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RISI ECONOMISTS: Will recession cut tissue consumption growth?

Filed Under: Consumer, Forest, PKC Group, Tiimari by pietrox — Leave a comment
15/01/2009

TARNBERG, Germany, Jan. 15, 2009 (Viewpoint) – Among all paper and board grades, tissue has proved to be the one most insensitive to changes in the economic environment of the paper business. Tissue has recorded a continuous global consumption growth rate of roughly 4% per year in recent history, with only slight variation from year to year, but no single year registering a decline. However, in the current situation, with months of financial and economic turmoil that has spread to all continents, many have raised the question: What will be the consequences of the global recession to the tissue business in 2009?

We cannot argue that the global recession does not have any effect on tissue markets and industry. In the United States, where the serious problems with financial institutions and indeed the whole financing system began in September 2008, the effects of weakening tissue demand are now gradually being seen in the marketplace. The average capacity utilization rate in the tissue industry has declined for three consecutive months, and the industry has had to react by taking additional downtime to adjust supply to the new situation. This trend is expected to continue over the next few months.

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Albany Announces Planned Reduction in Manufacturing Capacity in Europe

Filed Under: Tamfelt by pietrox — Leave a comment
15/01/2009

Albany International Oy, an affiliate of Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN), announced today its plan to discontinue operations at its dryer fabric manufacturing facility in Konala, Finland. Over the last several years, similar steps have been taken in North America and Europe to match capacity to the global demand for paper machine clothing, as the global paper industry has continued to consolidate and eliminate capacity.

The proposal, if implemented, is estimated to affect up to 133 employees and is subject to review under local law and would be implemented in accordance with such law and in consultation with the Works Council.

The planned action at Konala in no way reflects on the performance of the affected employees; it is a business necessity, driven by the existing and anticipated market conditions.

The company remains committed to the dryer fabric business and will continue to provide customers with strong expertise in Product Application, Sales and Marketing, Service, and Research and Development to ensure outstanding product quality. It is planned that dryer fabric sourcing will continue to be available from manufacturing operations in Germany, China, France, and Mexico.

Albany International is a global advanced textiles and materials processing company. Its core business is the world’s leading producer of custom-designed fabrics and belts essential to the production of paper and paperboard. Albany’s family of emerging businesses extends its advanced textiles and materials capabilities into a variety of other industries, most notably aerospace composites, nonwovens, building products, and high-performance industrial doors.

(Press release)

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Worldwide pulp downtime topped 2 million tonnes in late 2008

Filed Under: Forest, Tamfelt by pietrox — Leave a comment
14/01/2009

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 8, 2009 (RISI) – As producers around the world grappled with weak demand and an oversupply of pulp, the list of firms taking market-related downtime grew to include every grade made in the industry. According to a RISI poll, global producers curtailed more than 2 million tonnes of output over the last four months of 2008.

Producers slowed down production, closed mills temporarily and permanently, and altogether trimmed an estimated 2.191 million tonnes of output worldwide from September through December, according to the poll, which included the four key producing regions of North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia.

Softwood kraft downtime totaled an estimated 874,000 tonnes, while hardwood kraft totaled 1.153 million tonnes — mainly because several large Asian mills shuttered for most of the fourth quarter.

North American producers took the most downtime of the four major producing regions, with 21 companies shedding an estimated 853,000 tonnes across all grades of market pulp produced in the USA and Canada.

At least three Canadian producers of bleached chemi-thermomechanical (BCTMP) took downtime, and the grade was excluded from the softwood and hardwood tallies but included in the overall downtime total. In the USA, where much of the world’s fluff pulp capacity is located, three producers took downtime in the grade, included in softwood totals.

Pulp mill downtime also surged across Asia, where tepid demand and tumbling prices prompted several major mills to shut down for months at a time, resulting in 785,000 tonnes of mostly bleached hardwood kraft getting clipped.

In Europe, producers reduced about 360,000 tonnes of pulp production with much of it occurring in northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK).

Latin American producers took the least downtime of the four continents polled, with an estimated 193,000 tonnes of mostly bleached eucalyptus getting trimmed.

Industry contacts expect more downtime to occur before the traditional season of spring maintenance outages because papermaker downtime is so widespread the pulp producer curtailments haven’t yet eaten into the oversupply that’s gripping the industry.

For the latest update of worldwide pulp downtime, see www.risiinfo.com/portal/content/pulpDowntime.xls.

