Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the presentation of Metsä Board's first quarter results. My name is Esa Kaikkonen, I'm Metsä Board's new CEO starting from April 7. Together here with me, I have our CFO, Henri Sederholm, and Head of Investor Relations, Katri Sundström. Prior to elaborating the results, let me briefly introduce myself. The forest industry and Metsä Group are very familiar to me, as I have held various roles at Metsä Group over the past 27 years. For example, I have been responsible for Metsä Group's legal affairs and strategy, and for several years, almost more than 10 years, I also led Metsä Group's wood products and tissue businesses, Metsä Wood and Metsä Tissue. Despite the current challenging environment, I'm very optimistic about the future. I see great opportunities for Metsä Board and believe we can enhance our competitiveness and profitability in the evolving paperboard market.
At this time, I would also like to thank my predecessor, Mika Joukio, who served as Metsä Board's CEO since 2014. Mika's expertise and customer relationship skills have been crucial in transforming Metsä Board into a leading paperboard producer. Now, let's start with the Q1 summary. Paperboard sales improved from the previous quarter, mainly driven by increased delivery volumes. Average sales prices of paperboards remained roughly at the same level as in 2024. As always, Q1 did not include any planned maintenance, which in turn increased production. Production volumes grew not only from the previous quarter, but also compared to the corresponding period last year. However, it's good to bear in mind that last year at this time, we were affected by political strikes in Finland. Increased production activity led to higher inventory levels, which in turn tied up more working capital.
Combined with the prolonged weak profitability, this impacted the operating cash flow, which was negative. Henri will address this a bit later. During the quarter, we decided to close our Tako mill permanently and enhance operational efficiency at our Kyro mill to improve the company's competitiveness and profitability. These actions will finally cut 208 jobs, and we will do our best to help those affected find new employment within or outside Metsä Group. We expect our annual EBITDA to improve by roughly EUR 30 million, starting mainly from the fourth quarter of this year. Customer deliveries will not be affected as we have enough capacity to meet current demand after the latest investments in Husum. Tako's production is moving mainly to Kyrö, which has previously served as a backup mill for Tako and its unique products.
Once again, we performed exceptionally well in the CDP evaluation across all the three categories: climate change, forests, and water security, achieving an A-score in each. The beginning of the year has been marked by U.S. tariffs, which naturally have a significant impact on Metsä Board's business. Let's take a closer look at the impacts. First, I must emphasize that we have an established market position in the U.S. for both folding boxboard and coated kraftliners. Over the decades, we have been building our foothold and developing long-lasting customer relationships. We are the largest provider of folding boxboard, as there is no local supply of that material. There are very few alternatives to coated white kraft liners. Our customers value the high quality of our paperboards, our efficient and sustainable supply chain, and comprehensive services.
In 2024, our sales to the U.S. were EUR 430 million, and in total, we delivered 365,000 tons of paperboard. Currently, we are negotiating with our customers to address the impact of these tariffs on the prices of our paperboard. We trust our customers to understand the impact of the tariffs. Exact financial and/or operational impacts are still difficult to estimate, as there is a high level of uncertainty regarding the final amount and duration of tariffs. Despite these challenges, we aim to stay in the U.S. We are committed to maintaining relationships with our long-term customers, and we are also seeking new businesses and growth. Despite a slight improvement, the overall demand for paperboards remained moderate and far from the levels seen during the pandemic or pre-pandemic times. First quarter deliveries this year were quite similar to last year.
After a quiet Q4, order inflows initially picked up but slowed down towards the end of the period. It's also worth noting that last year's deliveries were somewhat impacted by political strikes. In total, volumes remained roughly at the same level as in the corresponding period, but increased by 7% from the previous quarter. Here is the paperboard sales split by the region and product. FBB volumes to Americas increased but remained flat in EMEA. The European folding boxboard market is still affected by the continued high level of paperboard imports from Asia, mainly to Turkey, Russia, and Middle East. The impact is indirect. White kraftliner deliveries to the U.S. decreased but increased in EMEA. Metsä Board's market pulp delivery volumes decreased compared to last year.
