Stora Enso Oyj (STERV) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

[Presentation] A warm welcome to Stora Enso's first AGM Webcast 2021. My name is Micaela Thorström, and I have just acted as the secretary to the Stora Enso's AGM held earlier today. On behalf of all of us here at Stora Enso, I want to thank you for joining this event. We will, during the next hour, present to you the decisions by the Stora Enso AGM 2021. You will also be able to listen to the presentations by our President and CEO, Annica Bresky; as well as greetings from the Stora Enso Board of Directors. This event is held in English. [Operator Instructions] [Foreign Language] [Operator Instructions] Kindly note that we will publish a recording of the full event on our website after the meeting. With this, I give over to the Chair of the Stora Enso Board of Directors, 2020, Jorma Eloranta.

Thank you very much, Micaela, and the Stora Enso shareholders, and ladies and gentlemen. My name is, as Micaela pointed, Jorma Eloranta. As authorized by the company's Board of Directors, I would like to wish you our shareholders and others present, a warm welcome. This year virtual shareholder event is held after Stora Enso's AGM this year. As last year, this year's Stora Enso's Annual General Meeting had to be held without presence of shareholders and their proxy holder representatives. This arrangement is based on of the Act of Temporary Deviation from the Limited Liability Companies Act in order to limit spread of COVID-19 pandemic. I'm very sorry that we were not able to organize a normal shareholder meeting. And -- but as some kind of a substitute, although, of course, inadequate, we decided to organize this virtual event where we can review the decisions made at the AGM held a few minutes ago. At this event, the company's management is also ready to answer questions from participants. And as mentioned, they can be asked in Finnish, English and Swedish. So at the AGM that has just been concluded, the Board of Directors was elected whose term of office began 2 minutes ago at the end of the meeting. I served as a Chair of Stora Enso's Board of Directors until the end of the meeting. As a result of the proposal by the Shareholders' Nomination Board, Antti Makinen was selected Chair of the Board of Directors, and he is present online at this event, in addition to myself. So congratulations, Antti, and good luck to you and your Board team. Antti and I have agreed that in this opening address of mine, I will talk about the work of the Board of Directors up to the Annual General Meeting held today, and he will then answer any -- and I will also answer any questions concerning that. Antti will then answer questions about the work of the Board of Directors concerning his own term of chairmanship. Also in attendance are the Chair of the Annual General Meeting, Manne Airaksinen; and Secretary, Micaela Thorström, as we were able to witness some seconds ago. Manne will ensure that all matters that were dealt with the AGM are reviewed at this event. The company's CEO, Annica Bresky, is attending the event from Sweden by remote connection. Other members of the company's management and company's auditor, Samuli Perälä, are also present. At this event, Annica will present, in English, our business situation as she would have done if it had been possible to hold AGM in a normal way. So then, some words on operations of the Board of Directors. The AGM -- annual report and the corporate governance statement included in the report described the operations of the Board last year. The report sets out that the Board convened 14 times last year. This year, the Board has already managed to meet 4 times. Participation last year was 98%. One member was absent twice for a fully valid reason. This year, all meetings and the Board have taken -- all Board members have taken -- have been participating in all Board meetings. Last year, the Board supervised Stora Enso's operations and management in a normal manner as well as made significant decisions concerning strategy, investments, organization and financing. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, the meetings have been held virtually since last March. It is my view that the meetings went well while working under these circumstances, although they are more demanding. If all decision-makers would be simultaneously present in a meeting, in particular, the consideration of challenging questions may likely go more smoothly. So hopefully, we will get there soon. Last year, the Board's Finance and Audit Committee held 8 meetings; the Sustainability and Ethics Committee, 4 meetings; and the Remuneration Committee, 6. We also established a temporary Strategy Committee that convened 4 times to prepare, along with the management, a proposal to be put before the Board of Directors with regard to the group's strategy. All members took part in the committee meetings with the exception of one member who was absent from the one meeting for a valid reason. In my view, the excellent active participation of Board members in the meeting speaks of the commitment of the Board in the company's operations. Last spring, we decided the following as areas of priority of Board work. Firstly, it was a group strategy. And secondly, monitoring the operational situation, taking in development of the COVID-19 pandemic into consideration. Annica Bresky started as President and CEO on the 1st of December 2019. It was natural that our group strategy and business portfolio would be assessed under her leadership. As a result of this work, our critical starting points for the development of our business operations remained the same as before. However, through our strategic choices, we will strive to outline the area of priority for our renewal and advancement with more clarity than previously. Our goal is to use enormous potential of wood -- in wood fibers as well as to find new applications and products which will, as years go by, bring about new sustainable development and earning opportunities. Our strategy was presented last autumn during the Capital Markets Day and Annica will explain its pivotal content in her own presentation. I trust that during the next 2, 3 years, we will hear more concrete details when the approved strategy will be implemented. When the coronavirus situation emerged last spring, we anticipated several scenarios regarding potential developments and impacts on Stora Enso's business activities. The Board of Directors also received COVID-19 status reports and information from management concerning measures to prevent spread of the virus in Stora Enso's functions. Now that we have lived through more than a year of pandemic turmoil, we can see that the pandemic has had a negative impact on our business operations, but nevertheless considerably less than in the most pessimistic scenarios we envisioned a year ago. The situation has remained well within the control of management: The industrial plants have continued to function, customers have received their orders and we have learned to work remotely. We all hope and expect, of course, that as a result of the vaccinations, it will be possible to put the pandemic behind us over the course on this event. Then some words about the self-assessment. We continued with its aspiration and to develop -- we continued our aspiration to develop Board work and operational methods. The Board and each of its committees have completed an anonymous self-assessment of its work. The result of the Board self-assessment have been delivered to the Shareholder' Nomination Board as well as report of