STORA ENSO OYJ FINANCIAL STATEMENTS RELEASE 4 February 2026 at 8:30 EET
Q4/2025 (year-on-year)
• Sales decreased by 3% to EUR 2,254 (2,322) million, mainly due to lower
board and pulp prices, partly offset by the impact from acquisition of
Junnikkala and the consumer board line ramp-up at the Oulu site.
• Adjusted EBIT decreased by 17% to EUR 100 (121) million, driven by
lower pulp prices and adverse currency effects, as well as the ramp-up of the
new line in Oulu, which impacted the Q4 result negatively by EUR 31 million. The
adjusted EBIT margin decreased to 4.5% (5.2%).
• Operating result (IFRS) was EUR 476 (-279) million, including items
affecting comparability of EUR -90 (-768) million, and fair valuations and other
non-operational items of EUR 466 (368) million mainly driven by an increase in
the fair value of biological assets in Sweden and Finland.
• Earnings per share were EUR 0.46 (-0.43) and earnings per share excl.
fair valuations (FV) were EUR -0.03 (-0.81).
• The fair value of the forest assets was EUR 8.5 (8.9) billion,
equivalent to EUR 10.75 per share, reflecting the impact of the divestment of
12.4% of forest assets in Sweden.
• Cash flow from operations amounted to EUR 337(325) million, positively
impacted by improvement in working capital.
• The net debt to adjusted EBITDA (LTM) ratio improved to 2.8 (3.0).
• Adjusted ROCE excluding the Forest segment (LTM) was 2.7% (3.6%).
Year 2025 (year-on-year)
• Sales were EUR 9,326 (9,049) million.
• Adjusted EBIT was EUR 528 (598) million.
• Operating result (IFRS) was EUR 942 (93) million.
• Earnings per share (EPS) were EUR 0.88 (-0.17) and EPS excl. fair
valuations (FV) was EUR 0.41 (-0.56).
• Cash flow from operations amounted to EUR 897(1,187) million. Cash flow
after investing activities was EUR 122 (74) million.
Proposed dividend
The Board of Directors will propose a dividend of EUR 0.25 (EUR 0.25) per share
at the Annual General Meeting on 24 March 2026. The Board of Directors proposes
that the dividend be paid in two instalments, during the second and fourth
quarter of 2026.
Key highlights
• Stora Enso is preparing for the separation of its Swedish forest assets
business into a new publicly listed company, expected to be completed during the
first half of 2027.
• Stora Enso initiated a strategic review of its Central European
sawmills and building solutions operations. Different scenarios will be
assessed, including the possibility to divest the business, to strengthen Stora
Enso's strategic focus on renewable materials and packaging.
• The ramp-up of the consumer board line at the Oulu site in Finland
continues, and the production volumes are gradually increasing. The line is
expected to reach full capacity during 2027.
• Stora Enso has been recognised for its continued leadership in
corporate transparency and climate action, earning a place on the 2025 CDP
Climate Change ‘A List'.
• Stora Enso will change its financial targets and reporting structure
starting from 2026, as presented in the Capital Markets Day in November.
Outlook Q1/2026
• Markets remain challenging, with low consumer confidence.
Geopolitical volatility results in decreased predictability.
• Packaging and pulp market demand is expected to remain stable at low
levels.
• The ramp-up of the new production line in Oulu continues. The EBIT
headwind is expected to gradually decrease as we improve the technical
performance of the production line. In Q1, we expect a negative impact of EUR
15-30 million on adjusted EBIT.
• The divestment of 175,000 hectares of forest assets in Sweden,
completed in 2025, will result in a reduction of annual adjusted EBIT of
approximately EUR 20 million, with an estimated quarterly effect of
approximately EUR 5 million.
• In the first quarter there will be less planned maintenance
activities compared to the fourth quarter of 2025. See the section Maintenance
for more details.
• The operating income from emission rights in 2025 was about EUR 72
million, distributed evenly throughout the year. For 2026, the income from the
sale of emission rights is projected to decrease to EUR 10-20 million. This
decline results from changes in the EU ETS (Emissions Trading Scheme) rules:
several sites will lose their free CO₂ allowance allocations from 2026 onward,
as their emissions are now more than 95% biogenic, demonstrating the success of
long-term emission-reduction initiatives.
• In the first quarter of 2026 we will introduce a revised reporting
structure, as presented in the Capital Markets Day (CMD) in November 2025. The
packaging business areas will be consolidated into Consumer Packaging and
Integrated Packaging segments. In addition, we will report Biomaterials and
Other.
