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At the Annual General Meeting of UPM-Kymmene Corporation, held on 22 March 2010, the accounts of the company for the year 2009 were approved and the members of the Board of Directors and the President and CEO were discharged from liability for the financial period.

According to the proposal of the Board of Directors, the AGM decided that a dividend of EUR 0.45 per share will be paid on 7 April 2010. The dividend will be paid to the shareholders who are registered in the list of shareholders maintained by Euroclear Finland Ltd on 25 March 2010, which is the record date for the dividend payment.

According to the proposal of the Board's Nomination and Corporate Governance Committee, the Board of Directors continues to be composed of nine members. Mr Robert J. Routs was elected as a new member of the Board of Directors. The members, Mr Matti Alahuhta, Mr Berndt Brunow, Mr Karl Grotenfelt, Ms Wendy E. Lane, Mr Jussi Pesonen, Ms Ursula Ranin, Mr Veli-Matti Reinikkala, and Mr Björn Wahlroos were re-elected as members of the Board of Directors.

The Board's Nomination and Corporate Governance Committee's proposal that the fees of the Board and Committee members remain unchanged was approved. The fees for the Board members who do not belong to the operative management will be the following: The Chairman of the Board of Directors will receive a fee of EUR 175,000 for the year, the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors and the Chairman of the Audit Committee a fee of EUR 120,000, and the members of the Board of Directors a fee of EUR 95,000. Daily allowance will be paid in accordance with the company's Travel Rule when the meeting is held outside the place of residence of a Board member. In addition, expenses incurred from travel and lodging will be payable against invoice. Of the annual fee, 60% will be paid in cash and 40% in the form of company shares purchased on the members' behalf.

According to the proposal of the Board's Audit Committee, the auditing company PricewaterhouseCoopers Oy was re-elected as Auditor of the company and the remuneration to the Auditor was decided to be paid against the Auditor's invoice.

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Amendments of the Articles of Association

The AGM approved the Board's proposal to amend §4 of the Articles of Association to the effect that the Board of Directors has only one Deputy Chairman instead of two Deputy Chairmen. The amendment does not affect the aggregate number of Board members, i.e. that the Board continues to have at least five and not more than twelve members.

The AGM approved the Board's proposal to amend §10 of the Articles of Association regarding the notice period of the General Meeting of the shareholders in such a manner that the notice to the meeting shall be published no later than three weeks prior to the General Meeting, but in any case at the latest nine days before the record date referred to in Section 2, Subsection 2 of Chapter 4 of the Finnish Companies Act.

Authorisation to decide on the acquisition of the Company's own shares

The Board was authorised to decide on the acquisition of not more than 51,000,000 own shares of the company. The authorisation includes also the right to accept the company's own shares as pledge.

By virtue of the authorisation the Company's own shares will be acquired in public trading otherwise than in proportion to the existing shareholdings of the Company's shareholders at the market price quoted at the time of purchase on the trading places where the Company's shares or the certificates entitling to its shares are traded, using the Company's unrestricted shareholders' equity.

The shares will be acquired to be used for financing of possible corporate acquisitions, investments or other business operations or as part of the Company's incentive programmes, or to be retained by the Company, transferred or cancelled.

The Board shall decide on all other matters related to the acquisition of the Company's own shares.

The authorisation will remain valid for 18 months from the date of the resolution of the Annual General Meeting. This authorisation cancels the authorisation to acquire the Company's own shares resolved by the Annual General Meeting on 25 March 2009.

Authorisation to decide on the issuance of shares and special rights entitling to shares of the Company

The Board was authorised to decide on the issuance of shares and/or transfer the Company's own shares held by the Company and/or issue special rights entitling to shares of the Company as follows:

The maximum number of the new shares that may be issued and the Company's own shares held by the Company that may be transferred is in the aggregate 25,000,000 shares including also the number of shares that can be received on the basis of the special rights referred to in Chapter 10, Section 1 of the Finnish Companies Act.

The new shares and special rights entitling to shares of the Company may be issued and the Company's own shares held by the Company may be transferred to the Company's shareholders in proportion to their existing shareholdings in the Company, or in a directed share issue, deviating from the shareholder's pre-emptive subscription right, provided that the Company has a weighty financial reason for doing so, such as financing of possible corporate acquisitions, investments or other business operations, or using the shares as part of the Company's incentive programmes.

The Board of Directors may decide on a share issue without a payment to the Company itself.

