Neenah Paper Announces Corporate Name Change to Neenah, Inc. Effective January 1

Billerud Americas Corporation, a leading producer of pressure sensitive (PS) face paper and release liner in North America, announced it will investigate a relaunch of its OptiLabel™ HB product made at its Quinnesec Mill on the No. 41 paper machine. "We launched OptiLabel™ HB made at our Quinnesec Mill in 2020 during the peak of the COVID pandemic to support demand in the PS marketplace, so, we have already successfully made a significant volume of this product," said Senior Vice President of Marketing Aaron Haas. "By making OptiLabel™ HB at Quinnesec, we hope to provide an additional domestic supply source for PS paper. We already make a great deal of OptiLabel™ HB and UniSil™ release liner on our No. 3 paper machine at our Escanaba Mill, and this additional machine will give us more manufacturing flexibility to support the PS marketplace for both release liner and face paper supply."

Resolute Forest Products Inc. announced that Hugues Simon will join the company and be appointed as president of the wood products division as of March 1, 2021. His term will begin as of the date on which Remi G. Lalonde, currently Resolute's chief financial officer, assumes the position of president and chief executive officer. Mr. Simon will report to Mr. Lalonde. Mr. Simon, a native of Quebec, most recently served as president, BarretteWood, Inc., a producer of value-added wood products with operations in Canada and the United States. Previously, Mr. Simon worked for Resolute and its predecessor companies for seven years in corporate and division-based functions. Earlier in his career, he worked for a number of other forest products companies. Mr. Simon is a graduate of Sherbrooke University and is a certified public accountant.

Jussi Pesonen, President and CEO, comments on the Q2 results: “UPM delivered a very good second quarter, and rapid recovery of our earnings continued. In the exceptional economic environment, demand for UPM’s products was strong, and overall, our price increases more than offset rising input costs. At the same time, our transformative growth projects continued on schedule and on budget, and we are in an excellent position going forwards. Our Q2 sales increased by 15% to EUR 2,384 million, and comparable EBIT was up by 51% rising to EUR 307 million from the lockdown affected Q2 of last year. Operating cash flow increased to EUR 308 million. Net debt at the end of June was EUR 750 million, and our financial position remains strong with EUR 2.5 billion in cash funds and unused committed credit facilities. The most notable improvement was seen in UPM Biorefining, where pulp and sawn timber prices soared, and the business area made its best second quarter ever. Result was held back by the scheduled maintenance shutdown at the Fray Bentos pulp mill in Uruguay, and a shutdown due to a fire at the Lappeenranta biorefinery in Finland."