Stora Enso's packaging businesses are in a phase of rapid development. Stora Enso and NXP have begun co-operation on intelligent packaging solutions. To enhance the development a new Innovation Centre will open in Helsinki later this year. First commercial products are ready in the micro-fibrillated cellulose (MFC) business.

Co-operation with NXP
Stora Enso and NXP Semiconductors have entered into joint development of intelligent packaging solutions. The development will focus on integrating RFID (Radio frequency identification) into packages for consumer engagement and supply chain purposes. The collaboration will also focus on brand protection and the development of tamper evidence applications. These solutions will benefit both consumers and brand owners.

By using NXP RFID technology such as near field communication (NFC) and ultra-high frequency (UHF), Stora Enso will in the future have smart packages that can be easily tracked and traced through the entire supply chain providing full end-to-end transparency. The integrated technology will also be able to detect if the intelligent package has been tampered with en route to the consumer and, once in the hands of the consumer, could provide additional information and interaction through an NFC-enabled smart phone. This visibility and insight is critical for brands and major manufacturers to ensure their products are being shipped and handled correctly. For consumers the benefits are two-fold; the intelligent packaging will be able to verify the authenticity of the product and also provide care, usage and other important information via the NFC-enabled tag.

“The co-operation with NXP offers substantial business opportunities for Stora Enso. We have already worked on several concept cases with customers and partners within intelligent packaging. The co-operation with NXP will enable us to bring this development closer to market and provide faster scalability in intelligent paper and board solutions,” says Karl-Henrik Sundström, CEO, Stora Enso.
 
“Our RFID technology in combination with Stora Enso’s packaging solutions creates additional value to both consumers and brand owners by providing information and insights along the complete supply chain,” says Ruediger Stroh, EVP & GM Security & Connectivity and Member of the International Board of Management, NXP Semiconductors. “The ability of the RFID tag to detect when a package has been compromised and also provide additional product information via NFC truly enables a unique, smart, engaging brand experience and is another example of how security can be broadly implemented to protect our everyday lives.”  

Commercial phase for micro-fibrillated cellulose (MFC)
Commercial activity at Stora Enso’s MFC pre-commercial production plant at Imatra, Finland started in early 2015. This is the world’s largest MFC facility and now provides raw material for selected commercial consumer board solutions enabling lighter weight packaging. The development of MFC solutions continues with a focus on source reduction and even more sustainable fibre based packaging using less raw material, as well as barrier coating solutions for grease and oxygen barriers. In the future, it could additionally provide biodegradable aluminium film replacement.

Innovation Centre
Stora Enso’s packaging businesses will open an Innovation Centre at the Group’s head office in Helsinki. The cross-functional centre will offer a stimulating space for customers seeking new ideas in packaging. The focus will be on idea generation, design, new business development and incubation. The space is also designed to host product launches and stakeholder events and there will be a prototype and sample laboratory with state-of-the-art equipment. The official opening will take place later this year.

Capital Markets Day webcast
Stora Enso’s Capital Markets Day takes place in London today. You are welcome to follow the presentations focusing on Stora Enso’s packaging business and innovation in a live webcast starting at 13.00 UK time (14.00 CET, 15.00 EET, 08.00 EDT). Watch at http://edge.media-server.com/m/p/nvkju4nc.

For further information, please contact:
Ulrika Lilja, EVP, Global Communications, tel. +46 72 221 92 28
Ulla Paajanen-Sainio, SVP, Investor Relations, tel. +358 40 763 8767
Hanne Karrinaho, Head of Financial Communications, tel. +358 40 766 9452

About NXP Semiconductors

NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ: NXPI) creates solutions that enable Secure Connections for a Smarter World. Building on its expertise in High Performance Mixed Signal electronics, NXP is driving innovation in the application areas Connected Car, Security, Portable & Wearable and Internet of Things. NXP has operations in more than 25 countries, and posted revenue of USD 5.65 billion in 2014. Find out more at nxp.com.

