Sawmilling giant Stora Enso’s wood products division reported 2015 annual sales down 9.9% to €1.6bn, with operational earnings before interest and tax down 9% to €81m. Q4 sales were €20m lower mainly due to lower sawn good prices in local currencies, and lower sales volumes in traditional sawn goods. Wood product deliveries in 2015 were down 3.5% to 4.33 million m3. Setra saw its full year operating profits reduce to SKr47m (2014: SKr201m), while net sales increased slightly to SKr4.21bn). “The market for wood products continued to be characterised by uncertainty in the fourth quarter,” said Hannele Arvonen, president and CEO of Setra. He said a continued supply and demand imbalance led to price reductions and production cutbacks, negatively impacting its earnings. Moelven increased its operating profit to NOK215m (2014: NOK204m) in 2015. Its timber and wood division experienced lower prices in Q4, but the building systems business, including the glulam division in Sweden, recorded improvements. Holmen Timber cited weak sawn timber market conditions in Europe in Q4, with selling prices having decreased gradually during the year. Its deliveries amounted to 730,000 cubic metres, slightly higher than in 2014. Operating profit for 2015 was SKr9m, down from SKr37m in 2014. SCA also reported lower prices and higher volumes for solid wood products. The group’s forest product division (which also includes paper, pulp and Kraftliner products) recorded operating profits of SKr2.6bn (2014: SKr2.5bn). It does not declare specific results for the solid wood business except for deliveries, which grew 4% to 2.33 million m3 in 2015 and up 8% in Q4 to 548,000m3.