interviews contracted on one-to-one basis between Chair, myself and each Board member. In our understanding -- it is our understanding that the working principles of the Board of Directors and its committees are in good order. We will strive to observe the principles governing our Board work that we approved in the autumn 2019 and which I told you about the last year. So ladies and gentlemen, let me share a few words on our success last year. The company renewed strategy, responsible operational methods, management, remuneration and the financial results of our work are described in Stora Enso's annual report. Last year, our revenue totaled EUR 8.6 billion. In other words, it declined by 15%. The coronavirus pandemic had a negative impact on the demand and price level of our products and it -- this struck our Paper division the hardest. We were nevertheless able to adjust our expenses to a large extent, and our financial situation, liquidity has remained strong during the entire pandemic period. Our CEO, Annica, will tell more about this. But to sum up, 2020 was highly exceptional and challenging, but Stora Enso succeeded through the efforts of the management and entire personnel in keeping our operations and finances well under control for which I, on behalf of the Board of Directors, extend very many thanks to all of you. As in the previous year, our dividend proposal and now accepted by the AGM is EUR 0.30 per share, which is in line with our dividend policy approved last year to distribute as dividends at 50% of the earnings per share, excluding fair valuation over the cycle. Earnings per share, excluding fair valuation, was EUR 0.45 last year. At the beginning of last year, Stora Enso's market value was EUR 10.3 billion. And at its end, it was EUR 12.4 billion. For the calendar year 2020, Stora Enso's total shareholder return, meaning dividend plus rise in stock price, was 23% in R shares and 20% for A shares. Yesterday, our market cap was EUR 13.2 billion, so it means a 6.5% increase from the year-end. According to my understanding, the favorable development of the company's market value reflects the confidence of investors in the company's renewed strategy and the effective operation of its management. So dear Stora Enso shareholders, I would like to thank you for showing your confidence in Stora Enso by investing your assets in its shares. I also thank you for coming to this virtual shareholder event to hear and talk about how the company's Board of Directors and other management has performed the task entrusted to them and about the plans the company has. With these words, I once again wish all present at this event, a warm welcome. I will now give the floor to Manne Airaksinen, who acted as the Chair of the Annual General Meeting. He will tell you about the decisions that have just been made at that meeting. So Manne, please, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Jorma. My name is Manne Airaksinen of Roschier Attorneys. I acted as Chair for the Annual General Meeting of Stora held earlier today. Stora Enso AGM 2021 has been held with exceptional arrangements due to COVID pandemic, which was noted by Mr. Eloranta a moment ago. Shares on the proxy representatives have been able to participate in the meeting and exercise share of rights only through voting in advance as well as by making counterproposals and presenting questions in advance. A total of 2,041 shareholders, representing 161,118,126 A shares and 353,036,275 R shares, in total, 196,420,893 votes participated in the advanced voting. This means that a total of 91.41% of all A shares and a total of 57.65% of all R shares and 82.71% of all the votes in the company have been represented at the meeting. Stora Enso shareholders have approved all of the resolutions as proposed by the Stora Enso Nomination Board and Stora Enso Board of Directors. Stora Enso's Annual General Meeting has thereby decided inter alia on the following. The general meeting has decided to adopt the annual accounts, more than 99.99% of the votes cast in the agenda item were in favor of the decision. The general meeting has decided that a dividend of EUR 0.30 per share will be distributed to all shareholders, the record date for the dividend is 23rd of March this year and the dividend will be paid on or about 30th of March this year. 99.97% of the vote cast in the agenda item were in favor of the decision. As the dividend proposal by the Board was less than half of the profit of the financial year, shareholders had the right, according to Finnish law to demand a so-called minority dividend, which was to be paid, if supported by no less than 10% of the shares in the company. A total of 7.83% of the shares in the company demanded minority dividend, which is less than the required 10%, meaning that minority dividend will not be paid. The general meeting has decided to discharge the members of the Board of Directors and the President and CEO from liability for the financial year 2020, 99.94% of the votes cast in the agenda item were in favor of the decision. The general meeting has decided to support the presented remuneration report, 99.07% of the votes cast in the agenda item were in favor of the decision. This decision was advisory. The Annual General Meeting decided to elect the following 9 members to the Stora Enso Board of Directors for the year ending at the AGM 2022: Håkan Buskhe, Elisabeth Fleuriot, Hock Goh, Helena Hedblom, Mikko Helander, Christiane Kuehne, Antti Makinen, Richard Nilsson and Hans Sohlström. It was decided to elect Mr. Makinen as Chair of the Board of Directors and Mr. Buskhe as Vice Chair. We will soon hear a greeting from Mr. Makinen as well as the elected new Board members, Helena Hedblom and Hans Sohlström. The Annual General Meeting decided that the Board and committee remuneration be kept at the same level as during last year. 91.47% of the votes cast were in favor of the election of the proposed Chair, Vice Chair and Board members, and 99.91% of the votes cast were in favor of the proposal by the Shareholders' Nomination Board to keep Board remuneration at its current level. The general meeting has decided to elect PricewaterhouseCoopers as the statutory auditor of the company until the end of AGM 2022. And Mr. Samuli Perälä, authorized public accountant, will act as the responsible auditor during that time. We have Mr. Perälä online during this meeting, and you may, in the Q&A session, present questions also to him. It was further decided that the remuneration for the auditor be paid according to an invoice approved by the company's Financial and Audit Committee. 99.95% of the votes cast were in favor of the election of the proposed auditor and more than 99.99% of the votes cast were in favor of the auditor's proposed remuneration. The general meeting has decided to approve of the authorization for the Board to decide on a repurchase of the company's own shares as well as an issuance of shares. Both authorizations may be carried out in deviation from the share as preemptive rights for the purpose of using the shares as part of the company's incentive scheme. More than 99.99% of A shares and 99.72% of R shares represented and 99.96% of the votes cast were in favor of the decision to authorize the Board to decide on share repurchases and 99.99% of all shares and more than 99.99% of the votes cast were in favor of the decision to authorize the Board to decide on share issuances. This concludes the overview of the decisions made today by the Annual General Meeting. With this, I conclude the review of the AGM decisions and hand over to Micaela.

