INTERIM REPORT JANUARY – SEPTEMBER 2007 QUARTERLY REPORT JULY – SEPTEMBER 2007
(For table see attached file.)
· The loss after net financial items for the first nine months of 2007 was SEK -63 (-44) million.
· The loss after net financial items for the third quarter of 2007 was SEK -82 (1) million. The quarter was negatively impacted by costs of around SEK 30 million relating to annual maintenance shutdowns at the mills in Vallvik and Rottneros. Provisions were made in the amount of SEK 10 million in the third quarter for staff cuts to reduce the headcount by 30 at the Rottneros Mill.
· Increased raw material costs and a wood shortage had a negative impact on the January to September result in the amount of SEK 141 million, compared to the same period the previous year. Wood prices are expected to remain high for the rest of the year.
· The company is anticipating a strong pulp market. The price increases in USD announced with effect from the beginning of October have been set and the prices are expected to remain the same for the rest of the year. The weak USD rate has considerably reduced the impact of these price increases.
· A main study in the South Africa project will be finished in the beginning of 2008. If the project is implemented, Rottneros will become a joint owner in an independent company that will have the potential to achieve good profitability.
· The decision to invest in a new production plant for SilviPak in Miranda, Spain, has further increased the market interest in this type of packaging.
· Rottneros’ CEO Lars Blecko announced on 2 October that he is leaving Rottneros to take up a new post as CEO of the cash handling company Loomis, which is a subsidiary of Securitas. Lars Blecko has been President and CEO of Rottneros since autumn 1999.
· The company will not be providing a forecast for the full year 2007.
ROTTNEROS IN BRIEF
Rottneros, with its origins in the 1600s, is a non-integrated, flexible supplier of customised, high-quality paper pulp. Through continuous product development, high delivery reliability, technical support and service, Rottneros is able to adapt to meet the high expectations of its customers.
Rottneros has a total production capacity of more than 700,000 tonnes of pulp per year produced at five mills in Sweden and Spain, making the Group one of the ten biggest suppliers of market pulp in the world. Increasingly intensive product development in line with customer demands will lead to higher and more stable profitability throughout an economic cycle. The Group has a comprehensive financial hedging policy to even out earnings over the economic cycles.
(For full report see attached files.)