Arctic Paper S.A. opposes dividend in its subsidiary Rottneros AB
Arctic Paper S.A. (“Arctic Paper”), the second-largest European producer of bulky book paper in terms of production volume and one of Europe’s leading producers of fine graphic paper, hereby announces its intentions in respect of the voting at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting of Rottneros AB (“Rottneros”).
The current Board of Directors of Rottneros has proposed that the Annual General Meeting of Rottneros to be held on March 22, 2013, resolves on a dividend of SEK 0.10 per share in Rottneros, corresponding to in aggregate SEK 15.3 million.
The dividend policy of Rottneros stipulates, among other things, that consideration should be taken to Rottneros dividend capacity over a business cycle. Rottneros was loss-making in 2012 and has been loss-making for a vast majority of the recent financial years. In Arctic Paper’s opinion, considering the financial results and the profitability level of Rottneros, the proposed dividend payment is not justifiable. Furthermore, Arctic Paper notes that during the financial year 2012, and in particular during the fourth quarter, there was a significant increase in Rottneros’ indebtedness. This warrants a significant level of prudence as regards the assessment of Rottneros’ dividend capacity. In Arctic Paper’s opinion, it is currently neither justifiable from a sound commercial perspective nor consistent with any appropriate dividend policy that Rottneros declares any dividend.
Arctic Paper opposes the dividend proposal made by the current Board of Directors of Rottneros and will vote against such proposal at the Annual General Meeting of Rottneros to be held on March 22, 2013. Arctic Paper will instead propose and vote in favor of a resolution that Rottneros’ entire accumulated earnings be carried forward.
Arctic Paper owns approximately 54 percent of the outstanding shares and votes in its subsidiary Rottneros which is listed on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm.
Arctic Paper S.A.
For additional information, please contact:
Michał Jarczyński, President of the Management Board of Arctic Paper, tel. +48 61 62 62 000
This information is disclosed pursuant to the Swedish Securities Market Act and was submitted for publication on 12 March 2013 at 8:30 am CET.