Nov 07, 2008. /Lesprom.com/. AbitibiBowater lost $302 million or $5.23 per share during the period ended September 30, on sales of $1.7 billion, The Canadian Press reported. Year-ago numbers are not comparable, dating from before the October 2007 combination of Abitibi-Consolidated Inc. and Bowater Inc. AbitibiBowater shares were down nearly 20% in midday trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange, falling $0.48 to $1.93. AbitibiBowater, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, said that excluding one-time items - notably a $154-million charge for closure costs, asset impairment and severance - the net loss for the quarter was $104 million or $1.81 per share. "For the 3Q, despite energy and fibre inflation pressures we have improved the EBITDA generated in our business lines by $47 million compared to the last quarter," CEO of AbitibiBowater David Paterson said. The situation is expected to improve even further in the fourth quarter as energy prices have fallen 20% and recycled fibre costs are down 40% from the 2Q, he said. Falling demand for North American newsprint, however, will force the company to take 100,000 tonnes of downtime in the fourth quarter, primarily at sites that use recycled fibre. It took 28,000 tonnes of downtime in the third quarter. In 2009, it expects to take 50,000 tonnes of temporary monthly downtime at a variety of sites. "We will be making more definitive decisions in the future. At this point the cost of energy, recycled fibre and the Canadian dollar are too volatile to make the decision on a more permanent basis." AbitibiBowater has achieved $320 million worth of annualized synergy savings as of the end of the third quarter as a result of its corporate merger. Total savings are expected to reach $375 million by the end of next year. It is also looking to obtain $750 million from land and hydro asset sales. It has achieved about $200 million from selling its Snowflake facility in Arizona to Catalyst Paper, along with the sale of land and small sawmills. Despite the freezing of financial markets, AbitibiBowater said it continues to receive unsolicited offers for its assets and expects to make significant progress in the next six months. "Given all of the volatility in the market, there isn't any diminished interest in the high quality hydro assets," said Paterson.