Thank you, Manne. We will now hear the greeting by the Chair of the Stora Enso's Shareholders' Nomination Board, Marcus Wallenberg. And after that, we will hear the speech by the newly elected Chair of the Stora Enso Board of Directors, Antti Makinen.

Greetings from the Shareholders' Nomination Board of Stora Enso. And the composition of the Shareholders' Nomination Board has during 2020, 2021 with the Chair of the Board, Jorma Eloranta, the Vice Chairman of the Board, Hans Straberg; and 2 other members appointed by the 2 largest shareholders, Harri Sailas of Solidium; and myself, Marcus Wallenberg of FAM, acting as the Chair. The main task of the Nomination Board 2020 has been first to prepare the proposals for the AGM 2021 concerning Board members and the remuneration; and two, review of Board independence and annual evaluation; three, evaluate long-term succession planning of the Board, including the Board's composition with view of the principles of the company's Board diversity policy. Our proposal regarding Board election and the remuneration. The aim of the Shareholders' Nomination Board is to ensure the right long-term competencies for the Board's work as well as to ensure that the diversity of thought and qualities is maintained on the Board. The foremost criteria for nominating Board member candidates is the candidate's skills and experiences as well as the personal qualities and integrity. The Board -- the proposed Board composition includes 3 women and 6 men in the age range of 47 years to 65 years, representing 5 nationalities. Gender distribution has improved by increasing the number of female members on the Board to 3. The aim is to continuously ensure that the gender diversity is maintained or further strengthened. This year, Jorma Eloranta, having served as Chair of the Board since 2017 and Vice Chair during 2016 and 2017, as well as Hans Straberg, having served on the Board since 2009 and as Vice Chair since 2017, had decided not to stand for reelection to the Board. The Shareholders' Nomination Board nominated Helena Hedblom and Hans Sohlström as new members to the Board, both possessing a strong industrial background as well as personal merits and management experience that has been identified as complementing the Board composition. Antti Makinen was nominated as Chair of the Board and Håkan Buskhe as Vice Chair of the Board. Antti having been a member of the Stora Enso Board since 2018 and Håkan since 2020, both possess a background and personal merits that the Shareholders' Nomination Board is convinced will bring value in the task as Chair and Vice Chair of Stora Enso. Regarding Board remuneration, the aim is to ensure a competitive Board remuneration in line with relevant peer group. This year, the proposal has been for Board remuneration to be kept at the same level as in 2020. So let me just end by saying direct -- a very large thank you to Jorma Eloranta and Hans Straberg for their service on the Stora Enso Board, as well as welcome the new members, Helena Hedblom and Hans Sohlström and also wishing all the best to Antti Makinen and Håkan Buskhe in their roles as Chair and Vice Chair. When it comes to Jorma and Hans, they have steered Stora Enso through some challenging years with both structural changes and, of course, an unprecedented period of economic impact during the pandemic years. So on the behalf of all shareholders, the Nomination Board wish to express the deep appreciation for the Chair and the Vice Chair's dedication, contribution and very hard work on behalf of all shareholders for Stora Enso. Thank you very much, and good day.

