UPM profitability continues to improve

UPM-Kymmene Corporation’s third quarter results show continued improvement with the best EBITDA figure in three years – €384m – and a 21% growth in sales.

Sales for Q3 rose to €2.3bn, an increase attributed to higher delivery volumes and sales prices across all the company’s business areas.

“In recent years one of our targets has been to strengthen the balance sheet so that we are ready for strategic manouvres,” said Jussi Pesonen, UPM president and chief executive officer. “Today our business structure and the quality of our asset base work well for us.

He added that while the construction industry had not yet recovered and that the timber businesses profitability was hampered by the weakening of the market, the plywood businesses had improved in industrial end uses.

“For the final quarter we estimate both sales prices in euros and deliveries to be in line with the third quarter,” said Mr Pesonen. “We expect the operating profit for the second half of the year to be higher than for the first half.”