Focus for 2026
• During 2026 we will execute on the new strategic priorities
introduced at the CMD in November 2025:
- Lead in customer value creation through innovation, quality and
sustainability
- Grow faster than market with superior customer offering, leading
technology and operational efficiency
- Expand margin through business focus, a positive performance culture
and systematic value creation
- Generate cash with high conversion ratio and disciplined capital
allocation
• Furthermore, we will continue to prepare for the separation of the
Swedish forest assets business into a new publicly listed company, expected to
be completed during the first half of 2027.
• We will also continue with the strategic review of Central European
sawmills and building solutions operations. Different scenarios will be
assessed, including the possibility to divest the business, to strengthen Stora
Enso's strategic focus on renewable materials and packaging.
• Finally, we will continue with the ramp-up of the consumer board line
at the Oulu site in Finland. The line is expected to reach full capacity during
2027.
Key figures
EUR million Q4/25 Q4/24 Change % Q3/25 2025 2024
Q4/25-Q4/24
Sales 2,254 2,322 -2.9% 2,283 9,326 9,049
Adjusted EBITDA 255 285 -10.7% 291 1,144 1,223
Adjusted EBIT 100 121 -16.7% 126 528 598
Adjusted EBIT margin 4.5% 5.2% 5.5% 5.7% 6.6%
Operating result (IFRS) 476 -279 270.6% 231 942 93
Result before tax (IFRS) 430 -353 221.7% 202 783 -118
Net result for the 363 -379 195.9% 201 686 -183
period (IFRS)
Forest assets¹ 8,478 8,894 -4.7% 8,277 8,478 8,894
Adjusted return on 3.8% 4.3% 3.9% 3.8% 4.3%
capital employed (ROCE),
LTM²
Adjusted ROCE excl. 2.7% 3.6% 2.8% 2.7% 3.6%
Forest segment, LTM²
Earnings per share (EPS) -0.03 -0.81 96.8% 0.26 0.41 -0.56
excl. FV, EUR
EPS (basic), EUR 0.46 -0.43 206.1% 0.25 0.88 -0.17
Net debt to LTM² 2.8 3.0 2.7 2.8 3.0
adjusted EBITDA ratio
Average number of 18,631 18,731 -0.5% 19,409 18,877 19,233
employees (FTE)
1 Total forest assets value, including leased land and Stora Enso's share of
forest assets in associated companies
2 LTM=Last 12 months
Stora Enso's President and CEO Hans Sohlström comments on the results:
2025 was a pivotal year for Stora Enso, marked by decisive actions to sharpen
our strategic focus and unlock long-term value for our stakeholders. In the
fourth quarter, we reached a significant milestone by completing the strategic
review of our Swedish forest assets.
We are separating our Swedish forest assets to unlock value creating two
champions with distinctive business dynamics and return profiles: A globally
leading renewable materials company with sharpened focus on packaging, and
Europe's largest listed pure-play forest company.
Also, we initiated a strategic review of our Central European sawmills and
building solutions operations to further sharpen our business focus reflecting
our commitment to active portfolio management and ensuring that all our
operations are aligned with our long-term value creation goals.
During the quarter, we also hosted a successful Capital Markets Day (CMD), where
we introduced new financial targets, strategic priorities, and a clear roadmap
for the coming years.
Our strategy positions us as a global leader in renewable materials, with an
increasing focus on packaging. We are committed to cost efficiency, profitable
growth, expanding margins through systematic profit improvement actions, and
generating strong cash flow with disciplined capital allocation.
We also introduced a new reporting structure where packaging business areas will
be regrouped into Consumer Packaging and Integrated Packaging, alongside
Biomaterials and Other. The new reporting segments will be applicable starting
in the first quarter of 2026.
Despite a challenging macroeconomic and market environment, Stora Enso delivered
resilient results. Group sales for the year were EUR 9.3 billion, with adjusted
EBIT of EUR 528 million. Underlying performance improved across all business
areas except Biomaterials, which was impacted by lower pulp prices. The ramp-up
of the new line at Oulu had an adverse impact on the results. Our net debt to
adjusted EBITDA ratio improved to 2.8, reflecting the positive impact of the
Swedish forest asset divestment of approximately 175,000 hectares of forest land
in Sweden, at a value of EUR 900 million, and our ongoing focus on cash flow and
cost competitiveness.
Operationally, we progressed in ramping up the new consumer board line at Oulu,
which is central to our strategic focus on renewable packaging. While the ramp
-up weighed on profitability in the short term, we remain confident in the long
-term value and industry-leading quality this investment will deliver. The
acquisition of Junnikkala Oy further strengthened our wood supply chain and
supports the competitiveness of our Oulu site.
