UPM forecasts a slightly better performance for the first half of this year after its first-quarter results showed profitability improved on the final months of 2011.
Its results announced today reveal operating profits of SKr155m, compared with SKr131m in the fourth quarter of 2011. However, operating profits are below the SKr198m recorded in the first quarter of 2011.
In the latest quarter sales were SKr2.59bn compared with SKr2.35bn and SKr2.6bn in last year’s first and fourth quarter respectively. EBITDA at SKr347m was 13.4% of sales compared with SKr379m (16.1% of sales) in Q1 2011 and SKr301m (11.2% of sales) in Q4.
“Despite the seasonally weak first quarter we managed to improve the profitability of our operations from the level of the second half of 2011,” said president and CEO Jussi Pesonen, “By decreasing costs and maintaining stable pricing across UPM businesses we were able to impove our performance. We were also able to maintain a solid cash flow throughout the quarter.”
The company’s outlook as now improved slightly and Mr Pesonen now estimated that operating profits for the first of the year excluding special items would be slightly up on the second half of last year.