The new shares may be issued and the own shares held by the Company may be transferred either against payment or without payment. The directed share issue may be without payment only in case there is an especially weighty financial reason when taking into consideration the interests of the Company and all its shareholders.

The subscription price of the new shares and the amount payable for the Company's own shares shall be recorded in the reserve for invested unrestricted equity.

In accordance with Chapter 9, Section 20 of the Finnish Companies Act, a public company may not decide on a free of payment issue to the company itself, if the total number of the company's own shares held by the company and its subsidiaries would then exceed one tenth (1/10) of all of the shares of the company.

The Board shall decide on all other matters related to the issues and transfers of shares and special rights entitling to shares. The authorisation is valid until 22 March 2013.

Donations for philanthropic or corresponding purposes

The Board was authorised to decide to donate no more than EUR 500,000 for philanthropic or corresponding purposes in year 2010 and that the Board be authorised to determine the donees, the purposes and the terms of the donations at its discretion.

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Published in European News

At the organisation meeting of UPM-Kymmene Corporation's Board of Directors, Mr Björn Wahlroos was re-elected as Chairman, and Mr Berndt Brunow was re-elected as Deputy Chairman.

In addition, the Board of Directors appointed from among its members an Audit Committee with Mr Karl Grotenfelt as Chairman, and Ms Wendy E. Lane and Mr Veli-Matti Reinikkala as members. A Human Resources Committee was appointed with Mr Berndt Brunow as Chairman, and Ms Ursula Ranin and Mr Robert J. Routs as members. Furthermore, a Nomination and Corporate Governance Committee was appointed with Mr Björn Wahlroos as Chairman, and Mr Matti Alahuhta and Mr Karl Grotenfelt as members.

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Stevedores' strike at Finnish ports ended on Friday 19 March.

Strike, which lasted 16 days, affected to Stora Enso’s Finnish mills by closing 6 paper machines and 2 sheeting plants. Almost all closed production has now started again but it will still take weeks to normalize all operations in mills and especially in harbours.

Stora Enso’s website follows the situation and gives update information when needed.

For further information, please contact:

Media: Päivi Kauhanen, Director, Communications Finland, tel. +358 2046 21292
Investors: Ulla Paajanen-Sainio, Head of Investor Relations, tel. +358 2046 21242

Published in European News

Aylesford Newsprint Ltd, located in Aylesford, Kent, England, has awarded a contract to Metso for the supply and commissioning of a new process automation system for installation on PM14 newsprint machine.

The scope of supply is for a metsoDNA distributed control system and includes hardware, applications software, project management and commissioning. The metsoDNA comprises operator stations, process control stations, input/output cards, as well as links to other systems to gain maximum integration of control systems on PM14. The new system will replace an older technology system that was installed when the PM14 was originally built in 1995. Previous successful automation projects delivered to Aylesford Newsprint Ltd by Metso were important factors in evaluation and selection of the best vendor for this project.

Aylesford Newsprint Ltd has decided to make this investment to improve operations and avoid potential stoppages due to obsolescence problems. New and better operator displays, diagnostics and monitoring, will bring better and more efficient operations to PM14 production.

Aylesford Newsprint Ltd recycles 500,000 tonnes per annum of used newspapers and magazines in the manufacture of Renaissance; a 100% recycled publishing quality newsprint which is used by many of the UK and Europe’s regional and national newspaper publishers. Aylesford Newsprint Ltd is a joint venture company between SCA Forest Products and Mondi.


For more information, please contact: Mike Morrissey, Country Manager, UK, tel +44 7768 142877
or
Ari Pinjamaa, Vice President, Sales & Services, EMEA, tel. +358 40 708 9666

Published in European News

The forest industry is to donate €4 million to the starting endowment of the Aalto University in order to strengthen the forest-based sector’s innovation environment in Finland.

Forest industry companies are seeking out top international universities as cooperation partners in their effort to create new products and services. The Aalto University is counted among these top schools.

It is important that sufficient financial resources are made available for it to rise into the global elite with regards to its research and teaching activities. This will enable it to support the renewal of the forest industry as well.

The forest cluster’s research strategy has steered industry research and teaching activities towards key areas of growth. Forestcluster Ltd, Finland’s first Strategic Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation, and Finnish Wood Research Ltd, an agency that networks the wood products cluster’s joint research and development activities, provide resources for significant projects, which promote the renewal of the forest industry.