Our ongoing cost and efficiency actions, combined with a leaner and more
business-focused organisational structure with six P&L responsible business
areas including the new business area Wood and Energy, and 23 P&L responsible
business units, have positioned us well to navigate continued market volatility.
For the second consecutive year, Stora Enso has been included on CDP's Climate
Change ‘A List', highlighting our strong transparency and performance in climate
action. This recognition affirms our dedication to sustainable growth through
emission reduction, renewable material innovation, and advancing the circular
bioeconomy.
Additionally, in partnership with the International Union for Conservation of
Nature (IUCN), we completed a pioneering project that offers the forest sector a
science-based framework for achieving net-positive biodiversity impact. This
collaboration helps forestry operations focus on the most effective actions to
reduce species extinction risk while maintaining long-term economic value.
By the end of 2025, we cut Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 61% and Scope 3 emissions
by 38% from 2019 levels, surpassing our 2030 target. Additionally, 94% of our
products are technically recyclable, and we maintain 99% forest certification
coverage.
As we enter 2026, we expect market conditions to remain subdued and volatile,
shaped by ongoing macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty. We will continue
to execute our strategy and drive proactive, systematic, and determined work
across the whole Group.
Our strategic priorities, as set forth in our CMD, are clear: We want to lead in
customer value creation, grow our business, expand margins, and generate strong
cash flow over the cycle. We will achieve this through our continued actions in
sourcing, operational efficiency, commercial excellence, working capital, and
fixed costs, while maintaining a disciplined approach to capital allocation.
Customer centricity is now at the forefront of our strategy, driving us to
pursue innovation, quality, and sustainability across all aspects of our
operations. By delivering superior customer offering and leveraging advanced
technologies, we are dedicated to setting new industry standards for excellence.
The demerger and listing of our Swedish forest assets will be a key focus, as
will the ongoing strategic review of our Central European wood products business
and ramping up the new production line in Oulu, Finland.
At the core of everything we do is people - our customers, employees,
shareholders and partners. I want to thank you all for the dedication and
resilience during this transformative year. Together, we are building a
stronger, more focused, and more sustainable Stora Enso.
Webcast for analysts, investors, and media
Stora Enso's President and CEO Hans Sohlström and CFO Niclas Rosenlew will
present the results in a webcast today starting at 11:00 am EET (10:00 CET, 9:00
BST, 4:00 EDT). The live the webcast can be accessed using the following link:
https://stora-enso-oyj-results-for-full-year-and-q4-2025.open-exchange.net/
During the webcast presentation, analysts and investors will also have the
possibility to ask questions. To participate in the teleconference, please
choose the “Teleconference” option on the homepage of the webcast.
Recording of the webcast will be available shortly after the event at the same
address and at storaenso.com/en/investors/interim
-report (https://www.storaenso.com/en/investors/interim-report).
Media representatives who wish to ask questions after the publication of the
report may contact Hanna Rutanen, SVP Communications at Stora Enso on +358 41
507 1361
This release is a summary of Stora Enso's Financial Statements Release 2025. The
complete report is attached to this release as a pdf file, and it is also
available on the company website at storaenso.com/en/investors/interim
-report (https://www.storaenso.com/en/investors/interim-report).
Media enquiries:
Hanna Rutanen
SVP Communications
tel. +358 41 507 1361
Investor enquiries:
Jutta Mikkola
SVP Investor Relations
tel. +358 50 544 6061
Stora Enso is a global leader in renewable materials with a strong focus on
packaging. Our purpose is to replace non-renewable materials with renewable
solutions. Together with our customers, we design and deliver competitive, high
-quality packaging materials and solutions, made from fresh and recycled fibers,
accelerating the transition to a circular bioeconomy. Stora Enso has
approximately 19,000 employees and our sales in 2025 were EUR 9.3 billion. Stora
Enso shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki Oy (STEAV, STERV) and Nasdaq Stockholm
AB (STE A, STE R). In addition, the shares are traded in the USA on OTC Markets
(OTCQX) as ADRs and ordinary shares (SEOAY, SEOFF, SEOJF).
storaenso.com/investors (https://www.storaenso.com/en/investors/)
STORA ENSO OYJ
Media enquiries:
Hanna Rutanen
SVP Communications
tel. +358 41 507 1361
Investor enquiries:
Jutta Mikkola
SVP Investor Relations
tel. +358 50 544 6061