Stora Enso plans restructuring to reduce annual costs by €36M, cut 520 jobs; measures include permanent shutdown of PM1 at Hylte Mill in Sweden, permanent closure of corrugated packaging plant in Ruovesi, Finland
Wendy Lisney
HELSINKI
,
October 23, 2012
(press release)
–
Stora Enso plans restructuring of its operations through the permanent shutdown of paper machine 1 at Hylte Mill in Sweden and the permanent closure of the corrugated packaging plant at Ruovesi in Finland. In addition, Stora Enso plans efficiency improvements at several other mills. The profitability improvement actions are planned to reduce annual costs by EUR 36 million and reduce the number of employees by approximately 520 altogether. Stora Enso will record a restructuring provision and a fixed asset and working capital write-down as non-recurring items totalling approximately EUR 42 million related to the restructuring plans in the fourth quarter 2012 operating profit.
Printing and Reading plans to close capacity in Sweden
Stora Enso plans the permanent shutdown of paper machine (PM) 1 at Hylte Mill in Sweden with annual capacity 180 000 tonnes of newsprint by the end of the fourth quarter of 2012 due to structural weakening of newsprint demand in Europe. The planned closure and other efficiency improvements would affect approximately 140 employees at Hylte Mill.
Renewable Packaging streamlines operations in Finland, Sweden and Poland
Stora Enso plans permanent closure of the corrugated packaging plant at Ruovesi in Finland in the second quarter of 2013 due to decreased demand for offset-printed corrugated packaging in Finland and poor financial performance of the plant. Stora Enso plans to serve Finnish offset customers through its other offset plants in Europe. The planned closure would affect approximately 60 employees at Ruovesi.
It is also planned to streamline operations at the Heinola, Ingerois and Pori board plants in Finland and corrugated packaging operations at all the Swedish units to ensure long-term competitiveness. The plans would reduce the number of employees in Sweden and Finland by up to 100 altogether mostly by the end of the third quarter of 2013.
In addition, Stora Enso plans the permanent shutdown of board machine (BM) 2 at Ostro??ka Mill in Poland as announced earlier. BM 2 is reaching the end of its technical lifetime. The shutdown of BM 2 and related technical functions is planned by the end of 2012. Including the effects of an overall review of Polish board and converting operations, the number of employees in Poland would decrease by up to 135 altogether.
Biomaterials efficiency improvement plans
Stora Enso plans to improve efficiency at Skutskar Pulp Mill in Sweden to reduce costs and improve the mill's competitiveness in response to the challenging market environment. The plans would reduce the number of employees at Skutskar Mill byapproximately 60 mostly by the end of Q3 quarter of 2013.
Building and Living plans to improve flexibility
Building and Living plans to improve flexibility and reduce costs at the Ala and Gruvon sawmills in Sweden and Varkaus Sawmill in Finland from the first quarter of 2013. The restructuring plans would affect approximately 25 employees at the Ala, Gruvon and Varkaus sawmills.
Financial impacts
Segment
Annual sales reduction
Annual cost savings from Q4 2013 onwards
Fixed asset and working capital write-downs
Provisions with cash impact
Planned reduction in personnel
Printing and Reading
No impact
EUR 16 million
EUR 10 million
EUR 17 million
140
Biomaterials
No impact
EUR 6 million
-
EUR 6 million
60
Building and Living
No impact
EUR 1 million
-
-
25
Renewable Packaging
No impact
EUR 13 million
EUR 4 million
EUR 5 million
295
Total
No impact
EUR 36 million
EUR 14 million
EUR 28 million
520
No decisions regarding closures and employee reductions will be taken until the local co-determination negotiations have concluded. Stora Enso would make every effort in co-operation with local communities to help the affected personnel find new employment opportunities, and all job openings in other Stora Enso units would be available to those affected.
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