“Supremex delivered significant profitability gains in the fourth quarter, driven by optimization initiatives across both businesses and gradually improving market conditions,” said Stewart Emerson, President and CEO of Supremex. “Our Envelope segment reported slight volume gains that were tempered by lower mix-related pricing during the quarter. As for Packaging, e-commerce fulfilment activities remained solid, partially offsetting a reduction in specialty printing, while markets subject to discretionary consumer demand continued to recover.” Total revenue for the three-month period ended December 31, 2024, was $69.1 million, representing a decrease of $3.2 million, or 4.5%, from the equivalent quarter of 2023. EBITDA was $13.7 million, up from $6.9 million in the fourth quarter last year. This increase of $6.8 million includes lower restructuring expenses of $2.7 million. Net earnings were $5.8 million or $0.23 per share for the three-month period ended December 31, 2024, compared to $0.7 million or net earnings of $0.03 per share for the equivalent period last year.

UPM Raflatac, a global supplier of innovative and sustainable labeling materials, recently expanded their Direct Thermal (DT) Opticut Linerless labels portfolio. The OptiCut products in this portfolio are customized for various applications in hospitality, retail and weigh scales, transport and warehousing, and industrial food. “We widened our OptiCut Linerless portfolio to enable brands to maximize efficiency and find solutions for each unique packaging type. The adhesive properties for each of our seven OptiCut products were designed for various application environments,” stated Brinder Gill, Director, Paper Laminates, UPM Raflatac Americas.

Metsä Group has made donations of EUR 160,000 to Aalto University, LUT University, Tampere University, Åbo Akademi, University of Jyväskylä and University of Eastern Finland. Depending on the university, the donations will be allocated to the fields of technology, natural sciences or agriculture and forestry. “High-quality university research and education form the basis for the development of the forest industry as a whole. It’s very important for us to secure future competence,” says Ilkka Hämälä, President and CEO of Metsä Group. Earlier in December, Metsä Group donated a total of EUR 500,000 to its partner universities University of Helsinki and University of Oulu. The donations are part of the matched funding scheme, through which the Government supports donations made to universities by private foundations, companies and individuals. The matched funding scheme will run until the end of June 2022.