Ahlstrom launches consultation process to divest or close its Bousbecque plant and centralize its parchment production activities at Saint-Séverin plant in France

AHLSTROM OYJ PRESS RELEASE APRIL 19, 2024 AT 15:20 EET

Ahlstrom has launched today a consultation process with employee representatives at its Bousbecque plant in France about the possibility to divest or close the plant and to centralize parchment paper production to its Saint-Séverin plant in France to ensure the long-term future and competitiveness of the specialty materials business.

The Bousbecque plant in the north of France focuses on producing parchment specialty materials. There is overcapacity in parchment and increasing competition. The plant has an annual capacity of approximately 12 000 tons and has 117 employees.

Despite thorough review of different options, Ahlstrom has not been able to find solutions that would enable it to continue operating the Bousbecque plant. Therefore, after having carefully studied all possible scenarios, Ahlstrom is now planning to move production from Bousbecque to Saint-Séverin plant, planning to divest the Bousbecque site and if a buyer cannot be found considering closure.

This plan would allow Ahlstrom to centralize all its parchment paper production activities on the Saint-Séverin site, which would help reduce production costs and improve competitiveness.

"We are committed to examining all potential options to minimise any possible social consequences, as we understand that this is a difficult time for our employees at Bousbecque. In the absence of viable solutions, we pledge to work closely with our other sites, the municipality of Bousbecque, the Northern French region and all stakeholders to provide full support to all our potentially impacted employees," says Guillaume Latourrette, Vice President of Ahlstrom’s Global Food business.

For further information, please contact:

For media: Katja Ollila, VP, Group Marketing and Communications, +358 44 517 0891, katja.ollila@ahlstrom.com,

For investors: Johan Lindh, VP, Investor Relations, +358 10 888 4994, johan.lindh@ahlstrom.com

Ahlstrom in brief 
Ahlstrom is a global leader in combining fibers into sustainable specialty materials. Our purpose is to Purify and Protect, with Every Fiber, for a Sustainable World. Our vision is to be the Preferred Sustainable Specialty Materials Company for all our stakeholders. We serve five growing and distinctive end markets, which form the basis for our five divisions: Filtration, Food & Consumer Packaging, Healthcare, Building Materials, and Technical Materials. Our net sales in 2023 amounted to EUR 3.0 billion and we employ some 7,000 people. Read more at www.ahlstrom.com.