Recently, Stora Enso, UPM, International Paper Corporation and other global paper giants have released their first quarter results and said that with strong demand and pricing, the company’s business performance in the first quarter was good.

According to the financial results of the first quarter of 2022 released by Stora Enso, in the first quarter of this year, Stora Enso’s sales increased by 23% to 2.798 billion euros, pre tax profit increased by 53% to 503 million euros, and operating profit increased to 394 million euros.

“For Stora Enso, this year started very strongly. In a very volatile environment, we achieved record high profitability and maintained the growth momentum of last year.” Boane, President and CEO of Stora Enso, said that as the next stage of strategy implementation, Stora Enso has decided to streamline its business to further promote the growth of key focus areas. At present, Stora Enso is exploring the expansion of renewable consumer paperboard and plans to transform idle paper machines into large capacity paperboard production lines.

Bessonin, President and CEO of UPM, said that although the Finnish factory went on strike from January 1 to April 22, UPM’s business performed well due to strong market demand. Prices in all businesses have risen sharply, far offsetting the rise in variable costs.

According to the financial results released by UPM, its first quarter sales increased by 12% to 2.507 billion euros, and its pre tax profit was the same as last year, 277 million euros, accounting for 11% of sales. “UPM’s revenue returned to the strong level before the pandemic in 2021, and 2022 is expected to be another good year for the company.” Beisongning believes that there are major uncertainties in the outlook for 2022, which are related to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the continuation of the epidemic, the situation of the European energy market and the tight raw material and logistics markets. It is expected that the demand for most UPM products will continue to maintain a good state in 2022. UPM will continue to manage profits and cost-effectiveness through product pricing, optimizing product and market mix, and making effective use of assets.

The first quarter financial results released by international paper showed that the net income attributable to international paper in the first quarter was US $360million, and the “building better intellectual property” plan brought us $40million in revenue. Revenue increased by 14% year-on-year, and cash flow from operations in the first quarter was $588million.

“International paper’s first quarter earnings were better than we expected. We generated strong cash from operations and returned $580million to shareholders, including $406million in share repurchases.” Mark Sutton, chairman and CEO of international paper, said that in terms of business and operation, international paper performed well in the first quarter to overcome significantly increased input costs. Looking forward to the second quarter, it is expected that the demand will remain at a high level and the profit margin will expand.

“We are accelerating value creation by building a better intellectual property plan, and are confident of achieving an annual revenue increase of $200million to $225million.” Mark Sutton added.