Finnish forestry group Stora Enso said its fourth quarter operating profit more than doubled from a year earlier, as expected by analysts, driven by price increases and cost saving actions.
Its adjusted operating profit, or earnings before interest and taxes, rose to €121 million ($124.7 million) in the final quarter of the year from €51 million in the same period in 2023. That was just below analysts' forecast of €122.4 million in a Vara Research poll.
Stora Enso's shares were down 4.2% by 08:36 GMT, which analysts at J.P.Morgan and Inderes said was due to the lack of a detailed guidance for 2025. Shares of Finnish peer UPM also slid 2% in early trading.
'As a change to prior practices, Stora Enso will continue to provide comments on its outlook but not a specific annual EBIT guidance,' the company said in the earnings statement.
Finland is a major producer and exporter of pulp, paper and other products that are based on logging in the country's vast forests.
Assets Divestiture
Last October, Stora Enso put some of its Swedish forest assets up for sale to reduce debt.
It said that the sale process was ongoing, with an aim to sell about 12% of its total forest assets in Sweden of 1.4 million hectares. The fair value of those assets is €6.3 billion, it said.
"We are at the stage of the process where we are talking to several potential buyer candidates," CEO Hans Sohlstrom told Reuters, but said he could not comment on the price or the potential buyers at this stage.
In October of last year, Stora Enso missed market expectations for third-quarter operating profit and said it expected the gradual market recovery seen so far this year to slow down in the fourth quarter.