The most significant decline was in BCTMP deliveries to the APAC region, where demand has been weak for some time. At the same time, Metsä Fibre's deliveries increased by almost 30%. The growth is partly explained by new available capacity from Kemi, as well as last year's strikes. In Europe, the demand for softwood market pulp was fairly stable. In China, demand weakened towards the end of the quarter. Now, the sustainability development. The biggest changes were seen in TRIF and energy efficiency, and unfortunately, both developed negatively. TRIF increased to 5.6 from the full year 2020 figure of 3.5, indicating that we still have room for improvement as our target is zero accidents. Energy efficiency weakened as well, mainly explained by production curtailments over the last 12 months. However, positive development was seen in the share of certified wood fiber, which was 94%.
Now, I will hand over to Henri to present the financials.
Thank you, Esa, and good afternoon, everyone. Our first quarter 2025 sales remained stable compared to the corresponding period last year at EUR 481 million. The increased delivery volumes naturally contributed to the growth from the previous quarter. Unfortunately, profitability continues to show no notable improvement. The operating result was EUR 23 million, almost 30% down from the corresponding period last year. Now, a closer look at the items that affected the comparable operating result in the first quarter. On the positive side, there's an improved result share from Metsä Fibre. Their profitability was supported by market pulp sales, as both delivery volumes and sales prices were clearly better than in the comparison period. The sawmill business also developed positively. Additionally, our operating result improved due to lower energy and chemical costs.
On the negative side, we had significantly higher wood and logistics costs, as well as higher employee costs and depreciation. In the first quarter, items affecting comparability totaled EUR 27 million, mainly related to the asset write-down of the Tako mill. The comparable return on capital employed in Q1 remained low at 4%. Our target is to reach at least 12%. Capital employed at the end of the period was EUR 2.5 billion. Now, cash flow, which has been unsatisfactory recently. The downward trend and negative figure for Q1 are mainly explained by prolonged weak profitability and increased working capital. If we look back to 2023, the rapid decline in paperboard demand led us to curtail production. This freed up working capital, resulting in strong cash flow development. In 2024, with increased activity, the direction was the opposite.
It's also important to note that dividends from Metsä Fibre significantly impact our operational cash flow, especially during Q1 when they are typically paid. This year, no dividend was paid. We are having a strong focus on reduction of operating working capital, and thus we expect the second half to be stronger in generating operating cash flow than the first half. Free cash flow was also negative both in the quarterly review and on a 12-month rolling basis. The reduced investment level will impact the future development of free cash flow. Our net debt increased and was roughly EUR 400 million at the end of March. This year, our dividend payment took place already in the first quarter, totaling EUR 25 million. Leverage was at 2.4, still below the targeted maximum level of 2.5.
However, our financial situation remains solid despite the leverage increase, which has mainly been impacted by weakened profitability. That is all from the financials. Now I will hand back to Esa.
Thanks, Henri. Now let's move on to the investments. As we have all the major investments now behind us, we expect returns from them in the coming years. Our main ongoing investments now are the paperboard machine renewal in Simpele, which we expect to be completed in the second half of this year. In pre-engineering, the main projects are a new pulp drying machine in the Husum pulp mill and production conversion from white kraftliner to food service and grease-proof papers in the Husum board mill. This year, we expect our total investments to be around EUR 100 million-EUR 150 million, out of which maintenance is EUR 50 million-EUR 60 million. Now the near-term outlook.
Geopolitical challenges in the operating environment, most recently the tariffs imposed by the United States, maintain overall uncertainty in the market. This also complicates the predictability of our future paperboard sales and earnings development. This uncertainty is reflected in consumers' buying behavior, which remains quite cautious. In the second quarter, we expect our paperboard delivery volumes to remain at the first quarter level. Variable costs, excluding pulp, are expected to remain stable. The second quarter will include more planned maintenance and shutdowns than in the first quarter, and in addition to that, the ongoing quarter will face more market-related production curtailments. In addition, Metsä Fibre's Kemi bioproduct mill will have a roughly one-month repair shutdown, as its units damaged in a gas explosion at the mill's evaporator will be replaced with the new ones.