Dear shareholders, my name is Antti Makinen. As you have learned during the previous speeches a few hours ago, I was elected new Chair of the Board of Directors of Stora Enso. I've been a Board member since 2018. And in my daily job is being CEO of Solidium, which is a large shareholder of Stora Enso. Firstly, I want to thank you, shareholders, for the confidence that has been vested in me, and I assure you that I will do my utmost to be worthy of that confidence and do my best to serve the company and its shareholders as best as I can. I would also like to take the opportunity to continue where Mr. Wallenberg stopped and on behalf of the Board of Directors to thank Jorma Eloranta for his chairmanship of the Stora Enso Board of Directors and also thanks Hans Straberg for the Vice Chairmanship of his -- during the past years. As Mr. Eloranta, just a moment ago, said, last year, we reviewed the strategy of Stora Enso and the outcome of that review work and analyzes was announced in the CMD in November, naturally, this year's focus, therefore, will be to start and continue implementing that new strategy and certainly, during the quarterly releases and also other releases during the year. You shareholders will be informed about how that strategy implementation will progress. In the next year's AGM, I will be in a position to give you the perspective of the Board of Directors on how company has progressed. And I hope that we can have that shareholders' meeting then in a nicer format than over a Teams or over video and that we could meet in person in the spring of '22. But with these first, dear shareholders, thank you once again for the confidence vested in me, and we'll do our utmost best to serve you as best as we can. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Antti. We will now listen to the prerecorded videos of our newly elected board members, Helena Hedblom and Hans Sohlström.

Dear shareholders of Stora Enso, I am Helena Hedblom, and I am the CEO and President of Epiroc, one of the largest OEMs for the mining and infrastructure industry. Epiroc has more than 14,000 employees and we have sales in more than 150 countries, so a truly global business. Epiroc was created after the successful split from Atlas Copco in 2018 and we are a leading productivity and sustainability partner for the industries that we serve. And we are leading the technology shifts ongoing in mining and infrastructure within automation, digitalization and electrification. I have a broad industrial experience with more than 20 years from Atlas Copco group. I have been -- I have an engineering background with a Master of Science in Materials Technology from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. I have been leading our research and development efforts for many years. I have been general manager, heading our production entities as well as divisional president and business area president with full P&L and balance sheet responsibilities for many years. During the last 20 years, I have been leading truly international organizations with focus on innovation and growth. As a person, I am result-oriented and used ambitious growth agendas, both organic and inorganic. I have a passion for innovation, sustainability and leadership. I strongly believe in a decentralized business model with clear responsibilities and accountability. And I truly believe in diversity and inclusion to create long-lasting business results. I'm very much looking forward to this opportunity to be able to contribute to the Stora Enso journey in the coming years. I hope that I would, with my experience, will be able to contribute in the areas of innovation and sustainability. Thank you so much.

Hello. I'm Hans Sohlström, and I'm pleased, honored and really excited about the Nomination Board proposing me to join Stora Enso's Board of Directors. I have 30 years' experience of various leadership positions in the forest, pulp and paper industry. In addition, I have previous experience of 7 board memberships, of which 5 as Chairman, and one as Vice Chairman. Regarding educational background, I have Master of Science degrees from 2 universities: one in industrial management and paper technology, and one in finance and business administration. Currently, I'm the CEO of Ahlström-Munksjö, a global provider of sustainable and innovative fiber-based solutions, such as, for instance, filter media, technical and industrial specialty papers as well as life science and health care nonwoven materials. I joined the company early 2016 as Chairman of the Board when I was CEO of Ahlström Capital, the Ahlström family investment company. I was elected to continue as Chairman of the Board in Ahlström-Munksjö. After the merger in 2017, I was appointed CEO early 2018. Before 2016, I was CEO of Rettig Group, a Finnish family-owned industrial conglomerate for 3.5 years. And from year 1988 to 2012, that is 24 years in total, I worked for UPM in Finland and abroad in various positions, leading business units, paper mills, global sales and marketing as well as business innovation and corporate development. During my last 8 years at UPM, I was a member of the group executive management team reporting to the CEO. I think I can bring to Stora Enso's Board of Directors 3 main experiences. First, a diverse and practical pulp and paper industry leadership experience of operations, sales and marketing, innovation of renewable new businesses and strategy. Secondly, a broad experience of various aspects to shareholder value creation from several leadership of 3 CEO and 7 Board positions. And third, an international and multicultural experience. For instance, Ahlström-Munksjö is a global company with employees representing over 50 nationalities. And I have currently 6 different nationalities in my group executive management team. I am passionate about renewable materials and the bioeconomy as solutions for a sustainable and greener world. I'm excited about all the untapped potential and numerous new sustainable business opportunities in wood and forest. Stora Enso is a global leader in the forefront of renewable materials. I would join the Board with an open mind and strong engagement to serve Stora Enso in order to maximize shareholder value.

