Good morning, and welcome to this presentation of SCA's third-quarter report. Today we are joined by President and CEO Ulf Larsson and CFO Andreas Ewertz.

We look forward to walking you through the results, followed by a Q&A session. Over to you, Ulf.

Thank you, Per. Good morning also from my side, and a warm welcome to our presentation of our results for the third quarter 2026.

During the quarter, results increased sequentially, and was also in line with Q3 2025. Market conditions were mixed between the segments during the third quarter.

We continued to see improvements both in pricing and demand for the containerboard segment. In renewable energy, we have seen another quarter with a strong result, while pulp and solid-wood products faced a continued challenging market.

High fuel prices driven by the conflict in the Middle East impacted the result within the forest and industrial segments negatively, while the liquid biofuels business, on the other hand, benefited from higher oil prices. SCA reached 1.63 billion SEK on EBITDA level, and by that an EBITDA margin of 31% for the third quarter.

Turning over to some financial KPIs for the third quarter, and as already said, our EBITDA reached 1.63 billion SEK, which corresponds to a 31% EBITDA margin. Industrial return on capital employed came out slightly above zero, counted for the last 12 months, and the leverage was at 2, while our net debt to equity reached 10.4%.

I will now make some comments for each segment, starting with Forest. During the quarter, SCA continued to process windthrow volumes for forest owners in the areas affected by the storm at the end of last year.

Harvesting level of our own forest was stable, but at a slightly lower level compared to the same period last year. Harvesting to our own forest has contributed to balance supply of wood raw materials to our industries also during this period.

Prices for both pulpwood and sawlogs have continued down. However, compared to the same period last year, sawlog prices are somewhat higher, while pulpwood prices are clearly lower.

When one compares Q3 2026 with Q3 2025, sales were down on 1%, while EBITDA was down 23%, mainly due to lower prices for pulpwood and increased fuel costs. During the quarter, SCA sold low-productive forest land far from our industries, and at the same time we acquired around 5,000 hectares of productive forest land closer to our industries for the same amount of money.

The market for solid-wood products is moving sideways due to slow building activities in most regions. We expect the demand to continue to be stable on current level in the coming quarter.

Production in Germany and Canada has decreased year-on-year, but volumes in Scandinavia are close to last year's level, driven by processing of storm-felled logs. Stock levels remain on the high side among producers for pine, but are on normal levels for spruce.

Stock levels at customers continue to be on the low side. Delivery volumes were lower in Q3 2026 in comparison with Q3 2025.

SCA stock of sawn goods is at a balanced level for the season. The price for solid-wood products decreased by 2% in the third quarter at 2026 in comparison with the same quarter last year.

This development is in line with what I said when I presented the report for the second quarter. The cost for sawlogs in the third quarter was still high, but we saw a small price decrease in comparison with the second quarter, and we expect to see some further decreases in log costs when moving into the fourth quarter.

Sales were 6% lower in comparison with the same quarter last year. EBITDA margin decreased from 15% to 8% due to higher raw material costs and lower delivery volumes.

Today's stock level of solid-wood products in Sweden and Finland is described at the top left on this slide and is shown in relation to the average for the last five years. As mentioned earlier, we note that the inventory level is on the high side in Scandinavia, especially for pine, while the SCA stock level is balanced.

As can be seen in the diagram to the bottom left, the Swedish and Finnish sawmill production has been like the five-year average during 2026. In the diagram to the top right, we can note that the export price index decreased somewhat in the third quarter, and as already mentioned, SCA's prices moved in the same direction.

Going into the next quarter, I estimate that the underlying prices in the market will be unchanged, but we are moving into a seasonally weak demand, and we still have negative effects from lower quality of the storm-felled logs, giving a limited risk on the downside. Over to Pulp, and when comparing Q3 2026 with Q3 2025, sales were up 7%, mainly due to strong production and higher delivery volumes, which was somewhat mitigated by lower prices.

EBITDA was down 18%, which was mainly driven by lower prices, partly mitigated by lower costs for raw materials, strong production with lower specific costs, and repayment of tariffs totaling 15 million SEK. Global pulp prices remained on a low level during the third quarter, supported by a relatively weak demand, combined with a high inventory level in China.

Several softwood pulp mills have had market-related downtime during the third quarter, and closures of softwood pulp capacity have been announced in both North America and Europe during the year. In Europe and US, softwood pulp prices decreased slightly during the third quarter, whereas prices in China first declined before rebounding towards the end of the quarter.

Looking at CTMP, demand and prices remained at low level during the third quarter. Global inventories of softwood pulp stayed at a high level during the quarter, as shown in the diagram, whereas hardwood inventories increased from a low level to a more normal level.

