SCA’s forest, wood, pulp, paper and energy divisions generated a total of €1.61 billion (SEK 18 billion) in sales in 2023, which corresponds to a decrease of around 13% compared to 2022 (€1.85 billion; SEK 20.8 billion). EBITDA, too, fell by 33%, from €0.9 billion (SEK 10.2 billion) to €0.6 billion (SEK 6.8 billion). However, the group reports a very good EBITDA margin of 37.6% (2022: 49%).
SCA manages an area of 2.7 million hectares in Sweden and the Baltic states, which makes it the largest private forest owner in Europe. The distribution of EBITDA also depends on this: The forest division accounts for 52% of EBITDA, while only 8% are the result of revenue from wood products sales. Pulp and paper account for 18% each.
SCA’s high EBITDA margin shows that the company is able to deliver stable results and good profitability even in the context of lower demand and a generally weaker economy, as CEO Ulf Larsson comments in statement published by the group.
Last year, SCA also made considerable investments. In addition to increasing the annual production capacity of its kraftliner plant in Obbola/SE from 450,000 to 725,000 t, the Bollsta sawmill in central Sweden also received a major upgrade. On timber-online.net, you can find the (video) reports Dances with robots and Sorting Line 4.0 on this particular project. In addition, SCA acquired the remaining 50% of the shares in Gällö Timber of Gällö/SE and has since been the sole shareholder in the Swedish sawmill in Jämtland.