Next in our program, we will hear Stora Enso's President and CEO, Annica Bresky, give her overview of the financial results from 2020 as well as a presentation of Stora Enso's current strategy and financial targets. After Annica's speech, we will start the Q&A session of today. [Operator Instructions] Thank you.

Hello, and a very warm welcome to Stora Enso's Annual General Meeting. Although the pandemic prevents us from hosting a physical event, I'm still very excited to digitally engage with you, our valued shareholders. I want to take the opportunity today to first comment on our 2020 results and then describe our strategy and opportunities looking ahead. I think it's appropriate to start with the foundation of our business opportunities, the global megatrends, driving the demand for renewable materials. Even though 2020 was the year of the pandemic, which we haven't seen the end of yet, we remained focused on the business opportunities for Stora Enso. And the numbers are quite substantial. Carbon neutrality can create EUR 6,000 billion market for smart green solutions by 2050. 70% of consumers state that they have purchased an ecofriendly product even if it was more expensive. And almost as many have avoided a particular product or brand for environmental reasons. Close to 70% of the world's population are expected to live in urban areas by 2050, creating significant opportunities for more sustainable living. And China's demand for packaged food will continue to grow at about 8% a year up to 2024. Retail and e-commerce sales are projected to increase over EUR 3,000 billion. And these are just some of the proof points for the increasing demand for materials that can replace less environmental-friendly ones such as plastics, steel and cement. And as a world leader in renewable materials based on wood, we are truly positioned in a sweet spot here. Because at Stora Enso, we are convinced that everything that's made from fossil-based materials today can be made from a tree tomorrow. Our products are not only renewable but also recyclable, and in many cases, also biodegradable. And we constantly look for ways to replace and reduce the fossil content in our products with better alternatives. Stora Enso is one of the world's largest and oldest forest companies. We know and treasure our raw material. By optimizing the use of wood, we can maximize its value and save resources. As an example, we have, over the years, been able to double the amount of cartons produced from the same amount of wood. And this development just continues. And last but not least, our products help combat global warming. So this picture illustrates Stora Enso's total climate impact. Our forest annually absorb approximately 1.5 billion tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere. The carbon remains stored in the wood fibers when made into products and even through recycling. In 2020, our positive climate impact was 11.5 million tonnes of CO2. This calculation considers CO2 absorbed in our forest and by replacement substitution by our products, minus the emissions impact from our value chain, such as, for instance, transports. The largest portion of our benefit comes from fossil replacement. And in 2020, Stora Enso's products saved an estimated of 18 million tonnes of CO2. That is the same amount as the annual CO2 emissions of 5 million cars. So not many industrial companies our size can say that they are climate positive. But of course, we are not satisfied, and we will continue to strive for increased reductions across all our operations and value chains in the battle against climate change. Now let's dive into some of the financial highlights of 2020. Needless to say, last year was a very different year, colored by the pandemic effects. Through early actions and proactive measures, Stora Enso remained resilient. And given the extreme circumstances, we delivered a solid result that we can be proud of. In 2020, our sales decreased by 15% to EUR 8.6 billion. Excluding our Paper division, sales was down by 9%. The decrease in Paper was mainly due to changed consumer behavior that accelerated the structural decline in paper products. Demand in our other segment remained fairly stable, with particular resilient results in packaging, Forest and Wood Products. Our operational EBIT was EUR 650 million, down by 35% from 2019, which was also a record year. We are, however, starting to see signs of a recovery and it was rewarding to report sales in Q4 close to the same levels as 2019. And excluding paper, almost 50% better. For 2021, we anticipate a stronger year. Operational return on capital employed, excluding Forest, was 7%, and cash flow from operations was EUR 1.3 billion. We have a strong liquidity at EUR 2.5 billion, including cash and committed credit facilities. This adds security and puts us in a very good position to be agile once the market starts recovering. It is also worth mentioning that our total Forest assets were valued at EUR 7.3 billion since changing to a transaction-based Forest valuation method for our Swedish holdings. Now let's take a look at the performance in our long-term financial targets. If we start with growth for the year, it was negative 8.7%. As highlighted earlier, this was mainly due to the COVID-19 effects on the global economy. Our net debt to operational EBITDA is at 2.3 and still above the targeted maximum of 2.0. But it is now moving in the right direction following the peak during the year. Net debt-to-equity was at 33%, below our target and operational return on capital employed, excluding our Forest, was at 7%. If we look at return on operating capital on a divisional level, both our packaging divisions, packaging materials, packaging solutions are at about 14%. This is below the targeted levels, but still quite strong, taking into account the challenging business conditions. Biomaterials is just above 0, while Wood Products was at 19.1%, not far from our targeted 20% level. Our new Forest division was at 3.9%, above the target of 3.5%. And Paper cash flow was at 10.3% in Q4. Due to the challenges of the previous quarter, the full year cash flow ended up at 1.6%. To further support our cash flow, we launched a profit protection program in 2019. During the year, we increased our target from EUR 350 million to EUR 400 million of savings. We are