Stora Enso Oyj - Company Announcement

Stora Enso CEO Jouko Karvinen comments on third quarter 2011 results announced today

“Solid quarter, measures to fight the economic reality continue and increase”

Helsinki, Finland, 2011-10-21 12:01 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- STORA ENSO OYJ
STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE 21 October 2011 at 13.01 EET 


“We finished the third quarter as planned. The business areas performed as
expected, but associated companies underperformed, essentially due to currency
impact. 

“In July we forecast rapidly increasing economic uncertainty and the need to
plan for alternative demand scenarios going forward. We described the early
signs of weakening demand and sales channel inventory reductions in Fine Paper
and Wood Products. Whereas we see for example in coated fine paper
stabilisation after inventory corrections, it is clear that going into the
fourth quarter our customers, as well as ourselves, will reduce inventories and
therefore we will further step up the manufacturing curtailments which we
already increased significantly in the third quarter. If temporary lay-offs are
planned, they will be subject to co-determination negotiations. 

“As before, in a rapidly changing business environment our priorities are
clear: cash preservation, defending our margins through active capacity
management, minimising the number of underutilised assets by product swaps and
continued cost-efficiency actions. The good news is that we are now in a
stronger position than a few years ago due to lower fixed costs. We have
enhanced flexibility through outsourcing and other means of decreasing the
negative earnings impact of reduced demand. This path of improvements in costs
and productivity, but also flexibility is one we will continue to follow. 

“Looking further ahead, our current strategic projects - the Montes del Plata
pulp mill in Uruguay, the Ostrołęka containerboard machine in Poland and the
cross-laminated timber investment in Austria - are proceeding according to
plan. Inpac acquisition was completed in the third quarter. Our strong balance
sheet and cash position gives us a solid platform to pursue our future in our
selected growth areas.” 

For further information, please contact:

Jouko Karvinen, CEO, tel. +358 2046 21410

Lauri Peltola, Head of Communications and Global Responsibility, tel. +358 2046
21380 

Ulla Paajanen-Sainio, Head of Investor Relations, tel. +358 2046 21242


www.storaenso.com

www.storaenso.com/investors



Stora Enso is the global rethinker of the packaging, paper and wood products
industry. We always rethink the old and expand to the new to offer our
customers innovative solutions based on renewable materials. Stora Enso employs
some 30 000 people worldwide, and our sales in 2010 amounted to EUR 10.3
billion. Stora Enso shares are listed on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki (STEAV, STERV) and
Stockholm (STE A, STE R). In addition, the shares are traded in the USA as ADRs
(SEOAY) in the International OTCQX over-the-counter market. 



STORA ENSO OYJ