Stora Enso sees sales, profits slip as demand slows

HELSINKI (AFP) Apr 29, 2003
Finland's Stora Enso, one of the world's leading paper and forestry groups, poseted on Tuesday a net profit for the first quarter of 85.3 million euros, almost halved from the 161 million reported in the same period a year ago.

At the same time, sales in the January-March period slipped by 4.0 percent, to 3.1 billion euros (3.4 billion dollars) due to lower prices and volumes, Stora Enso said.

"The outlook for advertising spending is bleak in Europe but more optimistic in North America," said Jukka Haermaelae, Stora Enso's chief executive.

Earnings per share for the quarter amounted to 0.10 euros, a sharp drop from the 0.18 euros registered in the same period a year ago.

The results were largely as expected, analysts noted, and Stora Enso's share price increased by 3.54 percent to 9.94 euros on the Helsinki stock exchange following the news.

SPACE.WIRE