We expect this shutdown to have a negative impact of EUR 10 million on Metsä Board's operating result in April-June, including the impact from Metsä Fibre's result share. Based on these assumptions, we expect our Q2 comparable operating result to be weaker than in Q1. Finally, let's have a summary. We continue to face a challenging market situation. This is primarily due to the ongoing U.S. tariffs and oversupply in close-by markets in paperboard and weak consumer demand. Despite these hurdles, I still want to highlight that Metsä Board's financial position remains solid, although we have recently carried out massive investments. It's also important to remember that as the market situation improves, we expect these investments to generate returns for us. Our short-term focus is on strengthening our cash flow. We are implementing measures to optimize our operations and improve efficiency across all levels.
If paperboard demand weakens further, we can respond with temporary mill shutdowns and employee layoffs. We expect our cash flow to be stronger in the second half than the first. Additionally, we are committed to enhancing the competitiveness of our mills and products. Continuous improvement is the key to staying ahead in this competitive landscape, and we are also planning actions to improve our profitability. With that, we end our presentation and are now ready for your questions. Thank you very much.
To ask a question, please dial pound key 5 on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. If you wish to withdraw your question, please dial pound key 6 on your telephone keypad. The next question comes from Linus Larsson from SEB. Please go ahead. Linus Larsson from SEB, your line is now unmuted. Please go ahead.
Starting off with Americas, just for different volume trends in folding boxboard and white kraftliner. Thank you very much. My first question relates to Americas and volumes. I wonder if you could shed some light on the fact that in folding boxboard, you saw growing volumes year on year in the quarter, while you saw declining volumes in white kraftliner in Americas in the quarter. Could you just talk us through the dynamics there, please?
Yeah, there are some declines in WKL volumes in the first quarter compared to Q4, but that was mainly due to the fact that the customers were actually ordering more in Q4 because they were preparing themselves for the potential strike that never took place in Finland.
Okay, if I put it this way, if you look at your order inflow right now, let's say, what are the trends in the U.S. market for folding boxboard and white liner board, please?
Currently, we are, of course, in the discussions with our customers, and we cannot shed too much light on this topic for the time being. Clearly, of course, this situation related to tariffs is actually making our customers more cautious in their ordering. That has a negative impact currently, but of course, currently we cannot predict what will be the impact during the quarter. We have seen some negative trend there, but too early to make any conclusions.
Okay, thank you. Hen, maybe just one more question on volumes. Generally, you produce in excess of shipments on the group as a whole for paperboard in the first quarter. I appreciate that may be in preparations for maintenance and so forth in the second quarter. When you guide on the maintenance impact and the repair at Kemi and what that may implicate for you in the second quarter, does that include also the fixed costs absorption effect that you may have from this mismatch between production and shipments that we see in the first quarter, or does that come on top? That's my question.
Yeah, I can confirm that that Kemi figures includes that impact as well.
Okay, so nothing in addition to what you say on no additional absorption impact in the second quarter?
Not regarding Kemi anyway, so that's what I was just confirming. So Kemi is included.
Okay, thank you. That's helpful.
The next question comes from Joni Sandvall from Nordea. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for the presentation and taking my questions. I have a couple of these. You mentioned that you are expecting more market-related production curtailments. Can you specify if this is more on the folding boxboard or then on the liner side?
Currently, it is more in the folding boxboard that we are planning some further curtailments, but the amount is, of course, dependent on the, let's say, order inflow in the coming weeks.
Okay, okay, that's clear. If we are excluding now the U.S. tariff here and looking more on the Europe, could you give any indications how you expect the pricing environment to develop in Q2 compared to Q1?
