VANCOUVER – Fortress Paper Ltd. (TSX:FTP) had a $ 9.2-million net loss in the fourth quarter, with $ 49.5 million in sales as the company repositioned some of its business operations.
During the quarter, Fortress re-defined the focus of its Pulp segment to focus on dissolving pulp — a high purity, higher-margin product used to make products such as rayon and acetate.
As a consequence, the company’s pulp shipments were down to 8,168 tonnes during the quarter — compared with 55,918 tonnes in the third quarter and 62,038 tonnes in the fourth quarter of 2010.
Paper shipments were more stable at 13,035 tonnes, down slightly from 13,383 tonnes in the third quarter and down from 15,406 tonnes in the year-earlier period.
Sales for the three months ended Dec. 31 were down from $ 83.5 million at year earlier, when Fortress had a $ 12.8-million net loss.
In addition to pulp, Fortress makes specialty papers used to make wallpaper and bank notes.
Fortress says its Wallpaper Base segment continued its strong performance in the fourth quarter and achieved record results in the 2011 fiscal year.
Its Security and Specialty Papers segment had a disappointed quarter, however, due in part to the postponement of several major currencies that created industry overcapacity.
Local news from metronews.ca/vancouver
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