Nov 10, 2011. /Lesprom Network/. Cascades Inc. announces its financial results for the 3Q ended September 30, 2011. Commenting on the 3Q results and recent strategic actions, Alain Lemaire , President and CEO stated: "Although we are still looking for stronger results, overall, we are encouraged by our performance during the past three months. For a second consecutive quarter, our operating results continued to move in a positive direction. Three of our four segments posted an improvement in their quarterly sequential financial performance, and the several proactive measures taken to address our lesser-performing units have continued to pay off. Moreover, in the face of ever more volatile markets and economic conditions, we have continued to refine our strategic goals. In the coming quarters, we will pursue the implementation of initiatives aimed at improving our competitive position through enhanced productivity and profitability. The Greenpac containerboard mill, the acquisition of Papersource, the sale of our Burnaby mill and the closure of our Le Gardeur plant are prime examples of these measures. We are highly confident that these measures will have a positive impact on our financial performance on both the near and long term". In comparison with the same period last year, 3Q sales rose by 14% to $947 million. These factors were partly offset by the 6% appreciation of the Canadian dollar, the impact of the divestiture of three facilities and the closure of one box plant, as well as by slightly lower shipments. Operating income, excluding specific items, amounted to $34 million compared to $54 million in 3Q 2010. When including specific items, the operating income amounted to $8 million in comparison to $32 million in the same period last year. The net loss excluding specific items amounted to $5 million in the 3Q 2011 compared to net earnings of $33 million for the same period of last year. Including specific items, the net loss amounted to $19 million compared to net earnings of $24 million for the same quarter in 2010. Alain Lemaire added: "Looking ahead to the next quarter, we are quite encouraged by the recent substantial drop in recycled fibre costs and the depreciation of the Canadian dollar. This should help to offset the traditional seasonal decrease in demand in most of our sectors, and the negative impact of the economic instability on our European operations. To conclude, we anticipate that our results will be positively impacted by the implementation of selling price increases in our tissue paper segment and the realization of our restructuring actions".