
decision to invest in an extrusion coating line at Husum. We will also continue
to develop other barrier solutions. 

Our transformation from a paper company into a paperboard company is
practically complete. After the investment programme at Husum, our paperboard
capacity is more than 2 million tonnes per year. The remaining annual
production of uncoated fine paper reels, approximately 100,000 tonnes, will end
completely in 2017. 

Our main goal continues to be to grow our paperboard business operations
profitably together with our customers. With the new capacity and increasingly
improved products, we will be able to serve our customers even better
globally.” 


Key figures

                              2015   2015   2015   2015   2014   2015     2014  
                              Q4     Q3     Q2     Q1     Q4     Q1–Q4    Q1–Q4 
                            ----------------------------------------------------
Sales, EUR million           462.2  497.6  522.0  525.7  499.4  2 007.5  2 008.4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EBITDA, EUR million           59.1   80.8   93.3   69.3   56.4    302.5    242.2
excl. non-recurring items,    59.7   80.8   73.1   69.7   60.6    283.3    236.2
 EUR million                                                                    
EBITDA, %                     12.8   16.2   17.9   13.2   11.3     15.1     12.1
excl. non-recurring items,    12.9   16.2   14.0   13.3   12.1     14.1     11.8
 %                                                                              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Operating result, EUR         34.1   54.6   67.2   43.1    6.7    199.0    116.5
 million                                                                        
excl. non-recurring items,    35.1   54.6   47.0   43.2   36.9    179.9    136.5
 EUR million                                                                    
EBIT, %                        7.4   11.0   12.9    8.2    1.3      9.9      5.8
excl. non-recurring items,     7.6   11.0    9.0    8.2    7.4      9.0      6.8
 %                                                                              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Result before taxes, EUR      29.4   47.5   58.0   32.2    1.6    167.1     77.6
 million                                                                        
excl. non-recurring items,    30.4   47.5   40.0   32.3   31.6    150.2     99.7
 EUR million                                                                    
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Result for the period, EUR    26.5   26.8   54.7   29.3    6.1    137.3     68.5
 million                                                                        
excl. non-recurring items,    27.5   26.4   36.9   29.4   32.7    120.2     88.1
 EUR million                                                                    
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Result per share              0.07   0.08   0.15   0.09   0.02     0.39     0.20
excl. non-recurring items,    0.07   0.08   0.10   0.09   0.10     0.34     0.26
 EUR                                                                            
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Return on equity, %           10.4   10.6   22.5   13.2    2.9     14.7      8.1
excl. non-recurring items,    10.8   10.4   15.2   13.2   15.4     12.9     10.4
 %                                                                              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Return on capital employed,    8.1   13.0   16.5   11.0    1.8     12.5      7.7
 %                                                                              
excl. non-recurring items,     8.3   13.0   11.6   11.0    9.6     11.3      9.1
 %                                                                              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Equity ratio at the end of    46.5   45.6   45.9   40.8   39.2     46.5     39.2
 the period, %                                                                  
Gearing ratio at the end of     64     66     67     73     81       64       81
 the period, %                                                                  
Net gearing ratio at the        32     34     39     34     51       32       51
 end of the period, %                                                           
Shareholders’ equity per      2.89   2.86   2.83   2.63   2.49     2.89     2.49
 share                                                                          
at the end of the period,                                                       
 EUR                                                                            
Interest-bearing net         333.4  344.2  389.0  318.9  426.7    333.4    426.7
 liabilities at the end of                                                      
the period, EUR million                                                         
Gross investments, EUR        60.8   44.8   48.3   23.9   18.2    177.8     44.2
 million                                                                        
Net cash flow from            65.9   92.5   55.8   32.5   74.3    246.7    198.2
 operations, EUR million                                                        
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deliveries, 1,000 tonnes                                                        
Paperboard                     365    373    366    345    326    1,449    1,310
Non-core operations             65    118    138    156    158      478      636
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Personnel at the end of the  2,601  2,642  2,850  3,158  3,111    2,601    3,111
 period                                                                         
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The 2014 earnings per share and shareholders’ equity per share have been
issue-adjusted. The rights issue factor was 1.030627. 
EBITDA = Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation


Business environment and near-term outlook
Metsä Board's paperboard deliveries are expected to grow in January–March from
the last quarter of 2015. Demand for paperboard is expected to remain good in
Americas and the market situation to remain stable in Europe. 

The average price of Metsä Board's folding boxboard will be reduced by the
start-up volumes from the new FBB machine at Husum. The company estimates that
the required quality objectives will be reached by the third quarter of 2016,
according to the original plan. The delayed start-up phase of the new
production line will have a negative impact on the production volumes of pulp
and paperboard in the first quarter. According to the original plan, Metsä
Board's target is to sell 200,000 tonnes of the new folding boxboard from Husum
to the Americas and for food service packaging globally in 2016. 

The global demand for and supply of long-fibred pulp is expected to remain
fairly stable. Metsä Board's market pulp deliveries are expected to grow from
the last quarter of 2015. Paper deliveries will decrease as planned, and the
prices are expected to remain stable. 

Production costs in January–March are expected to remain at approximately the
level of the last quarter of 2015. 

It is estimated that the investment programme at Husum will have a positive
effect of approximately EUR 50 million on Metsä Board’s annual operating
result. The company estimates that approximately a third of this result
improvement will be realised in 2016. Correspondingly, the positive impact of
the EUR 20 million divestment of the Gohrsmühle mill will show in the 2016
operating result in full. Of this, somewhat over a half was realised in the
2015 result. 

Metsä Board’s operating result excluding non-recurring items in the first
quarter of 2016 is expected to remain roughly at the same level as in the last
quarter of 2015. 


Disclosure procedure
Metsä Board Corporation follows the disclosure procedure enabled by Standard
5.2b published by the Finnish Financial Supervision Authority and hereby
publishes its Financial Statements 2015 enclosed to this stock exchange
release. Metsä Board's complete Financial Statements is attached to this
release in pdf-format and is also available on the company's web site at
www.metsaboard.com. 


METSÄ BOARD CORPORATION

More information:
Markus Holm, CFO, tel. +358 (0)10 465 4913
Katri Sundström, Head of Investor Relations, tel. +358 (0)400 976 333

More information will be available from 1 p.m. on 3 February 2016. A conference
call for investors and analysts will be held in English and begin at 3 p.m.
(EET). Conference call participants are requested to dial in and register a few
minutes earlier on the following numbers: 
Europe: +44(0)20 3427 1913
US: +1 646 254 3362
Conference ID: 3693549


www.metsaboard.com

Metsä Board is a leading European producer of folding boxboards and white
linerboards made from fresh forest fibres. Its lightweight paperboards are
developed as the perfect fit for consumer goods, retail-ready and food service
packaging. The pure fresh forest fibres Metsä Board uses are a renewable
resource, traceable to origin in northern forests. The global sales network of
Metsä Board supports customers worldwide, including brand owners, converters
and merchants. In 2015, the company’s sales totalled EUR 2.0 billion, and it
has approximately 2,600 employees. Metsä Board, part of Metsä Group, is listed
on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki.