Stora Enso to Shut Down Coated Magazine Paper Machine

Staff

Helsinki, Finland 24 January 2014 -- (Globe Newswire) -- Stora Enso is starting co-determination negotiations with employees at Veitsiluoto Mill in Finland regarding a plan to shut down permanently paper machine (PM) 1 with annual capacity of 190 000 tonnes of coated magazine paper by the end of the first quarter of 2014 due to structural weakening of magazine paper demand in Europe. The planned closure would affect up to 90 employees.

Stora Enso will record a restructuring provision and a working capital write-down as a non-recurring item related to the planned closure with a negative impact of approximately EUR 8 million on operating profit in its first quarter 2014 results.


Segment
Annual Sales Reduction Annual Fixed Cost Decrease Working Capital Write-downs Provisions with Cash Impact Planned Reduction in Personnel
Printing and Reading EUR 12 million EUR 11 million, as from Q2 2014 EUR 2 million EUR 6 million 90

 The planned shutdown would decrease Stora Enso’s coated mechanical paper capacity by about 15%, which represents about 2% of total European coated mechanical paper capacity.

 If PM1 was permanently shut down, Stora Enso would be able to serve its NovaPress customers from Veitsiluoto Mill PM5 and from Kabel Mill in Germany.

 No decisions regarding the planned closure and employee reduction will be taken until the co-determination negotiations have been concluded. Stora Enso would make every effort in co-operation with the local community to help the affected personnel find new employment opportunities, and all job openings in other Stora Enso units would be available to those affected.

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Stora Enso is the global rethinker of the paper, biomaterials, wood products and packaging 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 28 000 people worldwide, and our sales in 2012 amounted to EUR 10.8 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.