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and Keskuslaboratorio (KCL), an organisation specialising in forest industry research, were merged into an internationally unique concentration of competence last year. The Aalto University professorship, which was donated by the forest industry, will promote the teaching of wood construction specialists as well as strengthen the regeneration of the forest-based sector through education.

Further information:

Antro Säilä, Senior Vice President (Business and Innovation Environment),
tel. +358 9 132 6633, +358 40 589 1891

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VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has developed new pretreatment and curing methods that can be used with the sol-gel coating process. With the new pretreatment method, the adhesion of sol-gel coatings can be improved significantly. The method is based on the use of modified CO2 dry ice with particles. It is environmentally friendly and does not cause as much waste as traditional cleaning methods. Another new method is connected with curing sol-gel coatings. It makes use of the thermal energy stored in pieces, instead of separate curing process. VTT has submitted a patent application for both methods.

The advantage of pretreatment with modified dry ice is that after treatment, the surface does not become oxidized as easily as when other methods such as chemical pretreatment are used. Another advantage for any substrate is that the treatment does not give rise to the large amounts of waste produced using traditional cleaning wet methods, such as chemical baths and generated wastewater.

In the new coating curing method, the thermal energy stored in the piece to be coated is used in the thermal curing of the sol-gel coating. This method has already been applied successfully to hot-dip galvanized and thermally sprayed products. This was demonstrated several times by applying the coating to hot-dip galvanized trailers, bicycle frames, timber sills, and pieces with thermally sprayed coating.

The project family also developed the mouldability properties and manufacturability of the coatings for use at an industrial scale. The project demonstrated the suitability of the sol-gel coating and the preceding pretreatment phases for a manufacturing process involving the roll-to-roll coating of sheet metal strips.

For the pretreatment of the sol-gel coating in production, it was found that electropolishing (the PET method, electropolishing with electric discharge) can also be used in continuous processes in where environmentally friendly bath are used as electrolytes. The use of carbon dioxide dry ice blowing in the roll-to-roll process was also found to give the coating sufficient adhesion and lend itself to the process in other respects, too. In terms of the environmental friendliness of the sol-gel coatings, all the coatings used in the projects were found to be below the current limit values of the VOC Directive (Volatile Organic Compounds).

With the sol-gel coatings, it was even possible to essentially improve the functional properties of different material surfaces, such as dirt repellence, easy to clean, corrosion and oxidization resistance, anti-scratch properties and wear resistance. However, thin film coatings of the type investigated here do not always provide sufficient corrosion resistance in demanding outdoor conditions. The best results in field corrosion tests were obtained for sol-gel coatings almost as thick as a coat of paint/varnish (even as much as 50 μm). The best combination of thin coating and base material in outdoor conditions was sol-gel coating applied to hot-dip galvanized steel.

Published in European News

Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Limited of India selects Raumaster Paper Oy of Finland for Roll Handling and Wrapping System

Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Limited (TNPL) has once again selected Raumaster Paper Oy (RMP) for the delivery of a roll handling and wrapping line to the customer's mill in Kagithapuram, Tamil Nadu, India. The start up of the line is scheduled for the second quarter of 2010 calendar year.

The scope of supply covers a complete roll handling system from PM 1 & 2 to the new roll storage along with a Swingmaster axial stretch film wrapping system. It also includes a rebuild of the recent roll handling system delivered in 1993 by RMP. This order is in continuation of the long cooperation and relationship between the two companies.

TNPL operates two fine paper machines and a third one is being installed at their site. TNPL is the largest single location fine paper manufacturer in India and highly respected for their technical and cost effective operations.

Raumaster Paper is a global leader in roll finishing systems. For more information please refer to www.raumasterpaper.fi or contact our local representative Mr. Tushar Deshpande at +91-9843077796 and visit www.conteq.biz

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The Annual General Meeting ("AGM") of Pöyry PLC has on 11 March 2010 made the following decisions:

The AGM adopted Pöyry PLC's financial statements and the consolidated statements and granted the members of the Board of Directors, the company's President and CEO, and the Deputy to the President and CEO discharge from liability for the financial period 1 January to 31 December 2009.

The AGM resolved that a dividend of EUR 0.10 be distributed per outstanding share for the financial year 2009. The record date for distribution of dividend is 16 March 2010 and the payment date is 23 March 2010.

