Good morning, everybody. My name is Carsten Dybevig, and I'm the Vice President of Communication and Public Affairs. Welcome to a short webinar where Norske Skog's CEO, Geir Drangsland, CFO, Tord Steinset Torvund, SVP Corporate Finance, Even Lund, will present highlights from the second quarter. Also present is SVP Commercial, Robert Wood, Christoffer Bull, SVP Business Development, and Einar Blaauw, SVP Legal Counsel. There is no pre-recorded Q4 presentation on the Norske Skog's webpage. The webinar will be recorded and will later be available on the webpage. After the presentation, you will be able to raise questions by raising the yellow hand in the Teams. Please keep your microphones on mute. The floor is yours, Geir.
Thank you, Carsten. Good. Welcome to a presentation of fourth quarter figures for Norske Skog. Thank you for sharing the time with us, and I think we just to start, and I'll leave it to you, Tord, to start the presentation.
Yes, thank you, Geir. So, as we always say, in Norske Skog, we continue to focus on our strategy of being a committed and cost-efficient supplier of publication paper to all our customers, while at the same time growing our deliveries of packaging paper and exploring other profitable opportunities within fiber across our four mills in Europe. These are the quarter highlights. We had record deliveries of recycled containerboard in the quarter, as Golbey PM1 is ramping up. The profitability of the containerboard segment is, however, impacted by lower-priced trial volumes and a larger share of exports out of Europe compared to what we expect to see going forward. EBITDA came in at NOK 13 million, the pre-tax profit for the full year at NOK 354 million, and a year-end cash position at NOK 1.1 billion.
For publication paper, we are maintaining high deliveries, and we are pleased to see that we are outperforming the industry by increasing our market share in Europe in a declining publication paper market. The liquidity position at year-end is strengthened by a NOK 400 million loan facility at Skogn. We have several initiatives to improve profitability across our mills. Both variable and fixed costs are under review at all mills to maintain the profitability, and we are also working on decreasing our working capital positions. On Saugbrugs, studies on whether to restart PM6 is still ongoing, and the focus of these studies have now shifted from a restart as a pure SC, supercalendered magazine paper machine, to a machine that will be able to produce both SC paper and kraftliner, based on mechanical pulp.
We stress that, as before, a potential restart of PM6 will be done in parallel with a permanent closure of PM4 and PM5. So moving to the key figures. For some reason, slide is not there. Okay, then we see if we can find the missing slide during the presentation. Yeah, yeah, but, let's just go to financial position then. The slide you see now is on the financial position. The equity ratio decreased to 40%, and interest coverage ratio currently stands at 1.1 times. The cash balance increased, as I mentioned, to 1.1 billion NOK, in part due to the new loan facility of NOK 400 million, but also favorable changes in working capital. This is offset by CapEx, primarily at Golbey and Skogn, and repayments of other loans.
We have about EUR 10 million of CapEx left for the Golbey PM1 project, and we expect to receive about EUR 50 million of grants and subsidies in the time to come. Still no slide. So moving to the segments. For publication paper, deliveries are up from prior quarter and at the highest level for 2025. Average prices for the segments are slightly down on SC magazine paper and newsprint, and more or less flat for LWC. Cost of materials is up from prior quarter, and this is mainly due to positive impacts from CO2 and energy-related items that affected the figures in Q3. Fixed costs continue to decline as we are reducing manning and working across all mills to improve fixed cost and improve our profitability.
Austria has implemented CO2 compensation for the industry in the country, and this scheme will last until at least 2029. Annually, this CO2 compensation will positively impact the Bruck mill of about EUR 5 million per year. On packaging paper, Bruck PM3 deliver EBITDA of NOK -2 million in the quarter, which is a decrease from five million in prior quarter. This is driven by lower containerboard prices, which is not fully mitigated by lower OCC prices. On Golbey PM1, the ramp-up is ongoing, and we made 46,000 tons of saleable containerboard and sold 37,000 tons.
EBITDA of NOK -124 million, in part, due to trial volumes and a larger share of export out to Europe with low prices, but also as a result of higher production costs in the ramp-up phase, as energy, fiber, et cetera, is not utilized in the optimal manner. We expect better margins in 2026 with 60% of volume on annual contracts and 80% to be sold in Europe. We further expect to reach full utilization in the first half of 2027. As mentioned, the remaining CapEx at Golbey is about EUR 10 million, and the remaining grants and subsidies, about EUR 50 million.
