The world’s top 100 forest product companies saw their net income plummet from US$13.8bn in 2007 to record losses of US$8bn last year, according to a new PricewaterhouseCoopers survey.
Total sales were US$357bn in 2008, up US$24bn on a year ago, while operating income of US$21bn was down 19% and average return on capital employed dropped by half to 2.4%.
Net losses were recorded at all 11 of the biggest Canadian companies. The losses increased 355% to US$4bn in 2008, largely due to a stronger Canadian dollar, goodwill and other asset impairment charges.
AbitibiBowater recorded the biggest Canadian decline in profitability, with a net loss of US$2.2bn. It sought creditor protection proceedings in April this year.
Sales at the 30 top European forest products companies totalled €87bn, down 1.9% on 2007. Net losses were €1.06bn, compared with €2.34bn.
SCA was the most profitable European forest products company last year with net income of €609.4m. It benefited from its strong exposure to the less-cyclical hygiene segment.
