* Profit after net financial items amounted to SEK 103 (20) million for
the first quarter of 2015, our best quarterly performance in the
current structure.
* Net turnover for the first quarter is SEK 454 (380) million, a 19%
increase.
* Production volumes increased by 10% compared with the first quarter of
2014.
* The PIX price in USD declined during the first quarter and amounted to
an average of USD 907. In Swedish kronor the price rose nine per cent
compared with the fourth quarter in 2014 due to the favourable trend
for the USD. Compared with the first quarter of 2014, the price
increase in SEK is about 28%.
* Cash flow from operating activities amounted to SEK 64 (9) million for
the first quarter of 2015 and SEK 159 million on a rolling 12-month
basis, compared with SEK 104 million for the full year 2014.
Interest-bearing receivables as of 31 March were SEK 116 (-25)
million.
Comments by the president
The first quarter was strong for the Rottneros Group due to a number of
positive factors. Profit after net financial items was SEK 103 million,
an improvement of SEK 83 million compared with the same quarter in 2014.
Currencies and the pulp market were the main drivers of the favourable
earnings trend compared with the first quarter last year, but our
internal improvement programme continued to deliver results to produce a
substantial boost to earnings. A large portion of the improvement in
earnings is attributable to increased sales and production in
particular. We are also extremely pleased to see that both plants are
delivering good profitability and substantial improvements in earnings.
Customer demand for our grades of pulp is stable. However, we have seen
some pressure on prices during the quarter, mainly driven by an
increased supply. Translated into SEK, prices continue to be high thanks
to the appreciation of the USD.
Several planned measures to improve availability were carried out during
the autumn maintenance shutdown at our mills were carried out during the
autumn maintenance shutdown at our mills, resulting in higher production
volumes during the first quarter. Compared with the corresponding
quarter last year, production increased by 10 per cent for the Group.
Rottneros Mill was the strongest performer here, with an impressive 19
per cent increase in volume.
I am glad that the Board of Directors of Rottneros has decided to
approve the first investments of approximately SEK 180 million to launch
Agenda 500, which is a long-term industrial plan to increase the
capacity of the Group through gradual investments. We are investing in
renewing production equipment and the organisation to increase capacity
and building out to ease the bottlenecks in the two mills. The total
plan is about SEK 800 million for Agenda 500 in full, divided into about
SEK 400 million in the medium term and SEK 400 million in the longer
term. The pace of the investments will be determined by Rottneros’
ability to allocate the increased volumes in the market.
We have a strong starting position for the rest of 2015. A weakly
negative price trend has been offset by the continued strong USD. Our
dedicated employees are working hard to run and develop the business in
order to gradually increase volumes and achieve more efficient
production. I look forward to the coming year and the strategically
important development steps that we have now begun to implement.
Per Lundeen
(For complete interim report see attached file)
For more information, please visit. www.rottneros.com
This report has not been reviewed by the company\'s auditors.
Vallvik, 13 May 2015
Per Lundeen
Chief Executive Officer and President
Rottneros discloses the information provided herein pursuant to the
Securities Markets Act and/or the Financial Instruments Trading Act.
This information was submitted for publication on 13 May 2015 at 08.00.
A Swedish and an English version of this report have been drawn up. The
Swedish version shall prevail in the event of differences between the
two reports.