Stora Enso is a leading provider of renewable solutions in packaging, biomaterials, wood and paper on global markets. Our aim is to replace non-renewable materials by innovating and developing new products and services based on wood and other renewable materials. We employ some 27 000 people in more than 35 countries, and our sales in 2014 were EUR 10.2 billion. Stora Enso shares are listed on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki (STEAV, STERV) and Stockholm (STE A, STE R). In addition, the shares are traded in the USA as ADRs (SEOAY) on the International OTCQX over-the-counter market. storaenso.com

New England Business Leaders and Legislators to Discuss How to Grow the Paper Industry

Bringing paper industry leaders and legislators together from throughout New England to discuss how to grow the industry, the New England Paper Cluster will meet on June 22, 2015 in Springfield, MA for a reception, dinner, and presentations by U.S. Congressman Richard Neal and CEO of Mohawk Fine Papers Inc. Tom O’Connor, among others.

At the upcoming event, Richard Neal, U.S. Congressman will discuss the latest developments of the Congressional Paper Caucus while Tom O’Connor, CEO of Mohawk Fine Papers, Inc., will describe why they recently chose to locate their new envelope plant in Massachusetts. Additionally, Ben Markens, Principal of The Markens Group and President of The Paperboard Packaging Council, will review the Paper and Packaging Board’s upcoming campaign to promote paper products nationwide.
 
“One strategy for growing the paper industry is to begin at the local level,” said Markens. “So we are happy to leverage our industry expertise to bolster the industry in our own backyard.”
 
The New England Paper Cluster is a regional paper industry association founded by the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts and managed by The Markens Group, Inc. The Cluster promotes the local paper industry and provides members key intelligence for business success.
 
For more information, visit papercluster.org. To register for the upcoming event, visit Eventbrite, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or call (413) 686-9186.
 
The Markens Group, Inc. is a business consulting and strategic management firm that also manages industry associations such as the Paperboard Packaging Council (PPC), the leading industry association serving suppliers and converters of all forms of paperboard packaging. For more information, call 413.686.9199 or visit www.markens.com.

Ever since the Savon Sellu mill was acquired by Powerflute in 2005 Pertti Kaasalainen, also sometimes called “Mr. Corrugated” by our clients, has been synonymous with our technical customer service. But Pertti’s troubleshooting history extends much further back as he already in 1990 stepped in to support FINNBOARD clients from his job at Metsä-Serla’s Neopac plant in Tampere. He gradually moved ever more into a technical customer service role and played an integral part in opening markets for the use of Kemiart’s coated liners and he played a big role in helping the US market grow to more than 100,000 tons p.a. for Kemiart in a few short years.

In the last few years, as he reached retirement age, Pertti worked on a part-time basis for Savon Sellu. This year Pertti turned 68 and informed us that he gradually would prefer the rocking chair over frequent flyer miles. We are very grateful for Pertti’s efforts on behalf of Savon Sellu and want to thank him for his invaluable support – truly a job well done!

Knowing that we could not rely on Pertti’s burning problem-solving interest for all eternity, we had been looking for a while for someone to step into Pertti’s large shoes. We now believe we have found a very good solution to this succession issue: Savon Sellu has entered into a contract with the consulting company Pro-Corr. Pro-Corr has been set up by Harre Medemblik; a highly experienced corrugated professional with close to 10 years of experience as Senior Process Specialist at BHS. Our contract with Pro-Corr commits us to use 2 weeks per month of Harre’s services for 11 months each year.

One aim of this new co-operation with Pro-Corr is to move our technical customer service offering from a reactive, problem solving approach towards a proactive, client service approach. We believe most of our clients will welcome a more regular support program and that regular plant visits by Harre will become a valuable and welcome resource. As a first step, we have started to work on a schedule of client calls for the rest of 2015. Many of you may already have been contacted by your Powerflute® sales representative about scheduling a first visit but please feel free to contact us if you would like to schedule one!

The Munich-based mutares Group (ISIN: DE000A0SMSH2) closed the acquisition of Metsä Board Zanders, following the approval of the antitrust authorities. While this acquisition forms an important milestone for the growth of the group, the transaction pipeline of mutares remains well filled.

The German producer of premium paper is operating again under its previous name Zanders which has a very well-known history in the paper industry. In 2014, the company employed approximately 480 employees generating sales of EUR 93 million. The mill was sold to mutares by the Finnish paper and board manufacturer Metsä Board.

The Gohrsmühle mill located at the company’s headquarters in Bergisch Gladbach has an annual production capacity of 325.000 tons of paper. Based on its high-quality fine papers and thanks to the globally well-known brand “Chromolux”, Zanders has established a strong position in the market for specialty papers. This is reflected by the wide range of different customers from the consumer and luxury goods industry.

