"The quarter has been very eventful in our production units with two planned maintenance shutdowns in Karlsborg and Skärblacka. After some delay in Skärblacka in connection with the major rebuild, all machines are now up and running again and performing as planned. During the quarter, we have agreed on new long-term contracts with all major customers for liquid packaging board, which will contribute to long-term stability of demand. In general, however, the European market currently continues sideways, without strong signs of improvement. We therefore strengthen our efforts to increase sales outside Europe in markets with more healthy demand and we re-allocate resources from Europe to these areas.

The Board of Directors have approved an investment in one of the board machines in Gävle amounting to approximately SEK 220 million. The purpose of the investment is to increase machine capacity with approximately 10% to support further growth within the attractive liquid packaging board market. The investment will also improve both cost efficiency and product quality and the rebuild will take place during the planned maintenance shutdown next year.

The integration efforts are progressing relentlessly and I am pleased to end on the note that we now have realised synergies corresponding to an annual pace of approximately SEK 300 million. The synergy targets are expected to be reached approximately a year ahead of plan during 2014", he went on.