HELSINKI, Finland, June 20, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Stora Enso (NYSE:SEO) today announced that the earlier published negotiations concerning temporary layoffs of the whole personnel at Veitsiluoto Sawmill in Finland for productional and financial reasons were completed today. The conclusion of the negotiations, which started in May, is that presently there is no reasonable option for continuing operations on a profitable basis. All 92 employees will therefore be laid off step by step starting from 11 July 2005. The layoffs are expected to last until at least the end of the year.
During the layoff period, Stora Enso Timber will continue to investigate options that might enable the sawmill to resume production on a profitable basis. Stora Enso Timber will continue to serve its customers from its other sawmills. The negotiations and following layoffs are in line with the aims of Stora Enso's European profit improvement programme, Profit 2007.
Operations at Veitsiluoto Sawmill are unprofitable owing to high raw material costs, declining prices for Nordic redwood products and high labour costs. Under current operating conditions there is no significant prospect of an improvement in profitability.
Veitsiluoto Sawmill has an annual production capacity of 300,000 m3 of sawn wood products for the construction and joinery industries and wood products trade.
For further information, please contact: Pekka Hamalainen, Senior Vice President, Nordic Production Group, Stora Enso Timber, tel. +358-400-553-984 Peter Nissen, Mill Manager, Stora Enso Timber, Veitsiluoto Mill, tel. +358-400-294413 Matti Karjula, Senior Vice President, Wood Supply Finland, tel. +358-40-520-6240 Kari Vainio, Executive Vice President, Corporate Communications, tel. +44-7799-348-197 Keith B. Russell, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations, tel. +44-20-7016-3146 Ulla Paajanen-Sainio, Vice President, Investor Relations and Financial Communications, tel. +358-40-763-8767.
For further information, please contact: Tim Laatsch, Senior Vice President, Communications, Stora Enso North America, tel. 715 422 4023 Scott Deitz, Vice President, Investor Relations, Stora Enso North America, tel. 715-422-1521.
Stora Enso is an integrated paper, packaging and forest products company producing publication and fine papers, packaging boards and wood products, areas in which the Group is a global market leader. Stora Enso sales totalled EUR12.4 billion in 2004. The Group has some 45,000 employees in more than 40 countries in five continents and an annual production capacity of 16.4 million tonnes of paper and board and 7.7 million cubic metres of sawn wood products, including 3.2 million cubic metres of value-added products. Stora Enso's shares are listed in Helsinki, Stockholm and New York. Stora Enso Oyj Business ID 1039050-8.