And you can see on this slide, the expected distribution of those EUR 50 million. So with that, I hand over the word to Senior Vice President of Corporate Finance Even Lund for an update on projects and paper markets.
Thank you, Tord. So going quickly to Saugbrugs, we continue to review potential repair and upgrade of the PM6 paper machine for the production of both SC magazine paper and also TMP-based kraftliner, as mentioned by Tord. We hope to conclude these studies during the second quarter of 2026. At Skogn, we have previously announced that we are working to modify the production equipment at paper machine 1, to enable production of standard quality book paper. We currently produce some grades of book paper, but we'll then be able to enter the mass markets for this product. We are working together with the technology supplier, Andritz, in a project with a total investment frame of around NOK 40 million, of which NOK 25 million remains as of end of 2025.
We hope to conclude this project during the summer of this year and supply more book paper in the second half of 2026. In addition, at Skogn, we are working now to improve our pulp process, the product, the production of thermomechanical pulp. This will both enable us to provide more grid support services to the national power grid while enhancing the quality of our pulp. The first stage of this project has a CapEx of around NOK 14 million, and can be executed in several stages, bringing the total CapEx to NOK 110 million if a decision is made to progress further. We have also received support from Enova of NOK 52 million for this project. On the containerboard, RCCM, we continue to ramp up production at Golbey PM1.
Here, you can see both the monthly production and the monthly deliveries from Golbey PM1 and Bruck PM3. As stated on the slide, Golbey PM1 achieved the utilization of 32% in the fourth quarter, and Bruck PM3 of 88%. On the charts, you also see a light green line at the top, indicating the level we will be at per month when full utilization is achieved, and which is targeted during the first half of 2027. At Norske Skog, we have, for a long time, focused on sustainable operations. For us, this is more than just CO2. That said, we have, of course, reduced our CO2 emissions significantly, both in an absolute sense and also per ton produced.
From 2015, which we use as our base year for measurement, since then, we have reduced our absolute CO2 emissions, Scope 1 and 2, by 74%, and per ton produced, we have reduced our emissions by 62%, well ahead of the 50% target set for 2030. So we're very proud of having achieved that already at this point. However, that doesn't mean we stop. We now work together with Carbon Centric at Skogn to explore the opportunity of carbon capture and storage or utilization of biogenic CO2. This project has received support from Enova, and we target a final investment decision in 2027 to capture 100,000 tons of biogenic CO2, which would make Skogn carbon negative and support the creation of green industrial activity.
We have chosen to work with Carbon Centric as we feel their approach, which is focused on the commercial viability of operating these capture plants, increases the likelihood of being successful in creating a viable business model. At both Bruck and Golbey, we collect and sort and reuse wastepaper today. In 2025, it was about 800,000 tons of wastepaper, and when we reach full utilization, it will be around 1.2 million tons of wastepaper collected, sorted, and reused to create new products. This is a significant benefit to society, as the cost of sorting and recycling these materials is significant and a benefit that we provide to the local communities. In a similar fashion, wastes that cannot be recycled or reused typically end up at landfills.
However, at Bruck, we collect this waste and incinerate it in an efficient waste-to-energy boiler and collect around 140,000 tons of these types of waste every year. Moving to the markets and starting with publication paper market, in 2025, demand for our products fell with between 7%-10%, depending on the grade you look at, and this trend is expected to continue for 2026. However, especially on the magazine side, we have seen capacity closures recently, which will ensure that the utilization rate is stable or even improving for coated mechanical in 2026. On the newsprint side, there has been less closures recently, so we expect the utilization rate to develop slightly negatively for 2026.
On the other hand, we outperform the industry. In newsprint, we have maintained our market share in Western Europe at 23%, despite the very challenging market. And in the magazine paper grades, both uncoated and coated, we have been able to increase our market share in Western Europe, and thus outperforming the industry and strengthening our market position. In a commodity industry, it's about being cash cost efficient. On the newsprint side, with Golbey PM2 and our Skogn mill, we are very competitive, with our mills being positioned well into the first quartile on the cash cost curves. For the magazine paper grades, Saugbrugs is positioned at the other side of the cash cost curve.