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A.Le Coq Premium – the most sold beer brand in Estonia in 2008

Filed Under: Consumer, Olvi by pietrox — Leave a comment
13/01/2009

According to AC Nielsen research company A.Le Coq Premium is the best selling beer brand in retail trade, clearly outracing other competing beer brands since the beginning of 2008.

According to research conducted by AC Nielsen on consumer preferences in October and November the market share of A.Le Coq Premium in retail trade has enjoyed the leader position since the beginning of 2008 and the distance between A.Le Coq Premium and the second brand – Saku Original – has gradually increased. In terms of sales in October and November the market share of A.Le Coq Premium is almost half as much as that of Saku Original.

In October and November A.Le Coq Premium saw a 15% increase as compared to the situation a year ago, thus achieving a firm leader position and reaching a market share of approximately 13% on the retail trade beer market.

According to Tarmo Noop, Head of A. Le Coq, A.Le Coq Premium is of the largest share in the total A. Le Coq beer portfolio, forming 35% of the total sales of beer of the company. “As compared to the sales results of 2007, the volume of sales litres of Premium has increased a bit, which we consider a very good result taking account of the present economic situation and the general reduction trend on the beer market,” said Noop. He continued: “We uphold the constant development of Premium and contribute a lot both to marketing as well as package innovation.” According to Noop, this year the company also plans innovations with regard to their number one brand – Premium.

The total sales of the company in 2008 was 125.17 mln litres, and the segment which has increased in volume is A. Le Coq beers and ciders. The sales of other segments have remained the same or decreased to some extent as compared to sales in 2007. According to Noop the reason for the decrease in sales is the general reduction in consumption and the bad weather that we had in summer.

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Pöyry asses preliminary future prospects

Filed Under: Forest, Pöyry by pietrox — Leave a comment
13/01/2009

PÖYRY TAKES ADAPTATION MEASURES IN ITS FOREST INDUSTRY AND
CONSTRUCTION SERVICES BUSINESS GROUPS AND ASSESSES PRELIMINARY ITS
FUTURE PROSPECTS

The economic downturn sparked off by the global financial crisis has
been clearly reflected in the operations of Pöyry’s Forest Industry
and Construction Services business groups. Pöyry takes significant
adaptation measures in its Forest Industry and Construction Services
business groups by starting statutory employee negotiations in
business units based in Finland. The clearly decreased demand and
lower capacity utilisation is expected to significantly weaken the
Group’s profit before taxes for 2009. The earnings guidance for 2008
remains unchanged.

The economic downturn has impaired forest industry companies’
profitability and restrained globally the availability of investment
financing. For this reason, projects have been postponed,
preparations for new projects have slowed down and the amount of
consulting assignments has decreased. Demand for Forest Industry
business group’s services has declined and a recovery in the demand
is difficult to predict.

Uusinvestoinnit jää pois, mutta niiden lisäksi pienemmät projektit ovat tulilinjalla. Voitaneen odottaa merkittävää tilausten vähenemistä ja metsä-divisioonan pysyvän suhteellisen samalla tasolla seuraavina vuosina.

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Sponda – yhtiötapaaminen

Filed Under: Sponda by pietrox — Leave a comment
12/01/2009

Yhtiötapaaminen 12.1.2009

Strategia ja tavoitteet:

– keskittyminen isoihin kaupunkeihin ja hyvän kassavirran kohteisiin

Liiketoiminnan rakenne:

1) Toimisto- ja liiketilat
–    vuokratasojen määräytyminen:
o    inflaatiokorotuksien indeksi on elinkustannusindeksi sekä jossain uusimmissa sopimuksissa on minimikorotus, jonka on pyrkimys kattaa
o    Vuokrataso on jossain määrin  BTK-sidonnainen, tosin pitkien sopimuksien ansiosta vaikuttaa viiveellä.
o    Kesken vuokrasopimuksen saattaa tulla myös vuokrantarkistuksia, jos vuokralainen joutuu taloudellisiin vaikeuksiin. Lisäksi konkurssit vaikuttavat välittömästi kassavirtoihin ja vajaakäyttöasteisiin.
o    Tyhjät toimistotilat lisäävät kilpailua. Alueellisia eroja on, keskustan pitäessä tn. pintansa paremmin kuin syrjemmässä sijaitsevat kiinteistöt.
–    tavoitepituudet vuokrasopimuksissa:
o    4-5 vuotta, joka on Pohjoismaiden tasoa, muualla Euroopassa sopimukset ovat yleensä pidempiä.

