Ahlstrom Corporation, a global high-performance materials company, concludes its profit improvement program with measures affecting a total of 57 people in different locations.

Ahlstrom has decided to reduce 35 employees at its Jacarei plant in Brazil, part of the Label and Processing business area, due to the weakened market conditions in coated papers in South America. In addition, streamlining measures at other plants affect a total of 22 people.

The measures announced today are the final steps in the profit improvement program, announced on October 18, 2011. Under the program, the company announced profit improvement measures impacting a total of 362 employees in various plants worldwide. The program is expected to improve annual operating profit by approximately EUR 15 million starting from the year 2012. The overall impact of the non-recurring items of the program is cash neutral.

Ahlstrom will book non-recurring costs of about EUR 1.4 million primarily for the measures at Jacarei in its fourth-quarter 2011 financial results. For the entire profit improvement program, the company incurred a non-recurring cost totaling EUR 33.4 million, of which EUR 25 million was booked in the third-quarter and EUR 8.4 million will be booked in the fourth-quarter 2011 results.

Ahlstrom will make every effort in supporting employees affected by the change.

Ahlstrom in brief

Ahlstrom is a high performance materials company, partnering with leading businesses around the world to help them stay ahead. Our products are used in a large variety of everyday applications, such as filters, wallcovers, flooring, labels and food packaging. We have a leading market position in the businesses in which we operate. Our 5,700 employees serve customers in 26 countries on six continents. In 2010, Ahlstrom's net sales amounted to EUR 1.9 billion.