The company recorded Q2 sales of €2.57bn (2013: €2.72bn), but its operating profits improved 2.4% to €85m. For the six months to the end of June sales were €5.14bn (2013: €5.39bn).

In the second quarter wood product deliveries of 1.25 million m3 were down 5.9% on on the second quarter of 2013 but up 9.1% on the first quarter of this year.

In his last quarterly report before stepping down as CEO, Jouko Karvinen said the second quarter "came out at the high end of our expectations".

The overall performance was enhanced by a better-than-expected performance by Renewable Packaging and the annual structural cost reduction target being exceeded by 22%.

Karl-Henrik Sundström takes over as CEO on August 1.