Restructurings

UPM has completed its company-wide pay equity review and now eliminates unexplained gender pay gaps - that is, differences not justified by, for example, work performance, experience, job level or location.

Sean McLaren, currently the Company's President, Solid Wood, will become the Company's Chief Operating Officer.

After 206 employees lost their jobs at tiskʷat mill, Powell River is looking into new ways to get it up and running.

Nippon Paper Industries Co. -- touted for its high-quality "Kushiro brand" paper used for newspapers and magazines -- ended 100 years of production at its paper mill in Kushiro, Hokkaido, in September, shifting its primary business to thermal power generation.

Essity has decided on new business areas from January 1, 2022. The business areas will be Health & Medical, Consumer Goods and Professional Hygiene. As a consequence of its higher growth ambitions, Essity has also decided on a new sales growth target of more than 5%, which includes both organic sales growth and acquisitions.

A Manitoba farmer fears the impending closure of a flax straw-processing facility near Carman may mean a decline in provincial flax acres.

The new owners of the shuttered Ponderay Newsprint in Usk, Washington, have formally requested enough power to restart the mill and build what could be one of the largest cryptocurrency mining operations in the country.

Paper demand is not expected to recover from current levels, but the decline in demand is forecast to continue at the same or a somewhat slower pace. This means that restructuring is necessary.

That fact that the Board continues to defend and extend the poison pill despite clear opposition from its stockholders, and over and above the objections of shareholder advisory firms, such as Institutional Shareholder Services ("ISS"), who have clearly opposed retention of the poison pill, only serves to demonstrate that the Board's interests are not aligned with those of its stockholders and fresh perspectives are sorely needed in the boardroom.

Stora Enso has completed the union negotiations regarding the closure of pulp and paper production at Kvarnsveden. A total of 340 people will be permanently laid off.

Roseburg announced plans for a multi-million dollar investment in new technology at its Western manufacturing operations, the result of an extensive analysis of strategic business opportunities in the West. As part of the restructuring, the company will close its particleboard plant in Dillard, Oregon, and offer current team members employment opportunities elsewhere in the organization.

The name Sylvamo speaks to the company's connection to trees and highlights its role as a steward of sustainable forests. Sylvamo combines the Latin words for forest, "silva," and love, "amo." Company leaders translate this unique combination as "love of forests."

BillerudKorsnäs is in a process with the aim of divesting the paper mill in Beetham, UK. The process is ongoing and no binding agreement to divest the mill has yet been entered into. Since BillerudKorsnäs' machine glazed (MG) paper business has primarily been focused in Skärblacka, the strategic importance of Beetham to the rest of the group has been reduced.

Pactiv Evergreen on July 28, 2021 announced that the Company has made the difficult decision to exit the coated groundwood paper business. As a result, the Company will permanently cease production of coated groundwood paper at its Pine Bluff, AR location. The Company will continue to strategically invest in the Pine Bluff mill, which will remain an essential facility in the Pactiv Evergreen operations network, serving the fiber-based beverage packaging market.

As a result of the negotiations, 550 people will be permanently laid off. Some 28% of the redundancies can be managed through pension arrangements.

As a result, the number of positions at UPM Raflatac will decrease by 129.

Financial implications associated with the closure of the Appleton facility include an estimated annual EBITDA benefit of $7 million to $8 million, excluding estimated one-time cash closure costs of $5 million to $6 million and one-time non-cash charges of approximately $45 million.

UPM has completed the employee consultation process in Finland started in April. The company will improve efficiency in global functions by reorganizing and streamlining the operations. As a result, the number of employments in Finland will decrease by 28. In Germany and Austria, the process is still on-going.

LSC Communications announced that its Book Division, the largest book producer in the United States, will now operate as Lakeside Book Company ("Lakeside"). In addition to book manufacturing, Lakeside provides distribution, sales and marketing services, as well as IP and brand protection technology for book publishers and others requiring premium quality print and distribution-related services. The new name of the Book Division as Lakeside Book Company is rooted in the company's rich history and marks a renewed commitment to providing best-in-class printing and fulfillment services.

Norske Skog will close its Tasman Mill at the end of June, with 160 staff to be made redundant.

Nippon Paper Industries has decided that at the end of May 2022, it will shut down the operation of its coated paper-producing N6 paper machine at Ishinomaki mill (Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Pref) in Japan.

In line with its previously communicated intention, Nordic Paper has decided to discontinue the production of pulp at the Säffle plant during the fourth quarter 2021 and replace it with purchased external pulp. The decision has been made as the consultations with trade unions regarding the pulp production now have been concluded. The decision leads to positive environmental effects and the use of fossil fuels at the plant will be reduced to less than half of the current level.

Ahlstrom-Munksjö is exploring strategic options for its Decor business, including the possibility of divesting the business. The review process, first announced on September 17, 2019, has been impacted by the Covid-19 outbreak.

UPM will close the unexplained gender pay gap that cannot be explained for example by person's performance, work experience, job grade or job location, i.e. the factors that typically determine a person's salary and its development. The pay equity review, carried out this year, applies to all of UPM's operating countries and is part of the company's fair remuneration policy.

Arctic Paper consolidates the sales organizations for Scandinavia and the Baltics into a joint company, Arctic Paper ScanBaltics.