Year-end report January-December 2009

Year-end report January-December 2009

Submitted for publication on 11 February 2010 at 11.00 CET

(Tables included in attached PDF)

Full-year 2009 compared with same period in 2008
• Net sales totalled SEK 7 760 million (7 792).
• Net profit amounted to SEK 165 million (152).
• Earnings per share amounted to SEK 2.04 (2.07).
• Operating profit amounted to SEK 300 million (289), which corresponded to a
margin of 4% (4).
• Completed rights issue provided Billerud with SEK 925 million after issue
costs.

October-December 2009 compared with July-September 2009
• Net sales totalled SEK 2 060 million (1 893).
• Net profit amounted to SEK 160 million (36), an improvement of SEK 124
million. 
• Operating profit amounted to SEK 231 million (64), an improvement of SEK 167
million, mainly due to improved prices, lower costs for input materials and
positive currency effects.
• Strong order bookings continued in the fourth quarter.

Proposed dividend
• The Board of Directors proposes a dividend of SEK 0.50 (0) per share for 2009.

Outlook for the full-year 2010
• 2010 started with continued good demand within all segments.
• Price increases have been implemented within all product areas and efforts to
restore prices from the low levels of 2009 will continue in 2010. 
• Cost savings of SEK 250 million have been achieved and there will be a
continued focus on costs during 2010.

Billerud's CEO Per Lindberg and CFO Bertil Carlsén will present the year-end
report at a press conference on 11 February 2010 at 14.00 CET. Venue: Summit,
Grev Turegatan 30, Stockholm.


Comments by Billerud CEO Per Lindberg:

Stronger performance on all fronts

“We improved our performance on all fronts during the fourth quarter. We
increased our operating profit to SEK 231 million, which represents an
improvement of SEK 167 million compared with the third quarter. This corresponds
to an increase in the operating margin of 8 percentage points, from 3% to 11%.
Packaging paper continued to deliver stable earnings and at the same time, after
six quarters of negative earnings, we could finally report a return to profit
for the Market Pulp business area.
 
We can thus look back on a challenging year in 2009, when we had to handle a
recession, financial crisis and falling demand. We did succeed, however, in
dealing with this development which means that taken overall I am very pleased
with the year. As a result of hard work with cost-cutting measures and intensive
sales efforts we succeeded in delivering an operating profit for 2009 of SEK 300
million which is an improvement over the previous year.

We strengthened Billerud's balance sheet during the year, partly through a
successful rights issue, and partly through a strengthened cash flow. Our
packaging expertise was further improved and this led to a number of newly
developed products. My assessment is that we are entering 2010 as a stronger
company.”

For further information in connection with this report, please contact Per
Lindberg, President and CEO, +46 8 553 335 00 or +46 70 248 15 17 and Bertil
Carlsén, CFO, +46 8 553 335 00 or +46 730 211 092

Billerud is a packaging paper company with a business concept to supply
customers with innovative and high quality packaging paper. A consistent
concentration on attractive market segments and a strong customer focus are
cornerstones of Billerud's strategy. Billerud focuses on kraft paper and
containerboard and has a world-leading position within several product segments.
The company's production units are among the most cost-efficient in Europe for
these products.
www.billerud.com