Moving over to containerboard, and here sales were up 12% compared to the same period last year, driven by higher delivery volumes and higher prices. EBITDA increased by 130%, driven by lower costs for planned maintenance stops, higher prices, lower costs for raw materials, and repayment of tariffs of 27 million SEK.

This was partly mitigated by negative currency effects. After a softer box demand in the early summer, demand recovered in the third quarter, with full-year growth slightly below long-term average.

A stronger manufacturing industry in combination with a growing retail business has been very supportive. European demand of containerboard has improved during the third quarter, following the box demand, and we forecast a positive demand development of containerboard in coming quarter.

There is no new containerboard capacity started up in the first three quarters of the year. During the last quarter of 2026, we can expect ramp-up of the new capacity started in 2025, as well as some closures to balance some of the increased supply.

Kraftliner inventories remain on a seasonally normal level Q3, driven by both stable deliveries and limited supply. During Q3, the availability of OCC has been in balance with supply and demand, which in its turn has led to stable prices.

Prices for brown kraftliner in Central Europe increased in the beginning of the third quarter with €60 per ton for brown kraftliner and €40 per ton for white kraftliner. The improved underlying demand in combination with strong cost pressure and lower global supply have supported a third price increase for kraftliner this year.

With gradual implementation from September, prices for brown kraftliner in Central Europe have increased with additional €80 per ton and another €60 per ton for white kraftliner. Finally, I will say some words about Renewable Energy.

In this segment, we have had a stronger quarter this year compared to the same period last year, and that is mainly driven by higher prices and strong production in our jointly owned biorefinery in Gothenburg. Electricity prices were volatile during the quarter, but higher in comparison with Q3 previous year.

Delivered volume was higher, driven by our new wind farm, Fasikan. In solid biofuels, we have had a good production and stronger deliveries in the year in comparison with last year.

By that, Andreas, I hand over to you.

Thank you, Ulf, and good morning, everybody. I'll start off with the income statement for the third quarter.

Net sales increased 5% to 5.2 billion, driven by high delivery volumes, which were partly offset by lower prices and negative currency effects. EBITDA was in line with the third quarter last year and totaled 1.6 billion.

Lower prices and negative currency effects were offset by lower cost for planned maintenance stops and higher delivery volumes. EBIT decreased to just about 1 billion, and financial items totaled -102 million, with an effective tax rate of below 20%, bringing net profit to 772 million, or 1.1 SEK per share.

On the next slide, we have the financial development by segment. Starting with the Forest segment to the left, net sales decreased to 2.4 billion, driven by lower prices for both sawlogs and pulpwood compared to the previous quarter.

EBITDA decreased to 702 million, driven by lower prices and seasonally lower harvest from SCA's own forest. In Wood, prices decreased somewhat compared to the previous quarter, mainly driven by product mix, while the cost for sawlogs decreased.

Net sales decreased to 1.4 billion, driven by lower delivery volumes and somewhat lower prices. EBITDA increased to 117 million, corresponding to a margin of 8%, and the increase was, as I said, driven by lower cost for wood raw materials.

In Pulp, net sales increased compared to previous quarter and totaled just below 1.8 billion. EBITDA increased to 198 million, corresponding to a margin of 11%.

The increase was mainly driven by lower raw material costs, high delivery volumes, lower distribution cost, repayment of tariffs of 15 million, and higher energy net, which was partly offset by lower prices. In Containerboard, kraftliner prices continued to increase during the quarter.

Net sales increased to just below 2 billion, and EBITDA increased to 446 million, corresponding to a margin of 23%. The result was positively impacted by higher prices, lower cost for planned maintenance stops, seasonally lower costs, and repayment of tariffs of 27 million.

In Renewable Energy, we had another strong quarter driven by high fuel prices. EBITDA totaled 201 million, corresponding to a margin of 42%.

Somewhat lower results in our solid biofuels and wind business were partly offset by somewhat higher results for liquid biofuels compared to the previous quarter. On the next slide, we have the sales bridge between Q3 last year and Q3 this year.

Prices decreased 3%, driven by lower price in pulp, which was partly offset by higher prices in containerboard. Volumes increased 9%, driven by higher volumes in pulp and containerboard, which was offset by lower volumes in wood.

Lastly, currency had a negative impact of 1%, bringing net sales to 5.2 billion. Moving on to the EBITDA bridge and starting to the left, price/mix had a negative impact of 144 million, and higher volumes had a positive impact of 53 million.

Lower cost for raw materials had a positive impact of 7 million, while energy had a positive impact of 4 million. We had a negative impact from currency of 57 million.

Lastly, we had a positive impact from lower cost of planned maintenance stops and tariff repayments of 42 million, which was partly offset by higher distribution costs. In total, EBITDA was in line with Q3 last year and totaled 1.6 billion, corresponding to a margin of 31%.

