HELSINKI, Finland, Oct. 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- STORA ENSO OYJ INTERIM REPORT 21 October 2022 at 8:30 EEST

Strong quarterly performance and executing on our strategic agenda to accelerate long-term growth

Q3/2022 (year-on-year)

• Sales increased by 15% to EUR 2,963 (2,577) million.
• Operational EBIT increased by 29% to EUR 527 (410) million.
• Operational EBIT margin increased to 17.8% (15.9%).
• Operating profit (IFRS) increased to EUR 511 (386) million.
• EPS was EUR 0.47 (0.38) and EPS excl. fair valuations (FV) was EUR 0.47 (0.37).
• Cash flow from operations amounted to EUR 639 (485) million. Cash flow after investing activities was EUR 489 (347) million.
• The net debt to operational EBITDA ratio improved to 0.8 (1.4). The target is to keep the ratio below 2.0.
• Operational ROCE excluding the Forest division increased to 22.2% (20.0%), the target being >13%.

Q1-Q3/2022 (year-on-year)

• Sales were EUR 8,816 (7,445) million.
• Operational EBIT was EUR 1,536 (1,102) million.

Key highlights

• Stora Enso has entered into an agreement to acquire the Dutch De Jong Packaging Group to advance its strategic direction, accelerate revenue growth and build market share in renewable packaging in Europe. The transaction is expected to be closed in early 2023 and is subject to employee consultation and regulatory approval.
• The divestments of the Maxau paper site in Germany and the Nymölla site in Sweden were announced in September for a total enterprise value of EUR 360 million. Closure of the transactions is expected at the beginning of 2023.
• In October, Stora Enso decided to invest approximately EUR 1 billion to convert the remaining idle paper machine at the Group's Oulu site in Finland into a high-volume consumer board production line. The expected annual sales volume is approximately EUR 800 million.
• In July, Stora Enso and Northvolt, the battery cells and systems supplier, entered into a Joint Development Agreement to create a battery with wood-based components sourced sustainably and locally in the Nordic countries.

Outlook

Global megatrends such as an increased awareness of sustainability, an accelerated focus on combatting climate change, and digitalisation underpin Stora Enso's business strategy and the demand for its renewable and eco-friendly products, both short and long term.

Stora Enso remains vigilant against the persisting market disruptions and uncertainties such as increased geopolitical risk, the rapidly changing macroeconomic environment, inflationary pressures, logistical constraints and material shortages. To manage volatility, measures such as pricing, flexibility in sourcing and logistics, as well as hedging are in place. Stora Enso also benefits from its high self-sufficiency in wood of 30% and in energy of 69% for the Group.

Stora Enso enters Q4 with the profitability of the Packaging Materials division expected to deteriorate due to escalated cost inflation in energy along with costs for planned maintenance at four of its sites including its two largest. There is stable demand in consumer board with a strong orderbook. Contracts are typically fixed long-term which are now impacted by cost inflation and will be renegotiated as they expire. The normalisation of the demand in containerboard from the third quarter continues, contracts in containerboard are short-term and hence give flexibility for renegotiations. The demand for corrugated packaging is expected to remain stable.

Pulp is showing early signs of price normalisation from the recent extraordinary high levels as the pulp market in general follows the development of the global economy. The overall pulp demand when including all our grades is expected to be flat.

In Wood Products, there is a continued market decline in traditional sawn goods from the first half year's peak levels.

In Building Solutions, the order book is good for Q4, but the demand is expected to weaken due to increased uncertainty among developers, especially impacting residential and commercial construction.

In the Forest division, wood demand in Q4 is estimated to remain on par with the previous quarter. There is strong demand for pulpwood, while sawlogs demand is at a lower level due to a weaker sawn wood market.

In the Paper division there is a solid demand outlook for the fourth quarter, supported by seasonality and a good orderbook. However, the division will be impacted in Q4 by higher energy costs and maintenance work.

The Group impact from higher energy costs in the Packaging Materials and Paper divisions will be partly offset by recognised income in Segment Other due to Stora Enso's ownership in the energy company Pohjolan Voima.

Guidance

Stora Enso reiterates its full-year 2022 operational EBIT guidance to be higher than the full year operational EBIT 2021 (EUR 1,528 million).

Key figures

Key figures

Stora Enso's President and CEO Annica Bresky comments on the third quarter 2022 results:

'Leading and doing what is right' is not only the core value of Stora Enso; it drives how we conduct our business and guides the choices we make. We believe that through our actions and decisions Stora Enso will play a fundamental role to operate within the planetary boundaries, to create healthy societies and to safeguard the renewable future we and future generations depend on. It is also the best way to future-proof our business and create long-term value for all our stakeholders.

During the past quarter, we continued to stay vigilant in an unprecedented and volatile environment. Inflationary cost pressures intensify, but I am pleased that we were able to mitigate and deliver strong results. We advance our growth agenda and capitalise on new sustainable business opportunities to deliver shareholder value. Our sales increased by 15% to 2,963 million euros, the highest third quarter sales since 2007, excluding Paper the increase was 17%. We delivered a 29% increase in operational EBIT to 527 million euros, the highest quarterly result since the early 2000s at an operational EBIT margin of nearly 18%.