However, we note that in 2025, Saugbrugs delivered an underlying positive EBITDA result, indicating that this cash cost curve from an external provider is perhaps not fully reflecting the situation at the mill. Bruck PM4 is situated approximately in the middle of its cash cost curve, which we think reflects fairly accurately the position of that machine. The packaging paper market, utilization has declined from 95% in 2021 to 85% in 2025 and expected around the same level in 2026. Despite the demand growing at or around the GDP, expected 1% in 2026, the increase in, capacity, especially now in 2026, as several large machines will ramp up and increase their production, is expected to be, providing some pressure on the market.
However, we have two very cost-efficient, machines. Golbey PM1 was, recently included in the, in the cash cost curves and positioned in the first, quartile. Bruck PM3 would be at or around the same position if we included income from gate fees as a reduction in its cash cost. So we find that we will, or now have, two very cash cost competitive machines in this market and believe that they will provide a solid foundation for the future earnings of Norske Skog when fully ramped up. On the raw materials, energy prices in, in Germany or in Europe have been, very volatile, but have now, come down, at least from the high levels seen, a few years back. Natural gas prices fluctuate around 35 EUR per MWh, and the energy price is, between 50-100 EUR per MWh.
On the electricity side, we have hedged most of our consumption for 2026, so we don't see this amount of volatility in our, cost, position. Recycled paper prices, also unstable o r volatile, but OCC has especially come down to more sustainable levels, and RCP maintaining a slightly higher price point. We expect these to develop more or less flat going forward, perhaps some increase on the OCC side. Importantly, spruce pulpwood prices in Norway have finally started to come down. We saw a significant decrease during the second half of 2025, and expect the decrease to continue through 2026, with between 100 and 150 NOK per cubic meter reduction in the price for the first half of 2026.
The storm in mid Sweden during or over the New Year's holiday brought down about 10 million cubic meters of wood in Sweden and is expected to weigh on the market also in the first half or maybe especially in the second quarter of this year. The EUA price has come up significantly towards the end of 2025 and into 2026. Currently, we expect to be excluded from this market or from the CO2 allowance market for our two Norwegian mills in 2026, although a final decision on our complaint has not yet been made. And we will update on that once we have more information.
Paper prices, starting with publication paper prices, newsprint, SC and LWC have developed more or less flat for a long time now, reflecting cash cost in our view, and we expect this to continue to develop in line with with cost. Recycled containerboard prices have been slightly more volatile, but generally at a very low and unsustainable level. There has been rumors of a price increase of up to 100 EUR per ton now in February. We have not seen that occur yet, but expect perhaps that there could be some price increase in March. On the outlook, we continue to increase our market share in an uncertain operating environment and challenging markets. However, we continue to focus on initiatives to reduce our production cost and working capital, maintaining competitiveness.
There is still a significant emphasis on ramping up Golbey PM1 and achieve full utilization in the first half of 2027, and as always, we monitor our capital and liquidity position closely. So with that, we conclude today's presentation and open up for some questions.
Seems like there is no one asking questions. Hello, you are welcome to raise your questions, Sean Ungerer .
Are you able to unmute Sean? All right, then perhaps we should try to go to Marcus Gavelli. Let's see. Allow me. Are you able to unmute Marcus?
Yeah, there you go.
Great. Thank you.
You can hear me? Yeah, perfect. So, just one question on how you think about the working capital dynamics going into 2026. We had a fair bit of a big release today, which is positive, and I guess we'll continue with some questions on liquidity after. But just first, like with the ramp up at Golbey, how do you think about that when we look at 2026 as a whole? Because of course you will ramp up and that will have some, you know, dynamics in itself.
Yeah. So, on Golbey, looking at Golbey as the single mill, we don't expect significant working capital build-up in connection with ramping up as the payables will offset inventory and receivables, and we have a factoring solution for the receivables. So we do not expect to build working capital in the ramp-up phase. But for the group in general, we are of course building some working capital now in Q1 due to CO2 related items, CO2 compensation that are received in April in Norway.
