STOCKHOLM -- Finland's UPM-Kymmene (IW 1000/342), the world's leading maker of paper for magazines, said on Tuesday that net profit fell 45% to 114 million euros (US$151 million) in the second quarter, owing to lower sales and prices.
Profit came in ahead of a market consensus of 95 million euros, according to analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires, while a 4% drop in revenue on a 12-month basis to 2.52 billion euros was in line with expectations.
"Growth businesses continued to perform well, whereas paper was impacted by lower delivery volumes and prices in Europe," chief executive Jussi Pesonen said.
The pulp and label businesses performed strongly, while the company's energy operations remained profitable despite lower hydropower volumes.
"It is clear that we need to take action to improve our performance and make sure that the company continues to transform," Pesonen said.
UPM-Kymmene is suffering from the economic crisis in Europe, which is coinciding with print media's shift online.
The company has launched several cost-cutting measures over the past year and on Tuesday unveiled a new business structure it said would "increase transparency" of each division's performance.
In January, it announced 850,000 tons in capacity cuts this year.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2013
