ROTTNEROS RESUMES SHARE BUY-BACK PROGRAM

Rottneros has resumed the share buy-back program approved by the Annual General Meeting on 27 April 2004. A maximum of 10 percent of the number of shares can be re-purchased, i.e. 18.8 million shares. Last year Rottneros re-purchased 7.7 million shares or 4.2 % and 11.1 million shares remain to be re-purchased. The purpose of the share buy-backs is partly to optimise the company’s capital structure, partly to be prepared for future acquisitions.

On April 28 Rottneros AB re-purchased 120,000 own shares at the average rate of 10.15 SEK. The transactions were made within the price interval 9.90 – 10.20 SEK. The company’s holdings of its own shares amount to 7,829,641 shares. The total number of shares in Rottneros AB amounts to 188,432,105.

Upplands Väsby 2004-04-28

For further information call CEO Lars Blecko, tel. +46 70 641 49 10 or CFO Anders Byström, 070-641 4914.

The Rottneros Group, listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange, is one of the world’s leading non-integrated producers of market pulp. The Group includes the parent company Rottneros AB, five pulp mills in Sweden and Spain, a small sawmill as well as raw materials purchasing companies in Latvia and Portugal. The Group also has marketing companies in Germany and Belgium. Production capacity amounts to 700,000 tonnes. The Group has around 860 employees and turnover of approximately SEK 2,400 million.