proceeding very well, and we will deliver these savings by the end of 2021. In 2020, we recorded savings of EUR 225 million. Now that we have summed up 2020, let's move into our future strategy. In a nutshell, our business strategy is centered around achieving sustainable and profitable growth for our renewable products. While this core of our strategy remains, we have updated the focus in order to accelerate growth. But before I dig into our strategic focus areas, I'd like to highlight some key achievements in 2020. It makes sense here to start with the biggest one. Our EUR 350 million conversion of the Oulo paper mill into packaging kraftliner production. The conversion was completed within budget at the beginning of this year, and is expected to reach design production capacity by second quarter this year and full product portfolio by the end of 2021. Completing the Oulo Mill conversion is a great achievement and an important step in our transformation in response to the increasing global market demand for eco-friendly packaging materials. If we stay with packaging, we have started a feasibility study to evaluate a potential expansion of our pulp and board-making capabilities in the Skoghall Mills in Sweden. Skoghall is already today one of the world's largest liquid board and brown kraft board producers, and the study will assess a significant upgrade in pulp and board capacity. After the investment, the mill would be pulp-integrated close to 100%, giving a superior cost competitiveness and increasing the board-making capabilities. In addition, the potential investment project would enable lower fossil CO2 emissions at the mill. If we now move over to Wood Products, we decided to invest approximately EUR 80 million in the new production line for cross-laminated timber at our Zdírec sawmill in Czech Republic. We are already today, Europe's leading supplier of CLT and the investment will further enhance our position as a global market leader. Production is scheduled to begin during the third quarter of 2022. And to support our growth in biomaterials innovations, we are investing EUR 14 million to build a granulation and packaging plant of for lignin. Lignin is the foundation for our innovation platform for carbon for energy storage, biobinders and carbon fiber. The granulation plant will be located at Stora Enso's Sunila Mill in Finland where we also have our lignin competence center. All these events align with our updated strategic focus areas announced last year. The overarching logic of our updated strategy is to focus on key business areas where we already have leading positions. By building on our existing strengths, we can grow more rapidly and create more value from our renewable products and solutions. So in this image, somehow simplified, illustrates the different strategic roles of our business portfolio. Firstly, we see the forest as the foundation to everything that we do. Our sawmills produce wood and products, supply fiber to our pulp mills and are the foundation for growth in wood and building solutions. Pulp is the base for the packaging materials and paper as well as a strong provider for cash generation. The growth comes from packaging, building solutions and innovations within Biomaterials. And Paper is primarily a cash business to support these growth areas. So why have we selected these 3 focus areas for growth? In addition to strong demand in their respective segments, we have leading market positions of high-margin products. We have strong legacy assets and the competence and are in control of our renewable resource, wood. It's also within these 3 areas that we see the greatest potential for scalable innovation and commercialization of new products. In our 2 packaging divisions, we see a high demand for plastic-free and circular solutions. For example, within hygiene food packaging or e-commerce. Here, we already have leading market positions as well as attractive investment opportunities. Within wood and building solutions, we foresee an annual growth of more than 10% in a market where we already have a leading global supplier. The massive global construction market is shifting more and more towards eco-friendly buildings with low carbon footprint. And here, we are in a terrific position to capture a larger share of the value chain with our products. When it comes to biomaterials innovation, we target high-growth end-product markets, markets where we can replace fossil-based materials with bio-based solutions and technologies. Here, lignin is one of the tree's main building blocks from which we can develop new ground-making innovations. All strategic focus areas are closely interlinked with our innovation agenda. The focus of our innovation efforts will be in the areas of sustainable barriers, new sustainable packaging materials and as mentioned, our biochemical platform in lignin. Speed-to-market is essential, and we will drive this through cooperation with other partners in an open-innovation approach. Because innovation does not happen in isolation, it happens through collaboration. In addition to our own researchers, we work with customers, partners and start-ups as well as academic and research institutes. R&D is essential in driving our innovation agenda. And in 2020, our spend was around EUR 150 million with approximately 70 patents filed during the year. We also put a lot of effort into our digitalization. This includes operational benefits like smarter mills, but also supply chain efficiencies and customer experience. And here are a few concrete examples of digitalization initiatives that we use today in our operations. Within our wood and building concepts, we offer a variety of digital tools and services that support the use of wood as a construction material, making it easier to build green. This includes building design software to help streamline sustainable construction using wooden elements. Another example is digital moisture control in the building materials. We have also launched a new B2B trading platform designed to help companies source packaging online. We call it Box Inc. In essence, buyers and sellers of corrugated packaging can connect via the platform for secure and convenient transactions. It has been up and running for less than a year now, and we continue to see increased traction on the platform. In our forestry