HELSINKI (AFP) — Finnish group UPM-Kymmene, the world's leading producer of magazine paper, on Wednesday posted a first-quarter net loss, blaming weak demand, and said it would continue production cuts.
"Demand for papers, labels, plywood and sawn timber dropped and we had significantly lower deliveries across all of UPM's businesses," UPM's chief executive Jussi Pesonen said in a statement.
For January-March the company reported a net loss of 158 million euros (208 million dollars), compared to a net profit of 103 million euros in the same period in 2008.
Sales in the first quarter fell by nearly 23 percent to 1.86 billion euros, compared to the first quarter a year ago.
UPM said it did not expect activity in print media, advertising or construction to pick up this year enough to give a boost for paper and timber demand.
"This means markedly lower deliveries than last year and temporary production downtimes in most of our product lines," Pesonen noted.
Last month UPM said it would temporarily lay off all 900 staff working in its timber unit in the second quarter due to weak demand. In September it said it would cut 1,600 jobs over the coming years.
Last year it employed some 25,000 people worldwide.
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