–    muut tärkeät tekijät

–    ylläpitokulujen määräytyminen ja taso
o    palkat suurin menoerä, ylläpitopalvelut on ulkoistettu Ovenialle

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JCB fears 25% sales fall and cuts 700 more jobs

Filed Under: Componenta, Construction by pietrox — Leave a comment
12/01/2009

JCB warned that its sales could fall a further 25 per cent this year, on top of a decline of about 20 per cent in 2008, while also announcing a further 684 redundancies in its UK workforce.

The extent of the slide in demand affecting Britain’s biggest construction equipment-maker is another reminder that the pace of the downturn in manufacturing shows no signs of slackening. View full article »

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MAN CEO: 09 Will Be Very Difficult In Truck, Bus Business

Filed Under: PKC Group, Transportation by pietrox — Leave a comment
12/01/2009

MAN AG Chief Executive Hakan Samuelsson said Saturday he expects 2009 to be a ‘very difficult year’ for the company’s truck and bus business with sales at ‘radical lower levels’ in all markets amid the world financial crisis.

This year “will be a very difficult year for trucks and buses in all regions,” Samuelsson told Zawya Dow Jones in an interview in Abu Dhabi after announcing the sale of a 70% stake in its MAN’s Ferrostaal unit to Abu Dhabi’ state fund International Petroleum Investment Co.

“Sales will be at radical lower levels as we can see it today,” Samuelsson said. “But it’s impossible to be concrete.”

Like other commercial vehicles producers, MAN is facing a tough time amid the financial crisis as demand for new trucks is slowing in many key markets.

Munich-based MAN has so far been focused mainly on the European market, but in December it announced it will acquire the Brazilian truck and bus operations of its biggest shareholder, Volkswagen AG, for about 1.18 billion euros ($1.58 billion).

Brazil, along with Europe and the Middle East, has been a lucrative source of earnings for global truck makers in recent quarters amid weak demand in Japan and North America.

However, Samuelsson said there has been a “sharp drop in demand for its products, also in until recently more buoyant emerging markets”. (wsj.com)

CEO comments indicate that truck market is continuing to deteriorate and bottom is not in sight or more specific outlook will be announced in connection with the Q4’08 report.

*Negative news for PKC Group

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MAN Is ‘Not Considering’ Scania Bid, According to CEO

Filed Under: Transportation by pietrox — Leave a comment
10/01/2009

Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) — MAN AG, Europe’s third-largest truckmaker, has no plans to bid for Swedish rival Scania AB as it focuses on expanding in emerging markets including China, Chief Executive Officer Hakan Samuelsson said.

MAN owns 11.3 percent of Scania’s shares, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, and said on Dec. 29 it bought options allowing it to increase its voting rights in the company to 20 percent from 17 percent. MAN is 30 percent owned by German automaker Volkswagen AG, which in turn has a further 69 percent
of Scania’s voting rights.

MAN has started operations in India and Brazil and is considering expanding into China after the worldwide recession halted a boom in heavy-truck sales fueled by growth in eastern Europe, Samuelsson said in an interview in Abu Dhabi today.
Munich-based MAN agreed Dec. 15 to acquire Brazil’s largest truckmaker from Volkswagen, its first major investment in South America.

Still, a bid for Scania “is not something we are considering,” and increasing voting rights in the company isn’t “any change strategically,” Samuelsson said.

The slump in European heavy-truck sales accelerated in November, with deliveries falling 28 percent, according to the Brussels-based European Automobile Manufacturers Association. MAN plans to shut plants for about 50 days during the first half of 2009 to curtail output by 30 percent amid job losses at Europe’s
three-biggest truckmakers.

‘Industrial Logic’

“We believe in the industrial logic of an integration of MAN and Scania,” Arndt Ellinghorst, an analyst at Credit Suisse Group AG, wrote in a research report on Jan. 8, estimating a merger could save the companies as much as 500 million euros ($674 million) a year.

Porsche SE, the Stuttgart, Germany-based maker of luxury sports cars, is separately required to bid for Scania due to its acquisition on Jan. 5 of a majority stake in Volkswagen.

In spite of the difficult conditions in the auto industry, MAN hasn’t changed its estimates for 2008 performance, according to Samuelsson. “We will see turnover that will be slightly over 2007 and profit margins will be close to 12 percent,” he said.

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Ahlstromin neljäs tulosvaroitus

Filed Under: Ahlstrom, Forest by pietrox — Leave a comment
09/01/2009

Ahlstrom Oyj jatkaa sopeuttamistoimia ja rakennejärjestelyitä vastatakseen heikkenevään kysyntään. Yhtiö suunnittelee tehtaiden sulkemisia Italiassa sekä lomautuksia ja irtisanomisia eri puolilla maailmaa.

