New President of STORA

STORA's current President and Chief Executive Officer, Lars-Åke Helgesson, has notified the Board that he wishes to resign at the time of the Annual General Meeting on March 12, 1998. The Board has appointed Björn Hägglund, the current President of Stora Forest and Timber, to succeed Mr. Helgesson as of that date. Lars-Åke Helgesson has worked for STORA since 1988, initially as President of Stora Papyrus and, since 1992, as STORA's President and Chief Executive Officer. Björn Hägglund, born 1945, has been President of Stora Forest and Timber since 1991 and immediately prior to that was Director General of the National Forestry Board of Sweden. Björn Hägglund Björn Hägglund has long experience of management work within the forestry industry. During the 1970s, he worked with forestry research and training at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, where he received a professorship in 1979 and subsequently became Dean of the Forestry Faculty. In 1985, he was appointed Director General of the National Forestry Board of Sweden, where he remained until 1991, when he was appointed President of Stora Forest (later Stora Forest and Timber), a company in which he had also served as a board member since 1984. In addition to questions related exclusively to forestry, Björn Hägglund has worked extensively with strategic and structural issues both within and outside STORA, including the internationalization of operations, as well as with strictly commercial projects. He has been a driving force within STORA in terms of the strategic development project related to the Group's expansion in emerging markets, which recently resulted in a joint venture in Brazil. Björn Hägglund is a member of several boards of directors (Industriskog and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) and is Chairman of the boards of Sydved and Skogforsk (the Forestry Research Institute of Sweden). He is also a member of the Council of the Worldwide Fund for Nature. Björn Hägglund was born in Stockholm and lives in Falun. He is married and has three children. Year of birth: 1945 Education: 1968Master of Forestry 1972Doctor of Forestry Career: 1974Assistant Professor, Sweden's Royal College of Forestry 1977Acting Professor, responsible for national forest survey in Sweden 1979Professorship 1983Dean of Forestry Faculty at Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences 1985Director General of National Forestry Board of Sweden 1991President of Stora Forest and Timber Other positions: Board member of Industriskog Board member of Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Board Chairman, Sydved Board Chairman, Skogforsk (the Forestry Research Institute of Sweden) Member of Council of Worldwide Fund for Nature Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences and the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry. Interests: Family, sailing and hunting December 2, 1997