UPM's earning plummets by 32% in 2020

The forest-based industry company United Paper Mills (UPM) on Thursday posted an EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) of 948 million euros in 2020, down by 32 percent year-over-year, reported Xinhua.

Its sales in 2020 dropped by 16 percent to 8.58 billion euros, mainly due to lower deliveries of graphic papers amid COVID-19 lockdowns, and lower pulp and paper prices, UPM said in a press release.

UPM sales during the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2020 was 2.19 billion euros, down from 2.4 billion euros in the same period of 2019, and its EBIT in Q4 2020 stood at 252 million euros, down by 27 percent year-over-year.

The Q4 performance exceeded analysts' expectations, which had been at 197 million euros, Finnish language business newspaper Kauppalehti reported.

Jussi Pesonen, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of UPM, noted in the press release that the market demand in Q4 2020 for graphic papers was down 14 percent year-over-year. He said the measures to close two paper mills last year, one in Finland and one in the UK, were timely and necessary.

Regarding the outlook in 2021, Pesonen said: "The global economy is expected to start recovering in 2021... and China is leading this development. Demand for most UPM products is influenced by overall economic activity and hence, depends on the shape and rate of the economic recovery."