Metsä Group's year 2025
Review of the president and CEO:
The world is in turmoil – how does Metsä Group respond?
In a word, Metsa Group’s result for 2025 was weak. Our comparable operating loss was EUR -85 million, with the result of our pulp and paperboard businesses being hit particularly hard. Fortunately, the good years we’ve had before allowed Metsa Group to build a strong financial buffer, which has become useful now.
The year 2025 was exceptionally challenging for Metsä Group. Economic and geopolitical turmoil weakened both the demand for our products and our profitability. Fortunately, our solid financial position and the investments we have made provide us us with the means to face future uncertainties. One of the highlights of 2025 was the completion of the expansion of the tissue paper mill in Mariestad, Sweden and the modernisation of the Simpele paperboard mill in Finland. Furthermore, construction work on the new Kerto® LVL mill in Äänekoski progressed as planned, and the mill will start up during 2026.
I started as President and CEO of Metsa Group on 1 July 2025. Before that, I met extensively with our key personnel and other employees in one-on-one discussions and during mill tours. These encounters made it easy for me to commit to advancing our employees’ wishes: our Finnish roots, sustainability and good team spirit are strengths that we will continue to cherish.
Metsa Group’s owner-members own more than half of Finland’s privately owned forests, which are valued at around EUR 30 billion, exceeding the market value of the entire Finnish wood processing industry. It is our duty to ensure that the value of these assets increases in the coming decades. For that, we need to have profitable industrial operations and industrial structures that serve this purpose.
Forests account for 10–15% of Finland’s national wealth – they are hugely important both to individual forest owners and to Finland. What better motivation could there be for me and all our employees to work hard for a strong, vibrant future!
Jussi Vanhanen
President and CEO
Year in numbers
-
5,833
M€
Sales
-
-85
M€
Comparable operating result
-
8,770
Personnel
-
99.5
%
Suppliers’ commitment to the Supplier Code of Conduct
-
92
%
Share of certified wood
-
10,616
Measures promoting biodiversity from 2023
Highlights of 2025
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HighlightsPresident and CEO Jussi Vanhanen inspires courage
HighlightsPresident and CEO Jussi Vanhanen inspires courageMetsä Group appointed a new President and CEO on 1 July, when Jussi Vanhanen assumed his role. Early in the autumn season, he was one of the keynote speakers at Johtajatulet, a leadership seminar organised by the Guides and Scouts of Finland. The event brought together more than 3,000 people interested in leadership from various fields in the forests of Evo. This year’s theme was Trusting the future.
Metsä Group acted as the main partner of the event, highlighting expertise in the forest industry and supporting the accessibility of participation fees. According to Vanhanen, the values underpinning the partnership – dialogue, long-term thinking and a sense of community – are also crucial for leadership in times of transformation.
In his keynote speech, Vanhanen emphasised that building the future requires the courage to try new approaches and to abandon ways of working that no longer function.
“We need more courage to experiment – both in companies and in society. Only then can something genuinely new emerge,” he said.
At the same time, he wanted to convey a message of confidence to young people and future leaders: Finland can continue to be a good place to live and work in the future.
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HighlightsTarget: EUR 300 million in annual cost savings
HighlightsTarget: EUR 300 million in annual cost savingsDue to prolonged weak profitability and uncertain market outlooks, Metsä Group launched a significant cost savings and profit improvement programme in autumn 2025. The objective of the programme is to improve profitability and efficiency and to ensure competitiveness.
Financially, the programme targets approximately EUR 300 million in annual cost savings. The savings are largely related to procurement and end-product logistics, as well as efficiency improvements in the wood supply chain. Slightly less than half of the savings will be achieved through reductions in fixed costs.
During the autumn, Metsä Group conducted statutory change negotiations covering all business areas and Group functions. As a result of these change negotiations, approximately 790 permanent positions were terminated.
