Published:

2012-11-01 11:00:00 CET

Registered:

2012-11-01 11:00:04 CET

REGULATED INFORMATION

English

Finnish

Metsä Board Oyj - Interim report (Q1 and Q3)

Metsä Board Corporation’s operating result excluding non-recurring items was EUR 49 million in January–September 2012

Metsä Board Corporation Interim Report 1 January-30 September 2012, 1 November
2012 at 12 noon

Result for January-September 2012

-- Sales were EUR 1,599 million (Q1-Q3/2011: 1,961).
-- The operating result excluding non-recurring items was EUR 49 million (81).
The operating result including non-recurring items was EUR 179 million (1).
-- The result before taxes excluding non-recurring items was EUR 18 million
(33). The result before taxes including non-recurring items was EUR 149
million (-51).
-- Earnings per share excluding non-recurring items were EUR 0.05 (0.06) and
including non-recurring items EUR 0.40 (-0.20).

Result for the third quarter of 2012

-- Sales were EUR 532 million (Q2/2012: 522).
-- The operating result excluding non-recurring items was EUR 25 million (19).
The operating result including non-recurring items was EUR 22 million
(161).
-- The result before taxes excluding non-recurring items was EUR 10 million
(17). The result before taxes including non-recurring items was EUR 8
million (159).
-- Earnings per share excluding non-recurring items were EUR 0.02 (0.05) and
including non-recurring items EUR 0.02 (0.43).

Events in the third quarter of 2012

-- Delivery volumes of paperboard and coated paper increased.
-- Delivery volumes of uncoated paper and pulp decreased.
-- There were no material changes in paper and paperboard prices. The market
price of pulp decreased.

Events after the period

-- The biopower plant owned by Pohjolan Voima and Leppäkosken Sähkö was
inaugurated at the Kyro mill.

“Our profitability improved further in the third quarter. Favourable
development in the paperboard business continued, and delivery volumes
increased as expected. Despite the extensive maintenance shutdown at the Husum
mill, the operating result of the paper and pulp business remained at the
second quarter level.

The paper and paperboard order books and operating rates are currently at a
normal level. Folding boxboard order inflows have in recent weeks slowed down
somewhat, but the price situation is stable. Paperboard delivery volumes are
estimated to be slightly lower in the fourth quarter than in the third quarter,
due to seasonal factors. Market prices of pulp are expected to increase in the
fourth quarter, but it is estimated that the average price of deliveries will
be slightly lower than in the third quarter. The overall situation in the
global economy is currently uncertain, which makes business forecasting more
difficult than in normal conditions.

We completed the Paperboard business area's investment programme as planned
with the inauguration of the biopower plant at the Kyro mill. Our production
machinery is now top class in the world, and our folding boxboard capacity,
which was expanded by 150,000 annual tonnes, will be fully available from the
beginning of 2013. New capacity is necessary in order for us to ensure the
availability of board for our customers in all situations.”

