Metsä Board Corporation’s operating result for the first half of 2012 excluding non-recurring items was EUR 24 million
Metsä Board Corporation Interim Report 1 January–30 June 2012, 2 August 2012 at 12 noon
Result for the first half of 2012
- Sales were EUR 1,067 million (Q1–Q2/2011: 1,345).
- The operating result excluding non-recurring items was EUR 24 million (75). The operating result including non-recurring items was EUR 157 million (14).
- The result before taxes excluding non-recurring items was EUR 8 million (44). The result before taxes including non-recurring items was EUR 141 million (-22).
- Earnings per share from continuing operations excluding non-recurring items were EUR 0.03 (0.11) and including non-recurring items EUR 0.38 (-0.09).
Result in the second quarter of 2012
- Sales were EUR 522 million (Q1/2012: 545).
- The operating result excluding non-recurring items was EUR 19 million (5). The operating result including non-recurring items was EUR 161 million (-4).
- The result before taxes excluding non-recurring items was EUR 17 million (-9). The result before taxes including non-recurring items was EUR 159 million (-18).
- Earnings per share from continuing operations excluding non-recurring items were EUR 0.05 (-0.02) and including non-recurring items EUR 0.43 (-0.05).
Events in the second quarter of 2012
- Demand for paperboard normalised.
- Losses from the paper units under restructuring decreased considerably.
- Metsä Board sold approximately 7.3 percentage points of its holding in Metsä Fibre Oy to the Japanese Itochu Corporation for EUR 138 million and approximately 0.5 percentage points of its holding in Pohjolan Voima Oy to Metsä Fibre for EUR 64 million.
- Metsä Board signed an agreement on the refinancing of the EUR 500 million eurobond maturing on 1 April 2013.
- The capacity of the folding boxboard machine at the Äänekoski mill was increased.
“Our profitability improved in the second quarter of the year, primarily as a result of the reduced losses from the paper units under restructuring. The market situation and profitability of the paperboard business developed also favourably, but the result weakened slightly due to the production shutdown related to the capacity expansion at the Äänekoski folding boxboard mill. The paperboard order books and operating rates are at a good level but due to the general economic uncertainty in Europe, full capacity has, however, not been reached yet.
In 2011 and 2012, we have successfully made investments at the Simpele, Kyro and Äänekoski mills to increase our annual folding boxboard capacity by a total of 150,000 tonnes. The expanded capacity is expected to be fully available from the beginning of 2013 when the renewed paperboard machines will be operating at the targeted efficiency levels.”
Mikko Helander, CEO
| KEY FIGURES | 2012 | 2012 | 2011 | 2011 | 2012 | 2011 | 2011 |
| Q2 | Q1 | Q2 | Q1 | Q1-Q2 | Q1-Q2 | Q1-Q4 | |
| Sales, EUR million | 522 | 545 | 660 | 685 | 1,067 | 1,345 | 2,485 |
| EBITDA, EUR million | 189 | 25 | 48 | 77 | 214 | 125 | -23 |
| excl. non-recurring items, EUR million | 47 | 34 | 62 | 74 | 81 | 136 | 180 |
| EBITDA, % | 36.2 | 4.6 | 7.3 | 11.2 | 20.1 | 9.3 | -0.9 |
| excl. non-recurring items, % | 9.0 | 6.2 | 9.4 | 10.8 | 7.6 | 10.1 | 7.2 |
| Operating result, EUR million | 161 | -4 | -32 | 46 | 157 | 14 | -214 |
| excl. non-recurring items, EUR million | 19 | 5 | 32 | 43 | 24 | 75 | 59 |
| EBIT, % | 30.8 | -0.7 | -4.8 | 6.7 | 14.7 | 1.0 | -8.6 |
| excl. non-recurring items, % | 3.6 | 0.9 | 4.8 | 6.3 | 2.2 | 5.6 | 2.4 |
| Result before taxes, EUR million | 159 | -18 | -53 | 31 | 141 | -22 | -281 |
| excl. non-recurring items, EUR million | 17 | -9 | 16 | 28 | 8 | 44 | 0 |
| Result for the period, EUR million | 140 | -15 | -59 | 28 | 125 | -31 | -273 |
| excl. non-recurring items, EUR million | 14 | -6 | 10 | 25 | 8 | 35 | 8 |