operations, we developed precision forestry as a way of creating the best growth conditions for trees using a digital twin of the forest. It allows us to use data from different sources, such as climate, soil or growth or conditions to examine the structure of an entire forest site. And eventually, it will also support more influential sustainability actions, such as the development of improved biodiversity practices. And sustainable forestry is indeed central in our contribution to a circular bioeconomy. We believe that a circular economy is only possible when the raw materials are also circular, materials that can be renewed and regenerated over and over again. In a circular bioeconomy, products are bio-based. They are also being shared, reused, remanufactured and recycled. Finally, they biodegrade or are used for renewable energy production. Trees grow back, absorbing CO2, and so the cycle continues. A circular bioeconomy requires collaboration across the value chain to drive change at all stages, from reducing the use of resources and waste, from product design and recyclability infrastructure such as collection and recycling systems. In Stora Enso, we continuously explore circular ways of working at our many production sites. And here are just a few examples from 2020. Together with Tetra Pak, Stora Enso is exploring the possibility of building a new recycling line for used beverage carton at our Ostroleka Mill in Poland. During 2020, we continue to explore the recycling potential of paperboard cups for magazine paper production at Langerbrugge Mill in Belgium. And in Sweden, Stora Enso and energy company, Gasum, have built a biogas plant at Nymölla Paper Mill. The plant turns the mill's wastewater into liquefied biogas. In addition to operational circularity, a fully circular bioeconomy is dependent on products that stem from renewable sources. Wood fiber-based products have a smaller carbon footprint than fossil-based ones. The products on this slide are available in our product portfolio already today and represent research-based example of low-carbon alternatives to fossil-based or nonrenewable materials. Lignin can replace fossil-based phenol in adhesives with a carbon footprint that is roughly 80% smaller than that of phenol. Studies show that our formed fiber products for the foodservice sector, PureFiber, they enable a carbon footprint at 75% lower compared to alternative packaging materials. And the CO2 emissions of a CLT frame are 75% lower compared to a concrete frame building. Our wood fiber biocomposites have an ability to reduce the carbon footprint by up to 80% compared to fossil-based plastics. All these are innovations that have one thing in common, they originate from forest. Our ability to create value has its foundation in the forest. The forest is a valuable growing asset that facilitates a long-term fiber supply for our products. We ensure that our forest grow to a greater extent than they are harvested and that biodiversity is promoted as part of everyday forest management practices. Our customers can be assured that our products originate from sustainably managed forests as 98% of the lands we own or managed are covered by forest certification. Today, Stora Enso is one of the largest private forest owners in the world. Globally, we own or manage lands covering a total area of 2.3 million hectares. About 30% of the Stora Enso wood raw material needs are covered from own sources or long-term supply agreements globally. To have control of our own resources in wood fiber plays a critical role in our transformation. Forest play a central role in combating climate change. Our young forest absorb carbon dioxide when they grow and old forests release it as they decay. Carbon is stored in our wood-based products, even through recycling. Renewability, our key selling point requires sustainable forestry that keeps forest healthy and productive and growing forever. That is why we always make sure that we harvest less than the growth. Last year, we planted 41 million tree seedlings in the Nordics, Baltics and Russia alone. In our new ambitious forest sustainability strategy, biodiversity is one of the focus areas. This picture presents examples on how we conserve and manage by diversity in Northern forests. As trees take several decades to mature, long-term forest planning is essential. This involves biodiversity assessments to identify, conserve and restore vital ecosystems. We work together with forest owners to identify sensitive forest areas in need of protection and regularly consult the authorities and scientific institutions on these matters. Our plantations outside of Europe, such as in Brazil and China, typically consists of a mosaic of areas of both wood production and biodiversity conservation. Plantations are, however, established only on areas of low biodiversity value. Our ambition is to regenerate lost biodiversity. As an example, at our joint venture operations in Brazil, approximately half of the land is dedicated to rain forest conservation and restoration. In addition to forest carbon storage and product substitution effects, we ambitiously work on reducing greenhouse gas emissions in our own operations. We continue to work with science-based targets in order to contribute to the 2030 climate goal. In 2020, we achieved a decrease of 26% of our operational emissions. In 2021, we will update our climate targets to be aligned with a 1.5-degree scenario. As we see it, the forest industry is part of the solution to climate change, and Stora Enso aims to contribute to a green future. Now I'll leave you with a picture that sums up the year of 2020. We continue our transformation journey of becoming a leader in renewable materials in the bioeconomy. And I want to thank you, our shareholders, for your trust and our customers and people for your commitment. We delivered a solid financial result in 2020 in spite of unprecedented turmoil in the global economy. We have our strategy in place to take the next step in our transformation. We keep building a strong foundation with our forest, pulp and Wood Products businesses. We generate solid cash flow from our Paper business, and we deliver on investments in our key growth areas: packaging, building solutions and biomaterials innovations. The renewable future grows in the forest. Thank you.