“We are making good progress with the savings – according to our estimate, around two thirds of the programme’s targets will already be realised in 2026. We have hundreds of projects of varying sizes underway to improve efficiency and internal cooperation. Let’s keep up the good work,” says President and CEO Jussi Vanhanen.
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HighlightsMore tissue paper with state-of-the-art technology
HighlightsMore tissue paper with state-of-the-art technologyOne of the absolute highlights of 2025 was the completion of the expansion of Metsä Tissue’s tissue paper mill in Mariestad, Sweden. The EUR 370 million investment doubles the mill’s annual tissue paper capacity to 145,000 tonnes, improving the availability of Lambi, Serla and Katrin products in Scandinavia.
The Mariestad investment is one of the largest investments in the European tissue paper business and includes a new tissue paper machine and three new converting lines. Increased production shortens delivery times, reduces transport-related emissions and improves delivery reliability – enabling a faster response to changes in demand and reducing risks related to global supply chains.
The new paper machine technology significantly improves the mill’s energy efficiency and reduces water consumption. This represents a major step forward in tissue paper manufacturing and enables lower emissions per tonne produced.
As a result of the investment, nearly 100 new jobs were created at the Mariestad mill.
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HighlightsEven higher-quality folding boxboard from Simpele
HighlightsEven higher-quality folding boxboard from SimpeleAt the Simpele paperboard mill, a EUR 60 million modernisation project was completed in October, taking board quality to a new level. The investment included a full rebuild of the coating section, expansion of the coating colour kitchen, and installation of a new pallet packaging line. More than 430 professionals contributed to the project.
Previously, 89% of the energy used at the Simpele mill was fossil-free. With the introduction of new technology, the share of fossil-free energy will increase to 98%. This sustainability leap strengthens our commitment to fossil-free production by 2030.
The Simpele mill produces MetsäBoard Classic FBB, one of the market’s leading consumer packaging boards. It is widely used in the food and healthcare segments due to its consistent quality and reliability. The introduction of modern curtain coating technology enhances print quality and visual uniformity – delivering sharper, more vibrant print results for demanding packaging applications.
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HighlightsCarbon capture pilot underway
HighlightsCarbon capture pilot underwayIn June, a carbon capture pilot plant was launched in Rauma, where Metsä Group is testing the capture of biogenic carbon dioxide from pulp mill flue gases together with technology company ANDRITZ. In parallel with the pilot, investigations were initiated into the prerequisites for building a larger carbon capture demonstration plant in Rauma.
Carbon capture is an existing technology, but it has not previously been applied to pulp mill flue gases. At the pilot plant, different process conditions are tested, affecting factors such as energy consumption and the amount of carbon dioxide captured. The pilot period will also provide information about the need for flue gas treatment and the quality of the end product.
Biogenic carbon dioxide is a largely unutilised side stream of pulp mills. Captured CO₂ can be used as a raw material in, for example, the chemical and fuels industries, replacing the use of fossil-based raw materials.
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HighlightThe Conservation Foundation safeguards forest biodiversity
HighlightThe Conservation Foundation safeguards forest biodiversityIn 2025, Metsä Group established the Metsä Conservation Foundation. Its purpose is to permanently protect biodiversity-rich forests in Finland. The Foundation complements existing conservation programmes through its activities.
The Foundation offers forest owners the opportunity to participate in a voluntary conservation model, in which conservation can be compensated financially. The primary conservation method is to establish a private protected area by decision of the authorities, meaning that ownership of the site remains with the forest owner.
The Conservation Foundation protects forest sites whose permanent conservation provides benefits for forest species and diverse habitats. Conservation decisions are influenced by nature conservation biological characteristics, such as rich species diversity. Protected sites differ from commercial forests, for example, due to their management history, old-growth trees, abundant deadwood or fire history.
The Foundation’s expert group on nature conservation, the Conservation Committee, prepares proposals on sites to be protected. The Foundation’s Board confirms the final funding decisions for conservation.
Conservation activities will begin in 2026, and anyone owning owner in Finland, regardless of location, may apply to have their forest protected.
