Stora Enso to close down Baienfurt Mill and paper machine at Kabel Mill in Germany
STORA ENSO OYJ STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE 4 November 2008 at 16.30 GMT
The Supervisory Board of Stora Enso's German holding company's has decided to close down Baienfurt Mill and Kabel Mill's coated magazine paper machine (PM) 3 with annual capacity 140 000 tonnes by the end of the year 2008. The reasons behind the planned closures, first announced on 10 September 2008, have unfortunately not changed. They are due to persistent profitability problems caused by European overcapacity, the strength of the euro and cost increases, especially for wood and energy. In September Stora Enso announced its plans to shut down the cartonboard machine at Baienfurt in Germany with annual capacity 190 000 tonnes of folding boxboard by the end of 2008. It is intended to continue serving the mill's customers from the Group's other board mills in Finland and Sweden. The sheeting service centre at Baienfurt will remain in operation to continue providing an excellent service to customers. The mill has 391 employees, of whom about 40 will continue to work for the sheeting service centre. The shutdown of Kabel PM 3 will affect about 170 employees. Stora Enso will seek parties to develop the Baienfurt mill site for industrial use other than board or paper production. Stora Enso is also working on a social plan for employees affected by the restructuring measures. For further information, please contact: Bernd Rettig, EVP, Country Manager Germany, tel. +49 211 5812310 Ulla Paajanen-Sainio, Vice President, Investor Relations and Financial Communications, tel. +358 2046 21242 www.storaenso.com www.storaenso.com/investors STORA ENSO OYJ Jari Suvanto Ulla Paajanen-Sainio