2013-02-07 12:30:00 CET

2013-02-07 12:30:07 CET


REGULATED INFORMATION

Finnish English
Metsä Board Oyj - Financial Statement Release

CORRECTION TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT BULLETIN: Metsä Board Corporation’s operating result excluding non-recurring items was EUR 74 million in 2012


Correction to the financial statement bulletin published 7 February 2013 at
12:00 noon: Separately announced Board's proposal to AGM for dividend for
financial year 2012 added to the financial statement bulletin. 

Metsä Board Corporation Financial Statements 1 January-31 December 2012, 7
February 2013 at 1:30 pm 

Full year result for 2012

  -- Sales were EUR 2,108 million (Q1-Q4/2011: 2,485).
  -- The operating result excluding non-recurring items was EUR 74 million (59).
     The operating result including non-recurring items was EUR 220 million
     (-214).
  -- The result before taxes excluding non-recurring items was EUR 30 million
     (0). The result before taxes including non-recurring items was EUR 176
     million (-281).
  -- Earnings per share excluding non-recurring items were EUR 0.13 (0.02) and
     including non-recurring items EUR 0.53 (-0.83).
  -- The Board of Directors proposes that a dividend of 0.06 euros per share be
     distributed for the financial year 2012.

Result for the fourth quarter of 2012

  -- Sales were EUR 509 million (Q3/2012: 532).
  -- The operating result excluding non-recurring items was EUR 25 million (25).
     The operating result including non-recurring items was EUR 41 million (22).
  -- The result before taxes excluding non-recurring items was EUR 12 million
     (10). The result before taxes including non-recurring items was EUR 27
     million (8).
  -- Earnings per share excluding non-recurring items were EUR 0.08 (0.02) and
     including non-recurring items EUR 0.13 (0.02).



Events in the fourth quarter of 2012

  -- Delivery volumes decreased from the previous quarter mainly due to seasonal
     reasons.
  -- Average price of linerboard increased. Pulp price took an upward turn. The
     average prices of folding boxboard and papers declined slightly.
  -- The new biopower plant owned by Pohjolan Voima and Leppäkosken Sähkö was
     commissioned at Metsä Board Kyro mill.



Events after the period

  -- The Alizay mill site in France, including machines, equipment and
     buildings, was sold to Conseil General de l'Eure for EUR 22 million.



“The operating result excluding non-recurring items in the last quarter of 2012
was at the third quarter level, as expected. Folding boxboard delivery volumes
were at a normal level, although slightly lower than in the previous quarter
due to seasonal effects. Demand for linerboard continued to be strong, and the
price increase had a positive impact on the result in the last quarter of the
year. The price of pulp also increased, and demand was good in the last
quarter. Instead, demand for and price level of papers decreased in Europe,
which weakened the profitability of our paper production. 

The year 2012 was a significant milestone for our company. We successfully
completed our strategic review, launched in 2006, which has resulted in the
transformation of the company from a paper producer to the leading paperboard
company. The measures to eliminate the last heavy losses of our paper
operations were successfully completed. In the fall of 2012, we completed our
EUR 120 million investment programme, related to which we increased our annual
folding boxboard capacity by approximately 150,000 tonnes, modernized  the Kemi
linerboard mill, and increased the use of bioenergy in our production. 

Our main targets for the year 2013 are the full utilisation of our expanded
folding boxboard capacity, development and expansion of our current paperboard
product portfolio and improvement of the profitability and cash flow of the
paper and market pulp units”. 

