Stora Enso Fourth Quarter and Full Year Results 2011 

Full year operational EBIT improved, dividend increase to EUR 0.30 proposed
STORA ENSO OYJ ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENT RELEASE 8 February 2012 at 13.00 EET
Full Year 2011 (compared with 2010)
• Operational EBIT improved to EUR 867 (EUR 797) million due to higher sales prices.
• Operational ROCE 10.0 (9.7)%.
• Strong annual cash flow from operations EUR 1 034 (EUR 992) million.
Q4 2011 (compared with Q4 2010)
• Operational EBIT decreased to EUR 145 (EUR 177) million as higher sales prices and a changed product mix could not offset lower volumes and higher costs.
• Cash flow from operations improved to EUR 302 (EUR 265) million due to working capital management.
• Continued strong liquidity at EUR 1 134 (EUR 1 103) million.
Actions and outlook
• New Reporting Segment structure from Q1 2012 onwards.
• Improvement plans in Swedish mill maintenance and coated magazine paper announced.
• Q1 2012 sales and operational EBIT expected to be approximately in line with Q4 2011 as combined improvements in the Business Area results are offset by lower results in forest companies (EAI).
Summary of Fourth Quarter Results 

* The Group has adopted operational EBIT as a key operative non-IFRS measure starting from the fourth quarter of 2011.
Operational EBIT comprises the operating profit excluding NRI and fair valuations of the segments and Stora Enso’s share of the operating profit excluding NRI and fair valuations of its equity accounted investments (EAI). Fair valuations include equity incentive schemes, synthetic options net of realised and open hedges, CO2 emission rights and valuations of biological assets related to forest assets in EAI.
** Reclassified. See details under Equity Accounted Investment reclassification.
Near-term Outlook
The business environment in the first few months of 2012 is predicted to remain challenging. Uncertainty and limited visibility are expected to persist in European markets. The anticipated reduction in variable costs should progressively become apparent in the Group’s results.
Group sales and operational EBIT for the first quarter of 2012 are forecast to be approximately in line with the fourth quarter of 2011 as combined improvement in the Business Area results is offset by lower results in forest companies (EAI).

For further information, please contact:
Jouko Karvinen, CEO, tel. +358 2046 21410
Markus Rauramo, CFO, tel. +358 2046 21121
Ulla Paajanen-Sainio, Head of Investor Relations, tel. +358 2046 21242
Lauri Peltola, Head of Communications and Global Responsibility, tel. +358 2046 21380
Stora Enso’s first quarter 2012 results will be published on 24 April 2012 at 13.00 EET.
Annual General Meeting on 24 April 2012 at 16.00 EET.
PRESS CONFERENCE IN HELSINKI
Time: 14.00 local time today
Location: Stora Enso Oyj
Address: Kanavaranta 1
Presentations: Jouko Karvinen, CEO
Markus Rauramo, CFO
The conference will be held in Finnish. Questions can be addressed to Jouko Karvinen and Markus Rauramo after the presentation.
ANALYST CONFERENCE CALL
CEO Jouko Karvinen and CFO Markus Rauramo will be hosting a combined conference call and webcast today at 16.00 Finnish time (15.00 CET, 14.00 UK time, 09.00 US Eastern time).
If you wish to participate, please dial:
Continental Europe and the UK +44 (0)20 7136 2050
Finland +358 (0)9 6937 9543
Sweden +46 (0)8 5876 9445
USA +1 646 254 3361
Access code: 5144825
The live webcast may be accessed at www.storaenso.com/investors
www.storaenso.com
www.storaenso.com/investors

STORA ENSO OYJ

News Source : Stora Enso Fourth Quarter and Full Year Results 2011