AUSTRIA (News release) -- Due to unaffordability of operations in the current energy environment, temporary downtime has been initiated at the Bruck paper mill in Austria. The new boiler scheduled for start-up in April is expected to contribute to alleviate the situation by reducing the mill's gas consumption and improve its energy supply. The boiler project and the packaging conversion project at the Bruck mill continue as planned.

Bruck has delivered newsprint and LWC magazine paper to its customers despite a challenging energy market since the second half of 2021. Although we have secured parts of the mill's energy supply in March, the energy prices we presently experience make operations at Bruck unsustainable, says Sven Ombudstvedt, President and CEO of Norske Skog.

Norske Skog expects underlying EBITDA for the group in the first quarter of 2022 to be approximately in line with the fourth quarter of 2021.