Sales growth with stronger margins

Sales growth with stronger margins

CEO Per Lindberg comments on the development during Q1 2011:
“I note Billerud's continued good performance with great satisfaction.
We had record sales volumes during the first quarter and this has
provided growth of over 10% compared with the previous quarter. This was
achieved with a continued strong operating margin of 13%. Our aim has
been to achieve a stable and high operating profit as a base for growth.
We steadily laid the foundations for this in 2010 and the stronger base
was further strengthened during the first quarter of the year. It is
also gratifying to see that our sales growth derives from a combination
of volume growth, an improved mix of products and markets, as well as
higher prices in local currency. This has enabled us to withstand the
cost increases and a stronger Swedish krona during the quarter.
 
The market as a whole remains strong, although the strength of some
small segments has started to wane. The strong Swedish krona will also
have long-term consequences. In the short term we are working to hedge
exchange rates and in the slightly longer term with the prices of our
products. In time, however, it will become more difficult to compensate
for an increasingly strong Swedish krona by raising prices, which means
that we must continue to review our cost base and the currencies in
which we incur our costs.

Our continuous further development of our customer offerings and our
ability to sell remain in focus and are yielding results. Starting with
this quarter we refer in external and internal contexts to sold volumes
instead of delivered volumes. This reflects our increasingly strong
focus on sales. We hope that the rest of the industry will follow our
lead in this important change in the industry's terminology.”

Solna, 20 April 2011
Billerud AB (publ)

Per Lindberg
President and CEO

For further information please contact:
Per Lindberg, President and CEO, +46 8 553 335 01 or +46 70 248 15 17
Bertil Carlsén, CFO, +46 8 553 335 07 or +46 73 021 10 92

The information is such that Billerud is obligated to publish under the
Swedish Securities Market Act. Submitted for publication at 07.47 CET on
20 April 2011.