RMK’s profit up 48% in Q1 2014 12.06

RMK’s Q1 2014 sales turnover amounted to EUR 43 million, down 1.2% year-on-year. At the same time, RMK’s profit was EUR 18.8 million, up 48% year-on-year.
“In the first quarter this year, our sales of logs were above the budget, whereas those of paper and firewood were below the budget,” explained Aigar Kallas, Chairman of the Management Board of RMK, adding that an increase in the proportion of higher quality timber raised the mean price of timber, boosting profits. According to Aigar Kallas, the second half of the year will see an increase in the proportion of paper and firewood, with no change in the forecast profits for the year as a result.

RMK earned the majority of its revenue from the sale of timber and wood chips. In the first three months, RMK sold 0.8 million cubic metres of timber for a total of EUR 40.5 million. The average timber sales price turned out to be EUR 48.5 per cubic metre, which is approximately 15% more than in the same period last year. In the first 3 months, cutting waste and wood chips were sold in the volume of 0.05 million cubic metres for EUR 1.4 million. The average sales price amounted to EUR 30.1 per cubic metre.

To enable people to purchase firewood and timber for a good price, RMK sells cutting rights to growing forests to private persons, and within the first three months of 2014 the sales volume of cutting rights reached 18 958 cubic metres (EUR 14.9/m3).

By comparison, in the first 3 months of 2013 RMK sold 1 million cubic metres of forest material for EUR 40.8 million. The average timber sales price turned out to be EUR 42.3 per cubic metre. In Q1, cutting waste and wood chips were sold in the volume of 0.06 million cubic metres for EUR 1.7 million. The average sales price amounted to EUR 26.2 per cubic metre.

In its budget for 2014, RMK estimated this year’s sales revenue at EUR 140 million and profit at EUR 15 million.