Mikko Helander, CEO





KEY FIGURES                      2012   2012   2012   2012    2011   2012   2011
                                   Q4     Q3     Q2     Q1      Q4  Q1-Q4  Q1-Q4
                               -------------------------------------------------
Sales, EUR million                509    532    522    545     524  2,108  2,485
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EBITDA, EUR million                55     51    189     25    -172    320    -23
excl. non-recurring items, EUR     50     54     47     34       8    185    180
 million                                                                        
EBITDA, %                        10.8    9.6   36.2    4.6   -32.8   15.2   -0.9
excl. non-recurring items, %      9.8   10.2    9.0    6.2     1.5    8.8    7.2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Operating result, EUR million      41     22    161     -4    -215    220   -214
excl. non-recurring items, EUR     25     25     19      5     -22     74     59
 million                                                                        
EBIT, %                           8.1    4.1   30.8   -0.7   -41.0   10.4   -8.6
excl. non-recurring items, %      4.9    4.7    3.6    0.9    -4.2    3.5    2.4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Result before taxes, EUR           27      8    159    -18    -230    176   -281
 million                                                                        
excl. non-recurring items, EUR     12     10     17     -9     -33     30      0
 million                                                                        
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Result for the period, EUR         40      8    140    -15    -209    173   -273
 million                                                                        
excl. non-recurring items, EUR     26     10     14     -6     -12     44      8
 million                                                                        
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Result per share, EUR            0.13   0.02   0.43  -0.05   -0.63   0.53  -0.83
excl. non-recurring items, EUR   0.08   0.02   0.05  -0.02   -0.04   0.13   0.02
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Return on equity, %              18.8    3.9   72.9   -8.4  -100.4   21.6  -31.5
excl. non-recurring items, %     12.2    4.8    7.3   -3.1    -5.4    5.5    0.9
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Return on capital employed, %     8.9    5.2   35.9   -0.4   -43.3   12.3   -9.9
excl. non-recurring items, %      5.7    5.7    5.8    1.7    -3.7    4.7    3.4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Equity ratio at end of period,   33.6   31.1   31.0   27.8    27.4   33.6   27.4
 %                                                                              
Gearing ratio at end of           128    138    138    154     154    128    154
 period, %                                                                      
Net gearing ratio at end of        72     70     73    104     106     72    106
 period, %                                                                      
Shareholders' equity per share   2.62   2.51   2.46   2.21    2.23   2.62   2.23
 at end of period, EUR                                                          
Interest-bearing net              625    580    595    758     783    625    783
 liabilities, EUR million                                                       
Gross investments, EUR million     28     11     17     10      35     66     95
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deliveries, 1 000 tonnes                                                        
Paperboard                        298    306    289    295     289  1,188  1,388
Paper                             162    169    165    185     190    681    908
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Personnel at the end of period  3,279  3,337  3,597  3,818   4,070  3,279  4,070
Deliveries are not comparable                                                   
 due to restructuring.                                                          
EBITDA = Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and impairment charges   



Near-term outlook

Folding boxboard delivery volumes in the last quarter of 2012 were at a normal
level, although seasonally slightly lower than in the previous quarter. Folding
boxboard order volumes are expected to gradually improve at the beginning of
the year and delivery volumes to increase slightly in the first quarter of
2013, compared to the previous quarter. As a result of the completed annual
folding boxboard contract negotiations the volumes are increasing in 2013
compared to 2012 and no material price changes are expected. 

Demand for linerboard is expected to continue to be very strong, and delivery
volumes are expected to increase slightly in the first quarter of 2013,
compared to the previous quarter. No significant changes are expected in the
price of linerboard in the coming months. 

Delivery volumes of uncoated fine paper are expected to increase slightly in
the first quarter of 2013, compared to the previous quarter, and delivery
volumes of pulp are expected to be at the previous quarter level. No
considerable changes are on the horizon in the price of uncoated fine paper.
The currency-denominated price increase of long-fibre pulp is expected to
continue at the beginning of the year. 

The market situation of coated paper has weakened further since the year end,
and delivery volumes and prices are expected to decrease slightly in the first
quarter of 2013. 

Production costs are expected to increase slightly in the first quarter of
2013, compared to the previous quarter, primarily due to increased energy
costs. 

Metsä Board's operating result for the first quarter of 2013, excluding
non-recurring items, is expected to improve slightly from the fourth quarter of
2012. 



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 2012 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



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 7 February 2013. 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 927294.



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 2012, the company's sales totalled approximately EUR 2.1 billion. The
company has approximately 3,300 employees. 



www.metsaboard.com