The AGM resolved that the Board of Directors consist of seven (7) ordinary members. The AGM elected the following members to the Board of Directors: Henrik Ehrnrooth, Pekka Ala-Pietilä, Georg Ehrnrooth, Alexis Fries, Heikki Lehtonen, Michael Obermayer and Karen de Segundo.

The AGM resolved that the annual fees of the members of the Board of Directors be EUR 40 000 for a member, EUR 50 000 for the Vice Chairman and EUR 60 000 for the Chairman of the Board, and that the annual fee of the members of the committees of the Board of Directors be EUR 15 000. In addition, the AGM authorised the Board of Directors to decide about an additional fee of not more than EUR 15 000 per annum for each of the foreign residents of the Board of Directors and an additional fee of not more than EUR 5 000 per annum for each of the foreign residents of the committees. The authorisation shall be in force until the next AGM.

In its assembly meeting immediately following the AGM, the Board of Directors elected Henrik Ehrnrooth as Chairman and Heikki Lehtonen as Vice Chairman. Heikki Lehtonen, Alexis Fries and Georg Ehrnrooth were elected members of the Audit Committee. Henrik Ehrnrooth, Heikki Lehtonen, Karen de Segundo and Pekka Ala-Pietilä were elected members of the Nomination and Compensation Committee. In accordance with the authorisation by the AGM the Board resolved to pay an additional fee of EUR 15 000 per annum to the foreign residents of the Board of Directors and an additional fee of EUR 5 000 per annum to the foreign residents of the committees.

KPMG Oy Ab, Authorised Public Accountants, continues as Pöyry PLC's auditors based on the resolution made in the AGM on 6 March 2002. Sixten Nyman, Authorised Public Accountant, continues as responsible auditor.

Resolution to amend the Articles of Association

The AGM resolved to amend Section 8 of the Articles of Association concerning the notice to general meetings so that notice shall be delivered to shareholders at the earliest three months and at the latest 21 days prior to the general meeting by publishing the notice on the company's web site and, if so decided by the Board of Directors, in one newspaper with a wide circulation determined by the Board of Directors. The notice shall nonetheless be delivered to shareholders at the latest nine (9) days prior to the record date of the general meeting.

Authorisation to acquire the company's own shares

The AGM authorised the Board of Directors to decide on the acquisition of the company's own shares with distributable funds on the terms given below. The acquisition of shares reduces the company's distributable unrestricted shareholders' equity.

The company's own shares can be acquired in order to strengthen the company's capital structure, to be used as payment in corporate acquisitions or when the company acquires assets related to its business and as part of the company's incentive programmes in a manner and to the extent decided by the Board of Directors, and to be transferred for other purposes or to be cancelled. A maximum of 5 800 000 shares can be acquired. The company's own shares can be acquired in accordance with the decision of the Board of Directors either through public trading or by public offer at their market price at the time of purchase.

The authorisation shall be in force 18 months from the decision of this AGM. The authorisation granted by the previous AGM regarding acquisition of the company's own shares expired simultaneously.

Authorisation to decide on making a donation to the Aalto University

The AGM authorised the Board of Directors to decide on making a donation of a maximum of EUR 300 000 to the Aalto University on terms and conditions to be determined separately by the Board of Directors.

PÖYRY PLC

Additional information by:

Anne Viitala, Executive Vice President, Legal and Commercial, Pöyry PLC
tel. +358 10 33 22811, +358 40 511 6151

Pöyry is a global consulting and engineering company dedicated to balanced sustainability. We offer our clients integrated management consulting, total solutions for complex projects and efficient, best-in-class design and supervision. Our in-depth expertise extends to the fields of energy, industry, urban & mobility and water & environment. Pöyry has 7000 experts operating in about 50 countries, locally and globally. Pöyry's net sales in 2009 were EUR 674 million and the company's shares are quoted on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki (Pöyry PLC: POY1V).

Published in Financial News
Wednesday, 10 March 2010 13:30

Metso’s Annual Report 2009 published

Metso Corporation's year 2009 Annual Report, Sustainability report, complete Annual Accounts of the parent company and group (including Board of Director's Report) and Auditor's Report have been published today in Finnish and English.

PDF documents of the Metso reports and other related material are available at www.metso.com/reports. The printed reports can be ordered from the same web address.

