Production problems at the end of the fourth quarter continued to have a negative impact on BillerudKorsnäs’ results. The total cost of production disruptions during the quarter is estimated to approximately SEK 245 million. Operating profit for the fourth quarter 2015 is estimated to approximately SEK 320 million.

In early December 2015 the company announced increased costs with about SEK 165 million due to production problems, mainly in Frövi. During December, additionally approximately SEK 80 million in costs have been incurred for production disruptions and increased repair and maintenance costs. Disturbances continued at KM5 in Frövi, and increased maintenance costs have hit Skärblacka and Karlsborg but also Beetham in connection with extensive flooding. Approximately SEK 25 million affects business area Consumer Board and the remaining approximately SEK 55 million affects business area Packaging Paper.

"The board machine in Frövi has improved step by step but did not stabilize on the level we had hoped for in December. Major rebuilds have been made in Frövi to increase capacity, and it is not uncommon that the time to for the run-in takes longer than anticipated. It may be too early to claim that the problems are solved, but we can during the last few weeks see that the machine is coming back on plan. Skärblacka and Karlsborg have produced according to plan during the fourth quarter, but incurred more maintenance costs than planned at the end of the year. The problems in the quarter are thus self-generated. The exception is Beetham that was under water at the great floods in England in December but have started up in January and produce according to plan again. We see no negative change in demand or the overall cost position and several of our production units have set new production records in 2015, "says Per Lindberg, President and CEO.

The results are still preliminary and have not been reviewed by the auditor.

BillerudKorsnäs will publish its year-end report for 2015 at 07:00 CET on 10 February 2016. 

For further information, please contact:

Susanne Lithander, CFO, +46 (0)8 553 335 00
Per Lindberg, President and CEO, +46 (0)8 553 335 00

The information is such that BillerudKorsnäs Aktiebolag (publ) is obligated to publish under the Swedish Securities Market Act. Submitted for publication at 08.00 CET on 22 January 2016.

BillerudKorsnäs provides packaging materials and solutions that challenge conventional packaging for a sustainable future. We are a world-leading provider of primary fibre based packaging materials and have customers in over 100 countries. The company has 8 production sites in Sweden, Finland and the UK and about 4 300 employees in over 13 countries. BillerudKorsnäs has an annual turnover of about SEK 21 billion and is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm. www.billerudkorsnas.com