“Stora Enso ended the second quarter with a solid operating profit. On the one side, the market environment and our own efforts allowed us to improve pricing on a broad scale year-on-year. On the other side, cost inflation offset a significant part of that result, so we could improve our operating profit only marginally. This is why we continue our never-ending effort to improve our cost base and flexibility, for example the plans announced within Fine Paper and Logistics.
“Some of our geographical markets, specifically coated fine paper in Europe, have in recent weeks shown signs of slowing down compared with the recovery in 2010. This, in addition to the European debt crisis, makes us and our customers see the short-term future as volatile and difficult to forecast. In this situation, it is crucial that we are prepared for more than one short-term demand scenario. All the capabilities and flexibility we have built up and are building up within Stora Enso – be it in maintenance support, administration outsourcing or logistics – are invaluable in the changing environment.
“Finally, we are also continuing to execute our strategic growth path, with the Montes Del Plata pulp mill, the Ostrołęka light-weight container board machine – both progressing as planned – and most recently the combined heat and power plant investment at Zdírec. New innovations, like the nanotechnology-based MFC pulp, are also an important part of our future – a future where we aim at having more and more of our earnings depending on us and less and less on external uncontrollable factors. We continue to rethink and question the old ways of doing things and always search for better solutions.”