Mercer Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year Results
biz.yahoo.com
Q4 loss at 39 cents. Year earning at 59 cents!
Commenting on the Company's results, Mr. Jimmy S.H. Lee, Chairman and President, said: ''1998 was a difficult year for the pulp and paper industry. While our paper operations benefited from the steps we took throughout the year, such as the sale of under-performing assets at Greiz and Raschau, to restructure and refocus these operations, the pulp side of our business suffered from continuing market weakness resulting primarily from industry-wide over-capacity due to the economic situation in Asia and Latin America. Today, the selling price for Northern Bleached Softwood Kraft (NBSK) pulp is approximately $480 per tonne, significantly below the price of $550 per tonne at this time a year ago. The extended shutdown of the Rosenthal mill was necessary to better balance supply and demand in the marketplace.''
Mr. Lee continued, ''While there is a possibility that costs in the Rosenthal conversion project may be higher than initially expected, we are pleased that the conversion is progressing on schedule despite these potential problems. At this point, we still expect the conversion to be completed and production to begin in the new facility during the fourth quarter of 1999, and are focused on carefully managing this process in order to ensure that the project is completed in-line with our revised budget and on time.''
Mr. Lee concluded, ''Mercer's operating strategy has always been to identify undervalued assets, improve them through investment, and then crystallize the value created through the sale of these assets to permanent owner/operators. While we expect conditions in the pulp markets to remain depressed for the foreseeable future, we see significant opportunities within the pulp and paper industry to continue to profitably execute this strategy, which results in a significant return on investment regardless of timing within the pulp and paper market cycle.'' |
