Stora Enso to Close SC Paper Machine at Kvarnsveden Mill in Sweden
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Stora Enso, Finland, will start co-determination negotiations with employees at its Kvarnsveden Mill in Sweden regarding a plan to reorganize the mill, including a permanent closure of paper machine No. 8. The planned actions would affect a maximum of 140 employees. The paper machine has an annual capacity of 100,000 metric tons of supercalendered uncoated magazine paper (SC) and it is planned to be shut down by the end of the second quarter of 2017.
The plan would result in annual cost savings of EUR 12 million. Stora Enso will book restructuring charges of approximately EUR 17 million as an item affecting comparability (IAC) in its Q1/2017 results, of which about EUR 14 million will be cash costs. The planned closure would not have material impact on Stora Enso’s sales or operational EBIT.
"We plan to reorganize Kvarnsveden Mill to ensure its competitiveness in the structurally declining paper market. This plan includes the permanent shutdown of PM 8, which, due to its small size and technical age, is unfortunately no longer competitive in the current market conditions. We appreciate the efforts taken by the employees, and regret that this plan would be necessary to support the competitiveness of Kvarnsveden Mill going forward," said Kati ter Horst, EVP Stora Enso Paper Division.
The closure of PM 8 at Kvarnsveden Mill would not impact Stora Enso’s SC paper offering. In Europe, the company continues to produce SC paper at Kvarnsveden Mill PM 12 as well at Maxau Mill in Germany and Langerbrugge Mill in Belgium. The group also serves its SC customers from Dawang Mill in China.
No decisions regarding the planned reorganization or employee impact will be taken until the co-determination negotiations have been concluded. Production at Kvarnsveden Mill would continue on two lines, PM 10 for improved newsprint paper and PM 12 for SC papers.
Stora Enso is a provider of renewable solutions in packaging, biomaterials, wooden constructions, and paper on global markets. The company employs some 25 000 people in more than 35 countries, and its sales in 2016 were EUR 9.8 billion.
