2015-08-06 11:00:00 CEST

2015-08-06 11:00:04 CEST


REGULATED INFORMATION

Finnish English
Metsä Board Oyj - Interim report (Q1 and Q3)

Metsä Board Corporation’s operating result excluding non-recurring items was EUR 90.2 million in January–June 2015


Metsä Board Corporation Interim Report 1 January-30 June 2015, 6 August 2015 at
12:00 noon 


Result for the first half of 2015
• Sales were EUR 1,047.7 million (Q1-Q2/2014: 995.2).
• Operating result excluding non-recurring items was EUR 90.2 million (64.4).
Operating result including non-recurring items was EUR 110.3 million (75.7). 
• Result before taxes excluding non-recurring items was EUR 72.3 million
(40.8). Result before taxes including non-recurring items was EUR 90.2 million
(49.9). 
• Earnings per share excluding non-recurring items were EUR 0.19 (0.10), and
earnings per share including non-recurring items were EUR 0.24 (0.12). 

Result for the second quarter of 2015
• Sales were EUR 522.0 million (Q1/2015: 525.7).
• Operating result excluding non-recurring items was EUR 47.0 million (43.2).
Operating result including non-recurring items was EUR 67.2 million (43.1). 
• The result before taxes excluding non-recurring items was EUR 40.0 million
(32.3). Result before taxes including non-recurring items was EUR 58.0 million
(32.2). 
• Earnings per share excluding non-recurring items were EUR 0.10 (0.09), and
earnings per share including non-recurring items were EUR 0.15 (0.09). 

Events during the second quarter of 2015
• Paperboard deliveries continued to grow, and the price levels were stable.
• The conversion of paper machine 8 to board machine 2 at the Husum mill was
completed as planned. 
• Metsä Board divested the Gohrsmühle mill, including all related liabilities,
to the German mutares AG's wholly owned holding company and its partner
company. 
• Moody's Investors Service raised Metsä Board Corporation's credit rating by
two notches from B1 to Ba2. The outlook of the rating is stable. 

Near-term outlook
• Metsä Board's operating result excluding non-recurring items is in the third
quarter of 2015 expected to increase slightly compared to the second quarter of
2015. 


“The second quarter of 2015 met our expectations. The transformation of Husum
into a paperboard mill is progressing as planned. The training of the mill
personnel has begun, which will ensure the successful production of
high-quality folding boxboard once the new machine starts up. 

A large share of the Husum mill's production will be directed to the North
American market. Production optimisation enables us to grow the sales of our
other mills' products as well. Our target is to continue to grow globally. 

The divestment of the Gohrsmühle mill improves our annual operating result
excluding non-recurring items by approximately EUR 20 million compared to the
previous year. Slightly over half of this will materialise this year. 

We are increasing our emphasis on product development. Our customers
increasingly highlight the importance of sustainability. We will be the first
company in the world to start testing foam forming on a production scale. Foam
forming technology makes it possible to further lower the weight of products
and reduce the use of raw materials, energy and water. 

The successful implementation of the investment programme at Husum, the
full-scale sale of the new volumes globally and, at the same time, finalising
the exit from the paper business are our most important targets from now on.” 

