The company is not planning to close factories, but is looking for personnel reductions here and there. Last year, the company's harsh earnings performance forced it to close, among other things, the Sunila factory in Finland. The previous austerity program was not enough to reverse the earnings trend.
Forestry company Stora Enso is starting a major new savings program to turn around its weak results. The goal is to obtain savings of approximately 80 million euros and reduce approximately 1,000 jobs.
The recession of the forest industry is now severely affecting the company. The company's turnover fell by 24 percent in October–December last year to 2,174 million euros. The reported operating result fell to a loss of no less than 326 million euros. When excluding non-recurring items, the operative operating result was at least EUR 51 million plus.
The situation of the company's management is challenging. In the previous year, 2022, the company made a record result. Encouraged by this, Stora Enso bought a packaging company from Holland for about one billion euros and started a major renovation project at the Oulu factory site, which is also an investment in the billions range.
Size for last year, the operative operating profit was 342 million euros, but the official reported operating profit was 322 million euros with a loss.
The company already reduced about 1,150 jobs last year and closed, among other things, the Sunila factory in Finland in order to reverse the operating result that had fallen into a loss.
According to Stora Enso's press release, the company is now supposed to focus on core operations that promote the company's strategy. This is supported by the company's decentralized operating model. The program would not include new closures of production facilities.
Personnel reductionsefficiency improvement and synergy opportunities would, according to the company's press release, affect all divisions and group functions, and they would be proportional according to the size of the organization.
“This plan is difficult, but necessary to ensure the company's success and competitiveness in the long term. We completed our restructuring program last year. Our macroeconomic and geopolitical operating environment is still weak, so we have to focus on core business activities that support our strategy,” says Stora Enso's CEO Hans Sohlström in the bulletin.
At the end of last year, Stora Enso completed the restructuring program that started in June 2023, as a result of which the company's operating profit improved by 110 million euros per year and the staff was reduced by 1,150 employees.
The news is updated.
#Interim #reports #Stora #Enso #lays #people #result #plummeted #loss #million
