Stora restructures board operations in Spain

Stora Enso Renewable Packaging is to restructure its consumer board mill near Barcelona in Spain as part of an effort to improve the site’s profitability.
 
It is expected that the restructuring will result in the loss of 15 jobs, although Stora Enso said no decisions will be taken until after local co-determination negotiations have concluded. Stora Enso will work with local communities to help the affected personnel find new employment opportunities, and all job openings in other Stora Enso units will be available to those affected.
 
Stora Enso Renewable Packaging’s consumer board operation produces material for a number of applications, including cosmetic, pharmaceutical, food, tobacco and confectionery packaging.
 
The Barcelona mill produces white lined chipboard based on recycled fibers. The mill was founded in 1964 and started operations in 1968 by producing around 20,000t of board. The current capacity is 160,000tpa. Other facilities include a sheeting plant with three sheeters, a new 8,000 sq m warehouse and a 49MW co-generation plant fueled with natural gas, which supplies steam and electricity to the mill while selling its excess electricity to the national grid.
 
Stora Enso Renewable Packaging is also to close its Paty corrugated board mill in Hungary as part of efforts to improve competitiveness and respond to customer needs.
 
These restructuring measures, together with ongoing efficiency plans at the Skoghall and Fors mills in Sweden, and at Imatra in Finland, will reduce annual costs by approximately €7 million, according to Stora Enso, starting from the fourth quarter of 2012. Stora Enso will record a restructuring provision and a fixed asset write-down as non-recurring items of approximately €9 million related to the restructuring plans in the Renewable Packaging business area in the first quarter 2012 operating profit.
 
‘The efficiency measures planned in Barcelona are intended to improve the mill's profitability,’ said Mats Nordlander, executive vice president of Stora Enso Renewable Packaging. ‘The plans announced today, in combination with earlier announcements, would improve Renewable Packaging's cost competitiveness.’