Metso is a global supplier of sustainable technology and services for mining, construction, power generation, automation, recycling and the pulp and paper industries. We have about 27,000 employees in more than 50 countries. www.metso.com

Further information, please contact:
Johanna Henttonen, Vice President, Investor Relations, Metso Corporation, tel. +358 20 484 3253

Attachments:

Annual accounts 2009, pdf

Annual report 2009, pdf

Sustainability report 2009, pdf

Auditors Report 2009, pdf

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Kemira Oyj and VTT (Technical Research Centre of Finland) will establish a Center of Water Efficiency Excellence in Finland. The total cost of the research, which will be performed at the center, is estimated at 120 M€, including external funding. The investments will be allocated into 4 years, resulting further investment activities in projects for piloting and proof on concept purposes. The center will employ 200 persons annually.

The current Finnish competence of the water sector is being gathered into one center. The goal is to develop unique water knowledge to Finland and to create new business opportunities for companies in the environmental technology sector. The research center supports Kemira's strategic target to become a leading water chemistry company and to promote profitable growth by generating new business in the already strong field of water knowledge. Kemira will arrange a press conference today, March 9 at 10.15 (Helsinki time), including presentations by Harri Kerminen, Kemira's President and CEO, along with Paula Lehtomäki, Minister of the Environment, Johan Grön, Kemira EVP of R&D and Technology, and Erkki KM Leppävuori, President and CEO of VTT.

The main partners of the Center of Water Efficiency Excellence are Kemira and VTT. "The aim is to develop new technology, which helps to enhance the water usage and recycling, and to create more sustainable and energy-efficient solutions for the water intensive industry. When choosing the research sectors, one of the main selection criteria has been the growth of the global markets. Some examples of the research sectors are the cost-efficient cultivation of sea water into drinkable water, the utilization of bio mass resulting from the waste water treatment in production processes of energy and bio energy, and the decomposition of products", says Johan Grön.

"Already today, Kemira is one of the leading water chemistry companies globally. We have operations in 40 countries, an experience of decades in water technology, and a wide competence for different needs in water management. For Kemira, this is a strategic project, in which we are looking for growth based on new products and customer relations. The lack of water and the problems caused by it is a sizable challenge globally for industries and megacities. The regions suffering from water scarcity are usually those where the industrial and population growth is the most rapid. This is why the water-intensive industry is constantly looking for solutions to improve their water efficiency. Normally, the water availability is not a problem in Finland but we have competencies to solve the challenges caused by water scarcity. For Kemira and other environmental technology companies, this provides growth opportunities", says Harri Kerminen.

''VTT has the know how and the structure that can combine different fields of technologies and expertise that meet well with the qualifications in developing new and open-minded environment and water technology. I believe that those products that are being developed in a center based on top expertise and know how meet high market demands and possess growing international potential. I also hope that this will open up a new commercialization of technology opportunity where top end technology can be exploited in water purification, recycling, monitoring and treatment of process waters'', says VTT's President & CEO Erkki KM Leppävuori. According to Veli-Pekka Saarnivaara, CEO, Tekes (the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation), "Tekes wants to be actively involved in this project and in constructing a strong basis for competence in Finland, and in new business activities in order to solve a growing global problem".

Press Conference
March 9, 2010 at 10.15 (EET), at Gallery Kalhama & Piippo Contemporary, Mannerheimintie 3 B, 5th floor (Helsinki, Finland). The conference is in Finnish. The material is available in Finnish and English on the Kemira web site. Further information: Anna-Kaisa Säkkinen, phone +358 50 387 6293.

Kemira Oyj
Päivi Antola, Senior Manager, Investor Relations and Financial Communications

Further information:

Kemira Oyj
Johan Grön, EVP, R&D and Technology,
Phone +358 10 862 1058
Leena Lie, VP of Communications
Phone +358 40 7457943

VTT
Kari Larjava, Vice President
Phone +358 40 500 9673

Kemira is a global 2.5 billion euro chemicals company that is focused on serving customers in water-intensive industries. The company offers water quality and quantity management that improves customers' energy, water, and raw material efficiency. Kemira's vision is to be a leading water chemistry company. Its paints and coatings business, Tikkurila, aims to be the market leader in decorative paints and selected wood and metal coatings in chosen markets.

www.kemira.com
www.waterfootprintkemira.com

VTT, Technical Research Centre of Finland, is the biggest multi-technological applied research organisation in Northern Europe. VTT provides high-end technology solutions and innovation services for domestic and international customers, companies, and the public sector. The personnel count of VTT is 2,900.

www.vtt.fi

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