Cascades Inc. is reporting improved results for its first quarter of 2012. Net earnings for the quarter were $6 million on sales of $891 million.

Commenting on the first quarter results, Alain Lemaire, President and Chief Executive Officer stated: “We announce today financial results which are a significant improvement over the previous quarter and the same period last year. This performance is below our expectations due to a low level of productivity of our Containerboard manufacturing operations. Our Tissue Papers Group continues to perform well and our Specialty Products Group shows improved results. During this past quarter, we benefited from lower recycled fibre costs and average selling prices have held for most of our products despite volatile demand. Continuing to implement our action plan, we have been particularly active with restructuring and capital allocation measures aimed at modernizing our operating units. The actions taken by our team reflect our commitment to improve profitability and efficiency in an increasingly competitive market.”

Looking ahead in the near-term, Lemaire added: “The economic environment remains difficult but seems to be gaining momentum in North America which is encouraging as we enter what have been historically our two strongest quarters of the year. We have identified and fixed certain of our operational issues which should enable operations to produce in line with usual standards. Moreover we are starting to see the benefits of the measures we have taken to improve our portfolio of assets, a good example being the Tissue Papers Group. In Europe, the economic uncertainty poses unique challenges in the short term but we believe we have the right platform to face this situation.

We will likely continue to face high variable costs and a strong Canadian dollar. After a slight increase in the beginning of the year, we expect the pricing environment for recycled fibre to be more favorable during the next quarter.”

Cascades’ Recent Strategic Initiatives

• Acquisition of the corrugated boxes converting and warehousing facilities of Bird Packaging Limited located in Ontario.
• Announcement of investments of $30 million and closures of three plants as part of the consolidation of our corrugated products sector in Ontario.
• Consolidation of our honeycomb packaging manufacturing operations with the announced closure of Cascades Enviropac in Toronto.
• Announcement of the closure of the Trenton containerboard mill effective June 1, 2012 due to financial losses and unsatisfactory labor relations.

Read Cascades’ full release