During Thursday, Stora Enso released its quarterly report, which shows that the operating profit falls by a dramatic 85 percent.
At the same time, turnover falls by 24 percent in the fourth quarter.
The operational ebit margin shrinks to 2.3 percent from the previous 12.4 percent.
The board proposes a lower dividend than expected, EUR 0.10 against the expected EUR 0.28, considerably less than the previous dividend.
However, as it appears, the shareholders can also look forward to an extra dividend now.
This is how Stora Enso motivates the mass redundancies
The bitter pill is an austerity package which means that 1,000 positions can be cut there “with the aim of increasing the annual operating profit by 80 million euros”, it says.
“Although difficult, this plan is necessary to ensure our long-term success and competitiveness. Last year we completed a restructuring program that helped us identify synergies that we now plan to capitalize on through our new performance improvement program. We are experiencing persistently weak macroeconomic and geopolitical conditions and must focus on our core businesses in line with our strategy. This program would strengthen our focus on profitability and make us more competitive and resilient to market fluctuations,” says Hans Sohlströmpresident and CEO of Stora Enso, in one press release.
Stora Enso’s shares are retreating right now, around 11:15 a.m., by more than 5 percent on the Stockholm Stock Exchange (see also this morning’s stock market report under the article).
- Turnover decreased by 24% to EUR 2,174 (2,864) million.
- The operating profit decreased to EUR 51 (355) million.
- The operating margin decreased to 2.3% (12.4%).
- The operating result (according to IFRS) was EUR -326 (705) million.
- Earnings per share was -0.36 (0.74) EUR and earnings per share excluding valuation at fair value was -0.64 (0.32) EUR.
- Cash flow from current operations amounted to EUR 323 (429) million. The cash flow after investments was EUR -9 (202) million.
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