Looking ahead, we see the first signs of potential macroeconomic slow-down that could eventually also impact our business. I am however confident in our ability to be proactive and to adapt. Stora Enso is stronger and more resilient than before due to restructuring efforts and strategic choices made over the past few years: to exit paper, reduce our debt and focus investments on our growth businesses. I'm very thankful for the commitment and teamwork of our people who have all been instrumental in making this successful.

Accelerating growth in renewable packaging

The acquisition of De Jong Packaging Group is still subject to employee consultation and regulatory approval. However, once closed it will be one of the largest and most important investments that Stora Enso has made. The enterprise value is approximately one billion euro and through this acquisition, our sales and capacity in Packaging Solutions will double.

De Jong has an entrepreneurial spirit, a solid track record for growth and is one of the largest corrugated packaging producers in Benelux. Stora Enso's and De Jong's shared focus on agility and customer value will enable us to build a much stronger market position for future growth in renewable packaging in Western Europe. We also see opportunities to jointly optimise our containerboard portfolios and further integrate with our production site in Langerbrugge, Belgium.

Building on the successful first conversion in our site in Oulu, Finland in 2021, we will continue investing in high-quality consumer board by converting the second paper machine at this site. By utilising existing infrastructure, we will significantly reduce the risks and the investment costs compared to a green field expansion. This is our third paper-to-packaging machine conversion since 2016 and we have experienced teams in place to drive the project to create a cost leading mega-site for renewable packaging. At full production, we expect annual sales of 800 million euros, reinforcing our leading position in consumer packaging, serving food end-use markets in Europe and North America.

Investing in building solutions for a future of low-carbon and efficient construction

We continue to invest in a more sustainable construction value-chain and recently inaugurated one of the world's most modern production sites for cross laminated timber (CLT). Located in the Czech Republic, the new site will generate 70 million euros in annual sales at full production. Our capacity to serve markets in Europe, Japan, Australia, and North America will increase by approximately 40%, enabling us to meet the growing demand in green, low-carbon construction.

Commercialising lignin-based innovations

We are step by step commercialising our new lignin-based product portfolio, in end-uses such as glues and binders for furniture, construction and lately components in asphalt. We are scaling up production with partnerships and running customer trials to customise Lignode to specific performance needs. With partners, we also progress with our ambitions to build the world's greenest battery. In July, we signed a joint development agreement with Northvolt. In October, we signed a Letter of Intent with Beyonder, Norwegian energy storage technology company, for optimisation of properties and commercial deliveries of lignin-based anode material for batteries after industrial-scale production has started.

Setting ambitious goals to advance strategic focus

Stora Enso is committed to deliver a stronger and more resilient investor proposition, both now and for the long term. At our Capital Markets Day in September, we laid out a clear set of targets and long-term ambitions for 2030 to capture growth opportunities. These include increase of sales, excluding inflation, by 30% compared to 2021 and maintaining a 15% operational EBIT margin over the cycle.

But we do not do this alone. We create ecosystems with like-minded partners to build on the creativity and drive of our employees. By leading and doing what is right, we will future proof our business for tomorrow and beyond.

The renewable future grows in the forest.

Webcast

Analysts, investors, and media are invited to participate in the webcast and conference call at 14:00 EEST (13:00 CEST, 12:00 BST, 7:00 EDT) today. The results will be presented by President and CEO Annica Bresky and CFO Seppo Parvi and may be accessed at https://ir.financialhearings.com/stora-enso-q3-2022

All participants can follow the presentation over the webcast. Analysts and investors who wish to ask questions should join the conference call (details below).

Media representatives who wish to ask questions after the Interim Report is published, may contact Carl Norell, press officer at Stora Enso on +46 72 241 0349.

The link to the webcast will be also available on Stora Enso's website: storaenso.com/investors

Dial-in details for the analyst and investor conference call

The conference call replay will be available via the weblink: https://ir.financialhearings.com/stora-enso-q3-2022. The webcast will be archived on storaenso.com/en/investors/reports-and-presentations.

This release is a summary of Stora Enso's Interim Report January–September 2022. The complete report is attached to this release as a pdf file. It is also available on the company website at storaenso.com/investors.

For further information, please contact:

Carl Norell

Press officer

tel. +46 72 241 0349

Investor enquiries:

Anna-Lena Åström

SVP Investor Relations

tel. +46 70 210 7691

Part of the global bioeconomy, Stora Enso is a leading provider of renewable products in packaging, biomaterials, wooden construction and paper, and one of the largest private forest owners in the world. We believe that everything that is made from fossil-based materials today can be made from a tree tomorrow. Stora Enso has approximately 22,000 employees and our sales in 2021 were EUR 10.2 billion. Stora Enso shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki Oy (STEAV, STERV) and Nasdaq Stockholm AB (STE A, STE R). In addition, the shares are traded in the USA as ADRs (SEOAY). storaenso.com/investors

STORA ENSO OYJ

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