SCA Interim Report January 1 -- June 30, 2003


STOCKHOLM, Sweden, July 25, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- SCA (Other OTC:SVCBF):



 Interim Report              1 January-30 June 2003
                            03:2     03:1(1)        0306    0206
 Earnings per share, SEK    4.87     6.02         10.89   11.94
Cash flow from current 
 operations per share, SEK  5.56     7.45         13.01   16.19
Net sales, SEK M          21,231   21,890        43,121  43,370
Earnings after financial 
 items, SEK M              1,604    1,974         3,578   3,993
Net earnings, SEK M        1,130    1,395         2,525   2,769

(1) Including items affecting comparability, SEK 197 M before taxes and SEK 154 M after taxes.

Compared with first half of 2002 .Earnings per share amounted to SEK 10.89 (11.94).

- Operating profit within Hygiene Products declined by 9% but with unchanged operating surplus margin. Packaging declined by 9% and Forest Products by 28%.

Compared with first quarter of 2003

- Earnings per share amounted to SEK 4.87 (SEK 6.02, of which SEK 0.66 derived from positive non-recurring items).

- Earnings per share excluding non-recurring items decreased by 9%, of which currency effects accounted for 4 percentage points.

- Operating profit declined in Hygiene Products and Packaging by 7% and 10%, respectively, while the operating surplus margin remained unchanged. The decline for Forest Products was 19%.

For further information, please contact: Jan Astrom, President and CEO. Phone: +46 70 586 0701. Peter Nyquist, Senior Vice President, Communications and Investor Relations, Phone: +46 70 575 2906.

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The following files are available for download:

http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/07/25/20030725BIT00130/wkr0001.doc

The full report

http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/07/25/20030725BIT00130/wkr0002.pdf

The full report