Thank you, Annica. And now we will open our Q&A session. Annica, while we are waiting for audience questions to come in, one question to you on our climate goals. You mentioned that since 2010, we have reduced our operational emissions by 26%. Are we on track to reach our 2030 goal of 31%?

Hello, Micaela. Yes, I'm very happy to say that we are definitely on track and we will reach our target that we have set. It is important that this is an improvement journey that we will continue working on. And as we said, we have the ambition to reduce our carbon footprint to reach the 1.5-degree commitment that we are doing in the world to hinder climate change. So we want to be one of the solution providers in this area.

Thank you. Thank you, Annica. And we will now start with the questions that we have received from the audience. And our first question goes to Antti. How does the new Board view the share split as a tool for increasing the attractiveness of our share -- or the Stora Enso share? A large part of the market is in Sweden and usually SEK 100 is a psychological limit when it comes to buying shares. A split of 1 to 2 would be a good try.

Thank you for the question, a little bit unexpected, but nevertheless, a good question. I think the share price hovering around EUR 16 to EUR 18. In Finland, it's not an unusual level for a Finnish company in Finland. When it comes to the Stockholm Stock Exchange, I think that if you look at the large-cap share list, I think many shares, if not most of the shares on the large-cap list, actually trade at prices north of SEK 100 per share. Our peers in Sweden, Holmen and SCA, SCA is around 160, 170; and Holmen are actually at around 400. So it doesn't sound that we deviate so much from the market. But thank you for the question. I think as a Board, we will consider all things that are good for the shareholders, and this might be one amongst those. Thank you.

Thank you, Antti. Our next question goes to Annica. What is special in lignin granulation? As a student, I was packaging it in Holmens Bruk in 1971, 50 years ago.

Well, what is special is that it enables us to build on our innovation platform. We want to use lignin for 1 of our 3 areas of innovation, which is carbon for energy storage that is using lignin to make sure that we can replace carbon in batteries and to enable electrification. So this is one of our big innovation platforms that we see can be a big business for the future. So doing this granulation and packaging step for us, make sure that we can utilize our lignin in a good way and get access also on the market. And then if we look at the 2 other innovation areas, it is to use lignin for carbon fiber and then it is lignin for biochemicals, like adhesives and glues. So to be able to then decide on where we would want to have a pilot plant and scaling up this business, it is important that we can pack our lignin. So this is just a step in that journey that we're doing to drive growth in biomaterial innovations.

Thank you, Annica. And our next question is also for you. How widely has the coronavirus hits Stora Enso's employees in the divisions and geographically?

Well, if we look at the COVID, we very early acted after the signals we got in China. So we are very fortunate that we took the knowledge that we had from our China operations. And then in February, already a year ago, applied very restrictive rules to make sure that we limit the spread of our -- of COVID within our employees and operations. So I'm very happy to say that we have banned traveling. We have banned physical meetings. We have made sure that we keep the groups and teams as small as possible, and our operations have not been affected. We have been able to produce and supply for our customers, many in the health care industry or in the food industry, essential end uses that needed our material during last year. And through this proactive action, COVID has actually been quite limited in our company. We have had a few clusters, but we have been able to manage them. And we have not had any major serious cases among our people. We do not comment how the spread is on site by site. But of course, having different circumstances in different countries and the spread is different geographically, it is about managing it on a local level. And we have done excellent work, I think, our people, the commitment has been very high to protect the safety of all our employees.

Thank you, Annica. And with this, we conclude our questions that we have received and thereby also conclude our Q&A session and this event. And I want to say a warm thanks to all of you for joining us at this event and for sending us your questions. We wish you a great evening and a great weekend. Thank you.