Mondi and WWF South Africa extend partnership agreement for another three years

The global Felix Schoeller Group is announcing plans to invest in a manufacturing operation for Release Liners at their Pulaski, New York facility. After years of rapid business growth, the company is now recognized as a leading manufacturer of siliconized poly-coated kraft (PCK) liners. Based on the unique integration into paper making, extrusion coating and siliconizing, Felix Schoeller Release Liners have become a benchmark in the self-adhesive graphics, tape, and industrial markets. The planned investment in North America is not only a geographic expansion but will also add new capabilities: The new operation is designed to coat both solventless and solvent based silicone systems to best meet the requirements of current and future customers. The new operation is expected to be operational by 2023.

Total European shipments of graphic papers in March 2021 were down 4.7% vs. March 2020 and are down 13.7% year-to-date. Total European shipments of newsprint in March 2021 were down 12.4% vs. March 2020 and are down 18.1% year-to-date. Total European shipments of sc-magazine in March 2021 were UP 2.0% vs. March 2020 and are down 13.6% year-to-date. Total European shipments of coated mechanical reels in March 2021 were down 12.1% vs. March 2020 and are down 17.6% year-to-date. Total European shipments of uncoated mechanical (improved & others) in March 2021 were UP 0.6% vs. March 2020 and are down 6.0% year-to-date. Total European shipments of coated woodfree in March 2021 were down 3.1% vs. March 2020 and are down 16.9% year-to-date. Total European shipments of uncoated woodfree in March 2021 were UP 2.4% vs. March 2020 and are down 7.1% year-to-date.

HEINZEL GROUP recorded a respectable result in the challenging environ-ment of 2020 and created a good basis for further growth after completely freeing itself from debt. Sebastian Heinzel joins the management as Chief Strategy Officer with immediate effect. HEINZEL GROUP increased production in both the paper and pulp segments in the 2020 financial year, with total production rising to 1,607,030 metric tons in 2020. The growth in paper volume is at-tributable to the first full year of operation of the PM3 in Pöls, which specializes in low-grammage kraft paper, and the very good performance of the PM10 in Laakirchen, which produced more con-tainerboard than in the previous year. Total sales volume amounted to 3.7 million metric tons and was slightly lower than in 2019 due to the corona pandemic. Coupled with lower market prices, HEINZEL GROUP’s net sales consequently declined to EUR 1,611.7 million. Although lower wood prices and large-scale savings measures had a positive effect, HEINZEL GROUP’s EBITDA, at EUR 126.0 million, fell to the level of 2017. The group’s EBIT decreased to EUR 57.7 million and net profit for the year to EUR 39.9 million. Against this backdrop it is all the more remarkable that HEINZEL GROUP was able to completely free itself from debt and increase the equity ratio to 59.2%.