Right. Okay, perfect. Because I guess with a lot of others on this call, you know, we see this print today, which of course can help by the working capital release and then further help by the new debt facility. But could you again elaborate on how you think about liquidity and ensuring sufficient buffer through 2026? Because, you know, at these levels, yes, publication paper have, you know, you do a very good operational print today, but you know, factoring in maintenance CapEx, it's not like free cash flow out of publication paper is enormous. So could you again take us through how you think about securing liquidity through 2026, are you comfortable with just, you know, looking at operating cash flow, and that will be sufficient to cover your needs?
Or are there other, you know, other sort of you know measures you look into? I know it's an open question, and you can't really answer it, but please try.
No, but it's okay. So, I think with the liquidity position that we ended 2025 with, we are quite comfortable that we'll get through 2026 and also ahead. I think it's important to remember that we'll get these energy certificates in Golbey at the end of 2026 and also another contribution beginning of 2028. So although underlying cash flow from operations is slightly challenging at the moment, we do expect this to improve as we continue to ramp up Golbey PM1 as well. So, with the print that we have today, I think we are at least quite comfortable that we'll get through in terms of the liquidity.
That's all for me. Thank you.
Okay, Sean Ungerer, the floor is yours. You may unmute your mic.
Morning. Can you hear me?
Yes.
Excellent. Thanks. Just in terms of your comment around, I guess, pricing pressure in terms of the volumes being ramped up on the containerboard side, you made reference to increased sort of share for exports. Could you sort of just maybe a little expand a bit more on that? You obviously do not intend to export indefinitely. Is that just a function of the market being oversupplied, or was there something more into that? Thanks.
Yeah, thank you for the question.
I think what we had said was that we had significant exports, obviously in Q4, and that we would look to sell around 80% in Europe in 2026, so reducing the export part.
Okay, perfect. That's clear. Thanks. That's it from my side.
Okay, Martin Melbye, the floor is yours.
Yes, good morning. Of the projects you mentioned in Norway, which is more likely, and how will this be financed? And linked to this question, the new loan facility at the Skogn, is that linked to the project being finalized?
Yeah. So, of the three projects in Norway, two are already ongoing. Both the projects at Skogn have started, the book paper and PulpFlex. So those will, yeah, be concluded during this year. And at Saugbrugs, as mentioned, we will conclude the studies and make a decision during the second quarter. And the financing has been provided to support these projects and also general corporate purposes.
Thank you.
Do you have more questions? Okay, then.
Alexander.
Alexander, you are welcome to raise your question.
Yeah, thanks. My question relates to your covenants, and with the insurance payments rolling out of the LTM period and based on the ramp-up, obviously, how should we think around your covenants going into 2026?
Yeah. It's a good question. I think we'll just have to reiterate the answer that we have given previously. That we, of course, understand the situation around our covenants and monitor them closely, but are comfortable that we'll solve that well ahead of the thirty-first March reporting. So, working both and closely with our relationship lenders, and also having ongoing processes to avoid any covenant issues going forward.
More questions, Alexander?
No, thanks. That's it from me.
Okay, Sean Ungerer, you're welcome to raise your questions.
Thanks very much. Just in terms of the potential Kraftliner expansion, which sort of study that you'll announce, I think, in Q1 the following year, is there any indication of the scale of that potential capacity at this stage that you're prepared to discuss?
Yeah. So I assume you're referring to the TMP-based kraftliner we are looking into at PM6. So, before the rock slide in 2023, PM6 had an SC magazine paper capacity of 260,000 tons. We have looked at the repair of that machine, which would slightly reduce the capacity and allow production of around 230,000 tons of SC magazine paper. However, we are also looking at an upgrade of parts of the equipment, headbox and others, so which would allow for production of a packaging paper or a kraftliner, but using mechanical pulp rather than chemically processed pulp.
Since it's a slightly thicker paper than SC magazine paper, it would naturally increase the capacity somewhat, perhaps into the 270,000-280,000 tons range, if we were to fully use the machine towards that product. But I think the ambition would be to have the ability to switch between both producing SC magazine paper and Kraftliner.
Awesome. Thank you. That's it.
I cannot see any others wanting to raise questions. Okay. Thank you all for participating in this webinar, and I wish you all a nice day.