Good start to the year for Moelven

International demand for wood products is once again contributing to a strong quarterly result for Moelven. Operating income for the year’s three first months was NOK 140.9 million.

Operating income from the first quarter is an increase of NOK 51.8 million compared to 2018. Sales in the first quarter amounted to NOK 2695.8 million, which is a slight decline compared to the same period last year (NOK 2717.6 million).  

“We can look back on a healthy operating profit for the year’s three first months. We live in time with the world economy, and it has been characterised by prosperity and population growth. For us this has meant high demand for sustainable wood products, and it is mainly our Timber division that has benefited from this through it’s large export share of sawn timber and components for industrial purposes,” says CEO Morten Kristiansen of Moelven Industrier ASA. 

Uncertain 

Although the first quarter provided Moelven with a good result, the CEO is more uncertain with regard to developments for the rest of the year. This is due to a more unpredictable global economy, and a slightly slower domestic market in certain segments. 

“We will have a strong focus on improving operations in 2019, and are following developments in the market with great interest. We see that activity in the building products trade in Scandinavia is somewhat lower than last year. In the Building systems division, which includes glulam, building modules and system interiors, we have a much lower overall order backlog compared to the previous year. Among other things, this has led to layoffs in Norway and downsizing in Sweden for our building module operations,” Kristiansen says. 

Mjøstårnet opened 

The first quarter was marked by the opening of Mjøstårnet, which is the world’s tallest wooden building. This building has attracted broad international interest, and led The Economist to publish a leader encouraging the building industry to build more using wood.  

“Moelven is attracting attention, and it is inspiring that our sustainable products are being highlighted as a part of the solution to the global climate challenges,” Kristiansen says. 

Moelven has continued work on documenting how the company works with sustainability, and prepared the company’s sustainability report for 2018 in the first quarter. 

Improvements 

Moelven’s divisions are affected by economic fluctuations in different ways. The company operates in different markets, and this provides a good basis for further improvements.  

“We continuously work on improving operations and the structure of the group in order to deliver the best possible result in a sustainable manner. This work has been ongoing for several years, and will continue unabated in the time ahead,” Kristiansen says.

Read the quarterly report for Q1 2019 here.

For further information please contact: 

CEO Morten Kristiansen, mobile +47 911 18 250 
Chief Communications Officer Magne Vikøren, mobile +47 928 27 108

Moelven industrier ASA is a Scandinavian industrial group that supplies products and associated services to the Scandinavian building market. The Group's businesses employ over 3.500 persons and have a total annual turnover of some NOK 11 billion. The Group's 36 business production units are organised into three divisjons: Timber, Wood and Building Systems.
www.moelven.no
www.moelven.se
www.moelven.dk
www.moelven.com