Mikko Helander, CEO

KEY FIGURES 2012 2012 2012 2011 2012 2011 2011 Q3 Q2 Q1 Q3 Q1-Q3 Q1-Q3 Q1-Q4
------------------------------------------------
Sales, EUR million 532 522 545 616 1,599 1,961 2,485
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EBITDA, EUR million 51 189 25 24 265 149 -23
excl. non-recurring items, EUR 54 47 34 36 135 172 180
million
EBITDA, % 9.6 36.2 4.6 3.9 16.6 7.6 -0.9
excl. non-recurring items, % 10.2 9.0 6.2 5.8 8.4 8.8 7.2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Operating result, EUR million 22 161 -4 -13 179 1 -214
excl. non-recurring items, EUR 25 19 5 6 49 81 59
million
EBIT, % 4.1 30.8 -0.7 -2.1 11.2 0.1 -8.6
excl. non-recurring items, % 4.7 3.6 0.9 1.0 3.1 4.1 2.4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Result before taxes, EUR 8 159 -18 -29 149 -51 -281
million
excl. non-recurring items, EUR 10 17 -9 -11 18 33 0
million
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Result for the period, EUR 8 140 -15 -33 133 -64 -273
million
excl. non-recurring items, EUR 10 14 -6 -15 18 20 8
million
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Result per share, EUR 0.02 0.43 -0.05 -0.11 0.40 -0.20 -0.83
excl. non-recurring items, EUR 0.02 0.05 -0.02 -0.05 0.05 0.06 0.02
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Return on equity, % 3.9 72.9 -8.4 -14.1 22.7 -8.9 -31.5
excl. non-recurring items, % 4.8 7.3 -3.1 -6.3 3.1 2.7 0.9
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Return on capital employed, % 5.2 35.9 -0.4 -1.5 13.4 0.4 -9.9
excl. non-recurring items, % 5.7 5.8 1.7 2.0 4.4 5.4 3.4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Equity ratio at end of period, 31.1 31.0 27.8 32.7 31.1 32.7 27.4
%
Gearing ratio at end of period, 138 138 154 128 138 128 154
%
Net gearing ratio at end of 70 73 104 83 70 83 106
period, %
Shareholders' equity per share 2.51 2.46 2.21 2.81 2.51 2.81 2.23
at end of period, EUR
Interest-bearing net 580 595 758 772 580 772 783
liabilities, EUR million
Gross investments, EUR million 11 17 10 17 38 60 95
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deliveries, 1 000 tonnes
Paperboard 306 289 295 346 890 1,099 1,388
Paper 169 165 185 260 519 718 908
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Personnel at the end of period 3,337 3,597 3,818 4,163 3,337 4,163 4,070
Deliveries are not comparable
due to restructuring.
EBITDA = Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and impairment charges

Near-term outlook

The situation in the global economy is currently uncertain, which makes
business forecasting more difficult than in normal conditions.

Folding boxboard order books and operating rates are currently at a normal
level, but the order inflows have recently slowed down somewhat. The average
prices of folding boxboard are not expected to change materially in the coming
months.

Linerboard order books and operating rates are at a strong level. Prices of
linerboard will be slightly higher in the fourth quarter than in the third
quarter, as a result of the price increase implemented in September.

It is estimated that in the fourth quarter the delivery volume of folding
boxboard and linerboard will be slightly lower than in the third quarter, due
to the seasonally weaker December. The slight increase in the price of
linerboard is, however, not estimated to be sufficient to completely cover the
negative result impact of the seasonally lower delivery volumes in the fourth
quarter in the Paperboard business area.

The delivery volumes of paper and pulp are in the fourth quarter expected to be
at least at the third quarter level. No material changes are on the horizon in
paper prices. The USD denominated market price of long fibre pulp is estimated
to increase somewhat during the fourth quarter. All in all, the average price
of Metsä Board's pulp deliveries in the fourth quarter is however estimated to
be slightly lower than in the third quarter.

Production costs are not estimated to change materially in the coming months.

Metsä Board's operating result in the fourth quarter of 2012, excluding
non-recurring items, is expected to be roughly at the third quarter of 2012
level.

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 Interim Report for January-September 2012 enclosed to this stock
exchange release. Metsä Board's complete Interim Report 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

Further information:

Matti Mörsky, CFO, tel. +358 10 465 4913
Juha Laine, Vice President, Investor Relations and Communications, tel. +358 10
465 4335

More information will be available starting from 1 p.m. on 1 November 2012. A
conference call held in English for investors and analysts starts at 3 p.m.
(EET). Conference call participants are requested to dial in and register a few
minutes prior to the start of the conference call on the following numbers:

Europe: +44 (0)20 7162 0025

US: +1 334 323 6201

The conference ID is 924020.

Metsä Board is Europe's leading manufacturer of folding boxboard, the world's
leading manufacturer of coated white-top kraftliners and a significant supplier
of paper, which offers customers high-quality cartonboard and papers for
consumer and retail packaging as well as graphics industry and office end
uses.The company's sales network serves brand owners, carton printers,
manufacturers of corrugated boards, printing houses, merchants and office
suppliers.Metsä Board is part of Metsä Group and its shares are listed in
NASDAQ OMX Helsinki.In 2011, the company's sales totalled approximately EUR 2.5
billion. The company has approximately 3,300 employees.

www.metsaboard.com

Attachments:

Metsa Board Interim Report Q3 2012.pdf