Mika Joukio, CEO


KEY FIGURES

                              2015   2015   2014   2014     2015   2014     2014
                                Q2     Q1     Q2     Q1    Q1-Q2  Q1-Q2    Q1-Q4
                            ----------------------------------------------------
Sales, EUR million           522.0  525.7  494.0  501.2  1,047.7  995.2  2,008.4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EBITDA, EUR million           93.3   69.3   55.9   69.2    162.6  125.1    242.2
excl. non-recurring items,    73.1   69.7   52.0   61.8    142.8  113.8    236.2
 EUR million                                                                    
EBITDA, %                     17.9   13.2   11.3   13.8     15.5   12.6     12.1
excl. non-recurring items,    14.0   13.3   10.5   12.3     13.6   11.4     11.8
 %                                                                              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Operating result, EUR         67.2   43.1   32.2   43.5    110.3   75.7    116.5
 million                                                                        
excl. non-recurring items,    47.0   43.2   28.3   36.1     90.2   64.4    136.5
 EUR million                                                                    
EBIT, %                       12.9    8.2    6.5    8.7     10.5    7.6      5.8
excl. non-recurring items,     9.0    8.2    5.7    7.2      8.6    6.5      6.8
 %                                                                              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Result before taxes, EUR      58.0   32.2   23.9   26.0     90.2   49.9     77.6
 million                                                                        
excl. non-recurring items,    40.0   32.3   20.0   20.8     72.3   40.8     99.7
 EUR million                                                                    
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Result for the period, EUR    54.7   29.3   16.8   24.8     84.0   41.6     68.5
 million                                                                        
excl. non-recurring items,    36.9   29.4   12.9   20.6     66.3   33.5     88.1
 EUR million                                                                    
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Result per share, EUR         0.15   0.09   0.05   0.07     0.24   0.12     0.20
excl. non-recurring items,    0.10   0.09   0.04   0.06     0.19   0.10     0.26
 EUR                                                                            
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Return on equity, %           22.5   13.2    8.0   11.6     18.2    9.9      8.1
excl. non-recurring items,    15.2   13.2    6.1    9.6     14.3    8.0     10.4
 %                                                                              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Return on capital employed,   16.5   11.0    8.5   11.2     13.9   10.0      7.7
 %                                                                              
excl. non-recurring items,    12.1   11.0    7.5    9.9     11.6    8.8      9.1
 %                                                                              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Equity ratio at end of        45.9   40.8   39.8   41.0     45.9   39.8     39.2
 period, %                                                                      
Gearing ratio at end of         67     73     84     84       67     84       81
 period, %                                                                      
Net gearing ratio at end of     39     34     65     69       39     65       51
 period, %                                                                      
Shareholders' equity per      2.83   2.63   2.46   2.55     2.83   2.46     2.49
 share at end of period,                                                        
 EUR                                                                            
Interest-bearing net         389.0  318.9  540.1  592.6    389.0  540.1    426.7
 liabilities, EUR million                                                       
Gross investments, EUR        48.3   23.9   14.0    4.7     72.2   18.7     44.2
 million                                                                 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deliveries, 1,000 tonnes                                                        
Paperboard                     366    345    322    318      711    640    1 310
Non-core operations            138    156    153    167      294    320      636
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Personnel at the end of      2,850  3,158  3,370  3,145    2,850  3,370    3,111
 period                                                                         
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Result per share and shareholders' equity per share in 2014 have been adjusted
for right issue. The right issue factor was 1.030627 
EBITDA = Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and impairment charges


Business environment and near-term outlook

The delivery volumes of paperboard are estimated to increase slightly in the
third quarter of 2015 compared to the previous quarter. No material changes in
the price of paperboard are in sight at the moment. 

The global demand for softwood pulp is expected to continue to grow moderately,
and supply and demand are expected to be in balance in the near future as well. 

The market situation in the third quarter of the paper operations to be
reported in the Non-core operations segment is expected to be, on average, at
the previous quarter's level. 

No material changes are expected in production costs in the third quarter of
2015. 

The annual maintenance shutdown of the Kemi integrate will have a slight
negative result impact in the third quarter. 

The more extensive production shutdown related to the investment programme at
Husum is scheduled for the last quarter of the year. 

Metsä Board's operating result excluding non-recurring items is in the third
quarter of 2015 expected to increase slightly compared to the second 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 Interim Report for January-June 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

More information will be available from 1 p.m. on 6 August 2015. 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 0 145 256 0304
USA: +1 631 621 5256

The conference ID is 75498895


Metsä Board is Europe's leading producer of folding boxboard and white fresh
forest fibre linerboard and a market pulp supplier. It offers premium solutions
for consumer and retail packaging and graphics. The company's sales network
serves brand owners, carton printers, corrugated packaging manufacturers and
merchants. Metsä Board is part of Metsä Group, and its shares are listed on the
NASDAQOMX Helsinki. In 2014, the company's sales totalled approximately EUR 2.0
billion. The company has approximately 2,800 employees.