Finnish packaging firm Metsä Board has posted a comparable working lack of €45.6m within the third quarter (Q3) of 2025, reversing its €41.9m revenue of 1 yr beforehand.
Gross sales declined to €441.2m within the three months to September 2025, from €499m in Q3 2024.
The corporate reported web money move from operations of €122m for Q3 2025, up from €4.6m in the identical interval of 2024.
Working capital releases within the quarter totalled about €120m. Metsä Board is focusing on an extra €150m launch in working capital by the top of 2025.
Paperboard deliveries within the quarter amounted to 332,000 tonnes, down from 388,000 tonnes in Q3 2024. Common paperboard costs proceed to be on the earlier quarter’s stage.
Metsä describes the paperboard market as difficult, citing weak shopper demand, US tariffs and overcapacity. Its manufacturing of paperboard, BCTMP and pulp have been curtailed for market causes and to liberate working capital.
Manufacturing volumes and profitability had been additionally considerably affected by the annual upkeep shutdown on the Husum built-in mill and an funding shutdown of the Simpele paperboard machine.
Market pulp demand has been weak in Europe and China and pulp costs have fallen. Pulp manufacturing at related firm Metsä Fibre’s Joutseno mill has been paused for the 4 months since June.
Metsä said that the general affect of pulp on its efficiency for the third quarter of 2025 was “clearly unfavorable” and has launched a value financial savings and profitability enchancment programme, aiming to boost its earnings earlier than curiosity, taxation, depreciation and amortisation run‑price by €200m by the top of 2027. The programme progressed as deliberate in Q3.
No particular working outcome steerage was supplied for coming quarters. The corporate anticipates that money move from operations will stay constructive and that it’s going to see a “slight seasonal lower” in paperboard supply volumes from the earlier quarter.
Outcomes for October to December 2025 might embrace insurance coverage claims associated to a fuel explosion at Metsä Fibre’s bioproduct mill in spring 2024 and restoration boiler injury in autumn 2024.
Falling pulpwood costs in Finland and Sweden ought to help profitability from 2026. Trade price actions, together with hedge results, are projected to have a barely unfavorable affect in This autumn 2025 and a clearly unfavorable affect in Q1 2026.
Metsä Board CEO Esa Kaikkonen said: “The enterprise atmosphere within the paperboard market stays difficult. As well as, the excessive pulpwood value stage and weak greenback are burdening the competitiveness of European paperboard and pulp producers, together with Metsä Board. As there aren’t any fast options to those challenges, we’re specializing in the issues we will affect.”