The future strategy for Zanders is based on a sustainable strengthening of core competencies and the further expansion of its market position with the goal to access new international customer potential. In addition, the production and logistics processes will be further optimized.

Axel Geuer, CEO of mutares, comments: “With the successful acquisition of Zanders, mutares continues its ambitious growth path. This year we still expect three additional acquisitions.”

Company profile of mutares AG

mutares AG, Munich (www.mutares.de), acquires companies, that are being sold in the course of a repositioning process at their owners and that show a clear operational improvement potential. Getting engaged with its own teams, mutares actively supports its portfolio companies to achieve a clear value increase. The focus of the operational work is to ensure sustainable, long-term growth. The shares of mutares AG are traded in the Open Market of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (Entry Standard) under the symbol MUX (ISIN: DE000A0SMSH2).

For further information, please contact:

Walki Group, the leading producer of protective packaging materials and technical laminates, announces today that it has entered an agreement with Mondi Group to sell its Pietarsaari plant in Finland and the Wroclaw plant in Poland. These two facilities constitute the major part of Walki’s Industrial Packaging business, producing primarily packaging material for the paper industry as well as for the corrugated board industry. Excluded from the deal are the RFID-antenna production line (4E) and the pilot plant assets located in the Pietarsaari plant. The planned acquisition is subject to competition clearance.

“The proposed transaction enables Walki to focus all its resource on the growing markets of energy saving laminates and membranes for building purposes, as well as on selected segments of the consumer packaging market. This step is fully in line with our strategy to leverage on our strong R&D capabilities in developing new multi-layer laminate solutions for our customers”, says Leif Frilund, President and CEO of Walki Group.

In 2014, the aggregated sales of the Pietarsaari and Wroclaw plant were 113 MEUR and they employed together about 245 people.

Following our announcement on 8 May of a  price increase for  European coated fine and coated mechanical reels, Sappi Europe confirm our intention to raise prices also for woodfree coated sheets by 8% and a further increase on woodfree uncoated sheets and reels by 5-8% effective 1st of July 2015. Ongoing  cost increases allied with present price levels has led to unsustainable profitability  for this business also, therefore corrective price actions are inevitable.

Our customers will be personally informed by our sales managers who will provide them with any information they may require.

Xerium Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:XRM), a leading global provider of industrial consumable products and services, announced that Mr. Bill Butterfield, EVP and CTO, will present a technical paper titled “Improving Machine Performance for Success in Today's Challenging Market” at the RISI Asia Conference in Shanghai, China on Wednesday, June 3, 2015.

“As global paperboard makers face increasing demands for higher quality and improved printability, they also face additional challenges in terms of the furnish quality and lower basis weights without sacrificing sheet strength and properties”

Mr. Butterfield’s paper will focus on unique solutions that enable paperboard makers to be more globally competitive in today’s market environment.

“As global paperboard makers face increasing demands for higher quality and improved printability, they also face additional challenges in terms of the furnish quality and lower basis weights without sacrificing sheet strength and properties,” said Butterfield. “Paperboard machines are often required to produce multiple grades and sheet weights on the same equipment making it even more difficult to deliver consistently high quality and printability. Today’s producers are also challenged by environmental policies requiring higher recycled content and renewable fiber sources, reducing energy and water consumption, and reducing effluent wastewater.”

The presentation will review Xerium’s innovative approach to helping customers manage the complex optimization process for machine clothing and rolls which are critical to paperboard quality, machine performance and cost objectives, as well as how advanced technologies can uphold environmental objectives.

“Xerium’s SMART Technology and Rezolve machine simulation system use sophisticated predictive analysis coupled with real-time monitoring to provide paperboard makers with innovative decision-making tools to significantly enhance machine performance while minimizing downtime and cost-per-ton. The Rezolve system utilizes hundreds of variables on a paper machine to develop fact-based technical recommendations on clothing and roll cover technology rather than relying on sales-driven opinions. Ultimately, our technologies create customized solutions for each machine, delivering documented improved machine performance, while also supporting sustainability and reductions in energy, fiber and specialty chemicals”, said Butterfield.

The data on privately-owned forests collected by the Finnish Forest Centre quite likely constitutes one of the world’s most extensive databases on forest resources. In May, the extent of data on privately-owned forest stands surpassed the 10 million-hectare mark. This represents 70 per cent of the surface area of Finland’s privately-owned forests.