Regarding the prices, we are not commenting on the forward-looking prices as such, but you've seen that in the past year, the prices have been stable. Looking at it forward, there is, of course, market, let's say, is evolving every day, and we are following it closely, but we are not taking any forward-looking view on the prices.
Thanks. Maybe lastly on the guidance deal on Q2, can you give any indication how you are currently expecting Metsä Fibre, so associated income, to evolve going into Q2?
Unfortunately, we are not giving sort of separate guidance on Metsä Fibre results here, so we only give guidance on Metsä Board level.
Okay, thanks. That's all from me.
The next question comes from Andrew Jones from UBS. Please go ahead.
Hello. I just have a question, or a couple of questions. Firstly, on volumes into the U.S., I'm curious what stops buyers shifting to using, say, SBS as an alternative to some of your products that's produced domestically, and in particular, obviously, Sappi are ramping up a big new mill, which won't be facing those tariffs. Again, from a technical standpoint, that shift in the coming quarters. I will pause and ask the next one after the answer.
I have to, let's say, ask you to repeat the second question, and I'm guessing the first question bit that how it was, but you were asking the, let's say, substitution of FBB by SBS and the potential of that. We believe that our value proposition in the U.S. market is strong. We believe that we have a really good, let's say, customer base there and customer relationships and also very, very robust technical service. Having said this, we believe that those customers that we have over the decades procured in FBB and WKL as well remain as our customers also going forward, and we can even grow there. Of course, giving the uncertainty on the tariffs, the amount of the tariffs and how long they last, then that's another question.
The substitution effect and the threshold for customers to change back to the SBS is dependent on the, let's say, segment where the customer is operating. I am not going into the specifics there, but currently, we trust that our customers are actually understanding the situation that we are in. This question, I must ask you to repeat. Sorry about it.
Yeah, and I was going to ask a second question after your answer there. The second thing would be, I guess, I mean, you obviously acknowledge the potential for volume loss in the U.S., and we've obviously got Oulu ramping up, competing on the FBB side in the coming months. I mean, these are obviously structural changes. Now, obviously, utilizations are low in the group. I'm curious whether you think the closure of a Tako mill is enough to rebalance the market, and could there be the potential for more closures? I guess, broader question, how does your vision for the company differ maybe from your predecessor? Do you think he went far enough with some of the capacity closures?
Yeah, I think that the changes in the capacity going forward will not give any estimate. I think that we have been actually making this independently and seeing what makes us stronger in the market, and we have been balancing our offering accordingly. We are actually then getting analyzed efficiencies of EUR 30 million, roughly, out of this. Currently, I believe that it will be good to balance the market from our part if you are looking at our customers. In that regard, I think that I cannot comment at this point of time more on supply-demand balance from our perspective. We believe that the Tako closure was a good strategic move and a bold move, given the current situation. We were just actually ramping up also Husum Mill and the new capacity there. They were related, those two decisions.
Okay. Just one third one, just on the FX movements. You said there isn't a headwind into the second quarter. Looking at your sort of sensitivities that you've given in the past, I would have thought there'd be a decent headwind going forward for the rest of the year, given where currencies have moved. I mean, are you basically hedging the majority of your Forex exposure in the sort of very near term, and should we see a greater FX headwind maybe into the second half?
Yeah, if I take this one, we are hedging currently at about eight months forecasted currency flows, which means that we are almost fully hedged already for this year. Without going to the details, I can say that overall effective FX rates for this year are pretty well in line with those of last year. We will actually be seeing a little bit more favorable USD effective rates on the second half of this year than on the second quarter. All in all, the big picture is that the year-on-year impact from FX will be actually quite small.
Okay, but potentially 2026 would have a bigger impact once some of those hedges roll off, I guess.
That's a fair statement. If the spot rates stay where they are today, particularly in the U.S. dollar, that's the correct assumption.
Okay, thank you.
more questions at this time. I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments.
Okay, everyone, there are no further questions, so thank you very much on our behalf for the session and the questions. We'll get back to you in the next quarter.