papernotes

LPX prices…

repap — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 07:16:53 +0000

Louisiana-Pacific (LPX) announces that it
has priced its offering of unitsconsisting of $375 mln aggregate
principal amount at maturity of Senior Secured Notes due 2017 and
warrants to purchase an aggregate of approx 18.4 mln shares of LP
common stock, representing approx 15% of the total number of shares of
LP common stock outstanding on a fully diluted basis, subject to
mandatory cashless exercise provisions.

Goldman Sachs now sees US economy falling 7.0% in 1Q

repap — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 09:29:20 +0000

DJ reports the economy is much worse than many
thought a few weeks ago and the jobless rate will be higher than many
expect, according to economists at Goldman Sachs. The co said it had
revised down its expectations for real gross domestic product in early
2009. It now thinks real GDP is contracting at a 7.0% annual rate in
the current quarter and will drop another 3.0% in the second. That
compares with an earlier forecast of respective drops of 4.5% and 1.0%.
Growth will be meager in the second half. For the year, the economy is
expected to contract 3.2% (versus -2.2% previously forecasted). “The
good news is that the bulk of this change is in business investment,
which typically lags other sectors of the economy. Meanwhile, the
steepest decline in consumer spending appears to be behind us,” Edward
McKelvey, Goldman economist, wrote in a research note. Goldman expects
business spending on plant and equipment as well as inventory
investment is weaker than first thought, but consumer spending is
probably stabilizing and will show slow improvement in the first half.

LPX Louisiana-Pacific downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at BMO Capital Markets (1.30 )

repap — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 08:26:47 +0000

Sappi Fine Paper North America to Suspend Operations at Muskegon Mill

repap — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 14:01:29 +0000

/PRNewswire/ — Sappi Fine Paper North America today announced that it will suspend all operations at its Muskegon Mill in Michigan, effective April 1, 2009. This suspension will result in the furlough of approximately 190 salaried and hourly Muskegon
employees. The Company is also taking other steps to cut costs,
including the permanent elimination of approximately 70 additional
salaried positions, effective immediately. These changes are necessary
in light of significantly lower global demand for coated fine paper
products, an industry wide trend that has resulted from the continued
weakening of the U.S. and global economy. Earlier this month, Sappi
Fine Paper North America posted its earnings for the first quarter of
fiscal year 2009 with a loss of US$7M.

“As a result of the economic conditions and market demand, it has
become imperative for Sappi to focus on good cash management and
running our operations as efficiently as possible,” said Mark Gardner,
Sappi Fine Paper North America President and CEO. “Reducing our
salaried workforce and suspending our operations at Muskegon Mill was
an extremely difficult decision but it was the only option that would
enable Sappi to reduce costs and remain competitive in the industry,
while continuing to meet the needs of our customers.”

Employees impacted by the suspension of operations at Muskegon will receive pay and benefits through April 30, 2009,
and will then be eligible for unemployment and other federal benefits.
For those approximately 70 employees whose positions are being
eliminated, Sappi will be providing separation benefits and job
placement services.

If market conditions improve enough over the course of the year, a
decision to restart operations at the Muskegon Mill would be made.
Current expectations are that mill production will be suspended for at
least six months during which time other mills within Sappi will make
the range of products to be offered by the Company.

Sappi Limited shareholders were informed of the management’s plans
to suspend the operations of the Muskegon Mill and restructure the
salaried workforce at the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders held
earlier today.

International Paper Announces Reduction in Quarterly Dividend

repap — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 10:59:11 +0000

Company Takes Proactive Step to Increase Financial Flexibility

MEMPHIS, Tenn., March 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — International Paper
(NYSE: IP – News) announced today that its Board of Directors has reduced the
company’s quarterly common stock dividend from twenty-five cents ($0.25) per
share to two and one-half cents ($0.025) per share, effective for the dividend
payable June 15, 2009, to shareholders of record on May 18, 2009.

This reduction will allow the company to preserve approximately $100
million in cash on a quarterly basis, which will be used to reduce debt more
quickly.

“While our cash balances and cash flows remain solid, we believe it is
prudent to manage cash conservatively in this uncertain economic environment,”
said Chairman and CEO John Faraci.

“This decision, which reflects our strong commitment to maintaining our
current credit ratings, is a proactive step to maximize our financial
flexibility, along with our earlier decisions to reduce capital investment,
decrease overhead spending and headcount, and freeze salaries.”

