Stora Enso posts highest-ever profit in 2021

Finnish pulp and paper giant Stora Enso reported on Friday that its sales in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2021 totaled 10,164 million euros, against 8,553 million euros a year earlier, reported Xinhua.

The company's full-year operational earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) more than doubled year-on-year to a record 1,528 million euros.

"We have benefited from our strategic positioning and scale to achieve a full-year operational EBIT margin of 15 percent, the highest in our long history," said Annica Bresky, chief executive officer (CEO) of Stora Enso, in a press release.

The Q4 profit level was the best since the early 2000s, she said.

Stora Enso also announced investments worth 23 million euros to increase capacity at its containerboard site in Varkaus, Finland, and 40 million euros to enhance the operation and reduce the carbon footprint of its fluff pulp production site in Skutskar, Sweden.

In 2021, the company ceased production and deliveries of dissolving pulp. It closed a pulp and paper plant in Veitsiluoto, Finland, and a paper plant in Kvarnsveden, Sweden.

"When looking at this year, our outlook is that we will deliver results for the full year 2022 approximately in line with 2021," Bresky said.

According to its company profile, Stora Enso is one of the largest private forest owners in the world. It owns forest lands in Sweden and has biological assets also in Finland, Brazil, Uruguay and China through subsidiaries, joint operations and indirectly through equity-accounted investments.