Stora Enso announces 2,000 layoffs amid Q1 loss

HELSINKI: Nordic paper maker Stora Enso Oyj said on Thursday it will lay off 2,000 employees to cut annual costs by euro250 million as it reported a first-quarter net loss of euro36 million ($47 million).

The company had posted a profit of euro66 million in the same period last year. Revenue fell 25 per cent in January through March to euro2.13 billion from euro2.8 billion in 2008.

Stora Enso said the layoffs, which would also seek to make the company ``simpler, faster-reacting and more focused,'' would be mainly in administration.

The Finnish-Swedish group said its result was hit by mill closures and that demand for all its products in the quarter ``weakened significantly.'' It gave a negative outlook for paper markets, particularly in Europe and China.

Stora Enso is one of the world's largest forest product companies making magazine paper, newsprint, fine paper, pulp and packaging boards. It has 85 production plants in more than 35 countries and employs 32,000 people.