Stora Enso is starting co-determination negotiations with employees at Veitsiluoto Mill in Finland regarding a plan to shut down permanently paper machine (PM) 1 with annual capacity of 190 000 tonnes of coated magazine paper by the end of the first quarter of 2014 due to structural weakening of magazine paper demand in Europe. The planned closure would affect up to 90 employees.
Stora Enso will record a restructuring provision and a working capital write-down as a non-recurring item related to the planned closure with a negative impact of approximately EUR 8 million on operating profit in its first quarter 2014 results.
The planned shutdown would decrease Stora Enso's coated mechanical paper capacity by about 15%, which represents about 2% of total European coated mechanical paper capacity.
If PM1 was permanently shut down, Stora Enso would be able to serve its NovaPress customers from Veitsiluoto Mill PM5 and from Kabel Mill in Germany.
No decisions regarding the planned closure and employee reduction will be taken until the co-determination negotiations have been concluded. Stora Enso would make every effort in co-operation with the local community to help the affected personnel find new employment opportunities, and all job openings in other Stora Enso units would be available to those affected.
