Stora Enso (OMX: STERV) posted 228 million Euro operating profit excluding non-recurring items and fair valuations, which was up 7% year-on-year. Fine paper margins were much worse than expected and the company said that coated fine paper market in Europe has weakened in recent weeks.
CEO Jouko Karvinen says that signs of a slowdown are crystal clear. He iterates that Stora Enso had good performance in increasingly uncertain market. Cost inflation ate away most of the gains from price hikes. Karvinen says that company has to be prepared for more than one short-term demand scenario. One must always take comments from Karvinen with grain of salt as he is ever vigilant to signs on the negative side.
Margins in newsprint, wood products and Consumer board were all slightly above expectations. The company invest in sustainable energy at Zdirec Sawmill, which is a part of the Wood Products business area. Stora Enso is down around 6% to 6 Euro handle in the Helsinki stock exchange. Q2 EPS was 17 cents a share. More information is available here.
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