| Result per share, EUR | 0.43 | -0.05 | -0.17 | 0.08 | 0.38 | -0.09 | -0.83 |
| excl. non-recurring items, EUR | 0.05 | -0.02 | 0.04 | 0.07 | 0.03 | 0.11 | 0.02 |
| Return on equity, % | 72.9 | -8.4 | -23.5 | 10.8 | 32.4 | -6.3 | -31.5 |
| excl. non-recurring items, % | 7.3 | -3.1 | 4.2 | 9.5 | 2.1 | 7.0 | 0.9 |
| Return on capital employed, % | 35.9 | -0.4 | -6.1 | 8.4 | 17.7 | 1.4 | -9.9 |
| excl. non-recurring items, % | 5.8 | 1.7 | 6.4 | 7.8 | 3.7 | 7.2 | 3.4 |
| Equity ratio at end of period, % | 31.0 | 27.8 | 33.9 | 33.6 | 31.0 | 33.9 | 27.4 |
| Gearing ratio at end of period, % | 138 | 154 | 120 | 125 | 138 | 120 | 154 |
| Net gearing ratio at end of period, % | 73 | 104 | 84 | 78 | 73 | 84 | 106 |
| Shareholders' equity per share at end of period, EUR | 2.46 | 2.21 | 2.92 | 3.11 | 2.46 | 2.92 | 2.23 |
| Interest-bearing net liabilities, EUR million | 595 | 758 | 809 | 799 | 595 | 809 | 783 |
| Gross investments, EUR million | 17 | 10 | 31 | 12 | 27 | 43 | 95 |
| Deliveries, 1 000 tonnes | |||||||
| Paperboard | 289 | 295 | 365 | 387 | 584 | 753 | 1,388 |
| Paper | 165 | 185 | 236 | 260 | 350 | 496 | 908 |
| Personnel at the end of period | 3,597 | 3,818 | 4,699 | 4,515 | 3,597 | 4,699 | 4,070 |
| Deliveries are not fully comparable due to structural changes. | |||||||
| EBITDA = Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and impairment charges | |||||||
Near-term outlook
The paperboard order books and operating rates are at a normal level. In the third quarter, the paperboard delivery volumes are expected to improve compared to the second quarter. Metsä Board increases linerboard prices by 5-8 per cent as of September 2012. Implementation of a folding boxboard price increases in early autumn is also under consideration.
Delivery volumes of uncoated fine paper and pulp are not expected to change significantly in the third quarter. Delivery volumes of coated paper are estimated to improve in the third quarter. Metsä Board has announced to increase uncoated fine paper prices by 6-8 per cent as of September 2012. No material changes in the prices of coated paper and pulp are in sight.
Extensive maintenance shutdowns at Husum and Kemi mills will have a negative impact on the result for the third quarter of 2012.
Production costs are not estimated to change significantly in the coming months.
Metsä Board’s operating result for the third quarter of 2012, excluding non-recurring items, is expected to be slightly better than in the second quarter of 2012.
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 2012 enclosed to this stock exchange release. Metsä Board's complete Interim Report 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
Further information:
Matti Mörsky, CFO, tel. +358 10 465 4913
Juha Laine, Vice President, Investor Relations and Communications, tel. +358 10 465 4335
More information will be available starting from 1 p.m. on 2 August 2012. A conference call held in English for investors and analysts starts at 3 p.m. (EET). Conference call participants are requested to dial in and register a few minutes prior to the start of the conference call on the following numbers:
Europe: +44 (0)20 7162 0025
US: +1 334 323 6201
The conference ID is 918925.
Metsä Board is Europe’s leading producer of fresh forest fibre cartonboards, the world’s leading manufacturer of coated white-top kraftliners, and a major paper supplier. It offers premium solutions for consumer and retail packaging, graphics and office end-uses. The company’s sales network serves brand owners, carton printers, corrugated packaging manufacturers, printers, merchants and office suppliers. Metsä Board is part of Metsä Group and is listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki. In 2011, Metsä Board’s sales totalled EUR 2.5 billion. Metsä Board has approximately 3,600 employees.