The forest resources data includes information about soil, the volume and growth of wood as well as forest management needs and felling possibilities. During the current spring and early summer, the database is set to grow by more than half a million hectares, when data collected last summer with the help of laser scanning based on remote sensing will be published to Finnish forest owners in the Metsään.fi e-service.

The database is the result of long-term efforts. The groundwork for the extensive stand-specific data was laid with forest planning carried out as field work at the beginning of the 2000s. Now all data collected with regard to forests is updated continuously with the help of notifications and growth calculations received by the Finnish Forest Centre. Forest inventories based on remote sensing began in 2010. By 2020, all of Finland’s privately-owned forests will have been inventoried with the help of laser scanning. The remote sensing is repeated in each area at approximately 10-year intervals.

The inventory method based on laser scanning adopted five years ago has reduced the costs of forest inventories substantially. At best, the data can be gathered with a cost of five euros per hectare, whereas the collection of equivalent information by way of field work alone would cost nearly four times as much.

The forest resources data is available to all forest owners and forest industry operators. Nearly 40,000 forest owners already use the data available on their own forest, accessible in the Metsään.fi e-service of the Finnish Forest Centre. With the permission of forest owners, the Finnish Forest Centre can also make the forest resources data available to industry operators.

Up-to-date forest resources data and the easy availability of such data promote good forest management, the sufficiency of forest resources and wood’s entry into the market.

Following many years of decline, Södra is now seeing a clear trend break in the proportion of Scots pine seedlings sold.

"This spring, some 1.7 million pine seedlings are being dispatched from our Flåboda Nursery, while the figure for spring 2016 is 2.5 million seedlings. In total, Södra will deliver 3.5 million pine seedlings this year, which is up about two million on the low point," says Ida Karlsson, Manager at Flåboda Nursery.

For a period of five years, Södra has been strongly committed to increasing the proportion of pine in the forests of southern Sweden. The results from last year's moose-grazing inventory showed that pine sites are poorly planted or use incorrect tree species.

In a future with expected climate change and increased risk of drought, the decline of the Scots pine tree in Götaland entails a major risk.

Spruce, which is increasingly being planted on pine sites, risks being affected by water shortages, nutritional deficiencies and damage due to drought. A crucial reason for planting spruce on Scots pine sites are a poor balance between the availability of fodder and supplies of moose and deers game. Today, pine sites account for 20 percent of the land, while only 10 percent is rejuvenated with pine. A few years ago, sales of pine seedlings were down at a level of 5 percent.

"Södra's Flåboda and Falkenberg nurseries are prepared to further increase production if so requested by the forest owners. At Flåboda, we can double pine production," says Ida Karlsson.

To effect a change in relation to the proportion of pine, Södra has become involved in numerous ways, including in wildlife management, the Mera tall- project and Viltstammar i Balans projects and, above all, in the moose-grazing inventory (ÄBIN).

"With this increase in pine seedling sales, we can now see the results of this work. There is a prospect of once again rejuvenating Scots pine forests and the forest owners are showing confidence in wildlife management. And it is important that we work together to foster this confidence. We can do so by ensuring the continued development of Scots pine rejuvenation through effective wildlife management," says Göran Örlander, Head of the Silviculture Department at Södra.

To find out more, please contact:
Göran Örlander, Head of the Silviculture Department at Södra, 
Tfn: +46 (0)470-893 62
Ida Karlsson, Manager, Flåboda Nursery 
Tfn:  +46 (0)477-451 60

Sonoco-Alcore S.a.r.l. has announced it will raise prices by €50 per metric ton on all recycled paperboard grades sold in the Company's Italian region. The price change is effective with shipments on or after 15th June, 2015.

"This price increase is in response to rising material and manufacturing costs and price adjustments occurring in the Italian market," said Phil Woolley, Director, Paper Europe.

Sonoco Alcore S.a.r.l. is wholly-owned by Sonoco (NYSE:SON) and operates 29 tubes and cores plants and five paperboard mills in Europe, including the Company's largest European uncoated recycled paperboard mill in Cirie, Italy.

Contact:

Roger Schrum

+843/339-6018

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

This announcement is distributed by NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions on behalf of NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions clients.

The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.

Source: Sonoco Product Company via Globenewswire