Italiassa Ahlstrom on aloittanut neuvottelut henkilöstöedustajien kanssa Gallaraten ja Carbonaten tehtaiden sulkemisesta sekä yhden tuotantolinjan sulkemisesta Cressan tehtaalla. Arviolta 60 henkilön vähennys toteutetaan vähitellen vuoden 2009 ensimmäiseltä neljännekseltä alkaen. Kaikki kolme tehdasta valmistavat kuitukankaisia pyyhkimistuotteita.

Suomessa Ahlstrom on antanut yhteistoimintalain mukaisen neuvotteluesityksen Karhulan, Mikkelin ja Tampereen tehtailla. Karhulassa ja Mikkelissä neuvotteluiden arvioidaan johtavan yhteensä
noin 250 henkilön lomauttamiseen, eikä irtisanomisten mahdollisuutta voida sulkea pois. Tampereella neuvotteluiden arvioidaan johtavan noin 60 henkilön lomauttamiseen. Ahlstromin tehtaat Karhulassa ja
Mikkelissä valmistavat lasikuitutuotteita ja työllistävät yhteensä 560 henkilöä. Tampereen tehdas valmistaa suodatinmateriaaleja ja työllistää 60 henkilöä.

Lisäksi Ahlstrom on käynnistänyt henkilöstön vähentämiseen tähtääviä toimenpiteitä useilla tehtaillaan maailmanlaajuisesti. Sopeuttamistoimet koskevat sekä Specialty Papers – että Fiber Composites -toimialoja ja johtavat noin 150 henkilön vähennykseen.

Ahlstrom palvelee asiakkaitaan entiseen tapaan rakennejärjestelyistä huolimatta.

Rakennejärjestelyn kulut ja arvonalennukset 23 miljoonaa euroa

Toimenpiteistä aiheutuu noin 7 miljoonan euron kertaluonteinen uudelleenjärjestelykulu vuoden 2008 viimeisen neljänneksen tulokseen.

Lisäksi Ahlstrom kirjaa noin 16 miljoonan euron kassavirtaan vaikuttamattomat arvonalennukset liikearvon ja aineellisen käyttöomaisuuden kirjanpitoarvoihin. Arvonalennukset liittyvät lähinnä kuitukankaisten pyyhkimistuotteiden liiketoimintaan.

Edellä mainitut 23 miljoonan euron uudelleenjärjestelykulut ja arvonalennukset jakautuvat toimialoittain seuraavasti: Specialty Papers 2 miljoonaa ja Fiber Composites 21 miljoonaa euroa.

Vuoden 2008 liiketulos noin 40 miljoonaa euroa ilman kertaluonteisia eriä

Alustavien tietojen mukaan Ahlstromin koko vuoden 2008 liiketuloksen ilman kertaluonteisia eriä arvioidaan olevan noin 40 miljoonaa euroa (68 miljoonaa euroa vuonna 2007). Yllä mainitut uudelleenjärjestelykulut ja arvonalennukset mukaan lukien liiketuloksen arvioidaan olevan noin 17 miljoonaa euroa.

Vuoden 2008 liikevaihdon arvioidaan olevan noin 1 800 miljoonaa euroa (1 761 miljoonaa euroa vuonna 2007).

Ahlstrom julkistaa vuoden 2008 tilinpäätöstiedotteen 5.2.2009.

Ahlstrom Oyj
Jan Lång
Toimitusjohtaja

Lisätietoja
Ahlstrom Oyj
Varatoimitusjohtaja Risto Anttonen, puh. 010 888 4166
Talousjohtaja Jari Mäntylä, puh. 010 888 4768

Pyyhkimistuotteet ja veneteollisuus liittyvät kuitukangaspuoleen, kun taas auto- ja rakennusteollisuustuotteet ovat kummallakin puolella.

Alaskirjaukset liittyvät Italian yritysostoihin (Fiberweb, Orlandio). Italiassa pyritään vähentämään 60 henkilöä.

Sellun hinnan lasku valuu rahoitusjohtajan mukaan pääasiassa läpi bulkimmassa tavarassa ja spesiaalimmissa tuotteissa hyöty on suurempi.

Rahoitusjohtaja lisäsi, että osa laskusta johtuu myös varastotasojen alasajosta, kun asiakkaat pyrkivät minimoimaan käyttöpääomaa. (Luonnollisesti myös loppukäyttäjien toimialojen heikkous syö myyntiä).

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