At 1.113m m³ of sawnwood and wood products, the volume of wood sold by the “Wood products” division of Stora Enso in the first quarter was almost 6 % higher than a year earlier, but the figure was still 4.2 % down against the fourth quarter. Significantly heavier demand than last year caused prices to rise and margins to improve across the whole range of products. The division’s sales revenue rose accordingly by roughly 13 % to €382m and the key performance figures were more than doubled. In the quarterly report published on 23 April, Stora Enso records a division EBITDA and EBIT of €64m and €52m, respectively. This equates to growth rates of around 115 % and 191 %, respectively against the first quarter of 2020. EBITDA and the EBIT margin rose by almost eight percentage points to 16.7 % and from 5.3 % to 13.7 %, respectively.
The group’s forest division boosted its deliveries by almost 7 % in the period under review to 10.151m m³. The decisive factor behind the increase was a higher volume of deliveries in Finland and the Baltic states. Whilst roundwood prices only changed a little, the division’s sales revenue rose by slightly over 7 % to €582m, similar to the increase in the sales volume. EBITDA rose to €134m and EBIT to €123m, increases of 156 % and 195 %, respectively, against a year earlier.
For the year as a whole, president and CEO Annica Bresky is reckoning with a continuation of the current heavy demand in all divisions with the exception of “Paper”, which is still facing the worldwide reduction demand and the ensuing surplus capacity. After the first three months, Bresky is already working from the assumption that consolidated EBIT for its business year 2021 will probably be higher than in 2020. Last year, however, EBIT had also fallen considerably by 28 % to €650m, and the margin from 10.0 % to 7.6 %.
