Holmen’s operating profit for January–June 2017 was SEK 1 152 million ($145 million), compared to SEK 1 063 million ($134 million) in January–June 2016. The improvement in earnings was due to higher wood product prices, better earnings from forests and the divestiture of the newsprint mill in Madrid, as the company said in the press release received by Lesprom Network.
Compared with the 1Q, operating profit decreased by SEK 102 million ($12.8 million) to SEK 525 million ($66 million) as a result of a maintenance shutdown within paperboard and seasonally lower hydro power production.
Profit after tax for 1H 2017 amounted to SEK 880 million ($110.7 million), which corresponds to earnings per share of SEK 10.5 ($1.3).
Production of paperboard, paper and wood products has been established at a higher level than previous years and the sales mix has developed well. Cash flow was strong and largely covered the SEK 1 billion ($126 million) dividend that was paid in April.
Holmen is a forest industry group that manufactures paperboard, paper and wood products and runs forestry and energy production operations.