Record and Payment Date Information for Second-Quarter Dividend

The Company declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.025 per share for
the period from April 1, 2009 to June 30, 2009, inclusive, on its common
stock, par value $1. This dividend is payable on June 15, 2009 to holders of
record at the close of business on May 18, 2009.

The Company also declared a regular quarterly dividend of $1 per share for
the period from April 1, 2009 to June 30, 2009, inclusive, on the cumulative
$4 preferred stock of the company. This dividend is also payable on June 15,
2009, to holders of record at the close of business on May 18, 2009.

Smurfit…writes off ’98 Stone acquistion…bankruptcy accounting…

repap — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 07:32:00 +0000

CREVE COEUR, Mo. and CHICAGO, March 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ –
Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation today announced it will recognize
in the fourth quarter of 2008 non-cash charges of $2,761 million, or
$10.73 per diluted share, related to the impairment of goodwill and
other intangible assets. These charges resulted from significant
decline in value of its equity securities and debt instruments and
downward pressure placed on earnings by the weakening U.S. economy. The
goodwill consisted primarily of amounts recorded in connection with the
Company's merger with Stone Container Corporation in November 1998. The
Company does not expect to incur any cash expenditures related to these
impairment charges.

For
the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2008, the Company expects to
report a net loss of $2,836 million, or $11.04 per diluted share, on
sales of $1.53 billion. In addition to the impairment charges, the 2008
results include restructuring charges of $40 million, a loss of $12
million related to certain ineffective interest rate swap contracts and
non-cash foreign currency gains of $17 million. For the fourth quarter
of 2007, the Company reported a net profit of $41 million, or $0.16 per
diluted share, on total sales of $1.84 billion. The 2007 results
included restructuring income of $29 million, non-cash foreign currency
losses of $5 million and a $5 million income tax benefit due to a
reduction in the Canadian statutory income tax rates.

The Company expects to file its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008, on or before March 17, 2009.

Louisiana-Pacific beats by $0.11, misses on revs

repap — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 06:34:05 +0000

Reports Q4 (Dec) loss of $0.35 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.11 better than the First Call consensus of ($0.46); revenues fell 33.6% year/year to $250.2 mln vs the $272.8 mln consensus.

COMPANY OUTLOOK

“As we had anticipated, 2008 proved to be a very challenging year for
our businesses and we expect 2009 to also be difficult,” Frost said.
“Our goal this year is to position LP to emerge from the global economic
crisis stronger than before. LP continues to execute a comprehensive set
of plans to reduce our manufacturing costs, minimize capital
expenditures, reduce headcount as appropriate, consolidate functional
activities across businesses, reduce fixed costs, reduce layers of
management, consolidate businesses, and a myriad of other actions to
improve our costs, productivity and effectiveness in the future.”

"Liquidity in this environment is critical. With the actions that we
have already taken and our focus on cash, we are committed to maximizing
the value of the $215 million in cash and investments at year-end. We
are also actively considering other financing and refinancing
transactions to improve our overall liquidity.”

“Based on our actions and plans to enhance liquidity, we believe when
this economic downturn subsides, we will be well positioned to compete
and prosper," Frost concluded.

Packaging Corp downgraded to Hold at Deutsche Securities; tgt lowered to $14

repap — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 07:33:31 +0000

Deutsche Securities downgrades PKG to Hold from Buy
and lowers their tgt to $14 from $20 saying they remain extremely
cautious on the paper sector as they expect a very rough 12-18 months.
The firm says with a challenging outlook and reduced dividend yield,
it’s hard to argue why one needs to “Buy” the stock at this time.

PKG Packaging Corp reduces quarterly dividend to $0.15/share from $0.30/share (12.55 +0.01)

repap — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 17:03:09 +0000

Prudent and painful…

Performance…

repap — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 17:12:00 +0000

Greif beats by $0.03, misses on revs; guides FY09 EPS in-line
(28.23 +0.23)
: Reports Q1 (Jan) earnings of $0.38 per share, $0.03 better than the First Call consensus of $0.35; revenues fell 21.3% year/year to $666.3 mln vs the $711.4 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for FY09, sees EPS of $3.25-3.75 vs. $3.35 consensus.

RELEASE