Looking at the cash flow, operating cash flow decreased to 426 million for the quarter and 1.4 billion for the first nine months. Working capital in the quarter was negatively impacted by higher prices and market mix.

As other operating cash flow relates mostly to working capital currency hedges and should be seen together with changes in working capital. Looking at the balance sheet, the value of the forest assets totaled 105 billion.

Working capital increased to 5.4 billion. Capital employed totaled 112 billion, and net debt stood at 11 billion.

Equity totaled 102 billion, and net debt to equity was 10%. We have now almost finalized our large ongoing investment projects.

Thank you. With that, I'll hand back to you, Ulf.

Thank you, Andreas. If we again then summarize the third quarter, I think we have delivered a stable quarter.

Result increased sequentially, as I said, and was in line with same period last year. We have mixed market conditions, a strong market for containerboard, higher prices, good demand.

Renewable energy, of course, still on a very high level. On the other hand, the market conditions for pulp and wood is continued challenging, I would say.

By that, I think we open up for questions, please.

Thank you very much, and good morning, everyone. Starting off with the wood market developments, how do you see wood markets developing now in the fourth quarter, and how are they affecting fourth-quarter results in Forest?

Then if we could also talk about the log cost situation in Wood going into the fourth quarter and the pulpwood cost for the other industrial activities, please.

If we start with the wood market, as we have had a rather solid supply for a number of quarters now, and that is, of course, also related to the windfall we had in the late part of last year. We are still helping our friends south of the SCA area to take care of the wood.

We have also seen some additional volumes coming down now recently. By that, we believe that we will continue to harvest a rather big part of storm-felled wood.

I think you, Andreas, can maybe elaborate a little bit about the cost side.

Yes. This quarter, we saw a decline of around 5% price 5% compared to Q2 in both sawlogs and pulpwood.

Going into the fourth quarter, we see another 4% to 5% decline in both sawlogs and pulpwood.

Perfect, that's very clear. Thanks a lot.

Then maybe on containerboard, you've had this price momentum now for a couple of quarters. Could you elaborate a bit more on that?

I think you said, Ulf, that we have a good chunk of price impact coming through in the fourth quarter. Is that more or less than what was seen in the previous couple of quarters?

Also in conjunction to that, what has not been at least publicly announced thus far, could you talk about the price dynamics in relation to escalating natural gas prices, and if you're hearing anything in the market and from your customers in terms of scarcity constraints and upward pricing pressure in containerboard, please?

As you said, we have increased prices €60 plus €60 per ton, and that is already in I would say the P&L. Then we have done an additional price increase of €80 per ton for brown, unbleached kraftliner, €60 for white kraftliner.

That is not fully implemented yet in the result that will come in the fourth quarter. When it comes to testliner producers and impact from increasing gas prices, as far as we hear know price increases announced from that side, and we can also see that OCC prices is picking up a little bit.

I guess in some areas, they have rather strong cost pressures. On the other hand, we have an oversupply of testliner, I guess, in the market, and I guess many of those producers, they like to protect what they have in Europe.

That's maybe the reason why we haven't seen any further price announcements. I guess it is a rather tough situation being a testliner producer as it is just now.

Thanks a lot.

Thanks.

Hi, thank you very much for taking my question. I have two.

The first one on the containerboard side. I just wanted to get some more clarity on the demand that you're seeing for containerboard.

We've seen some players on the box side mentioning it's been hard to implement higher paper prices into boxes because box demand had not been great in Europe. I just wanted to understand if you are already seeing any of that hitting demand on the paper side, especially given the stronger price increases that we've seen lately for kraftliner versus testliner.

If you're seeing any sort of move towards the replacement of virgin for recycled products at this point, even though you just mentioned that the situation for testliner continues to be tough. I just wanted to understand if you're seeing any of your clients requesting some of that.

The second question will be on the wood prices. Basically, Andreas just mentioned a 4% to 5% decrease expected in the fourth quarter with some more calamity wood.

I just wanted to understand when we should see this phenomenon of higher calamity wood and lower prices being over and when we should see it actually stabilizing. If you think about the sustainability of the level of profitability in the Forest division especially on an EBITDA per cubic meter cubic meter excluding revaluation level, what should we think about profitability on a more recurring basis?

Are we close to getting there, and what would you expect once the calamity wood is over? Should we see prices moving back up because of the higher costs, or is this the new sustainable level for these prices?

Thank you.

If we try to remember the first question, first, box demand has picked up, as I said, maybe. It was a little bit slower in the summer, but just now during the autumn, we feel that the box demand is quite good.

Also, if we compare with the long-term trend, I guess we are more or less at the trend just now. The demand is picking up, and we've seen it in the e-commerce for a rather long while, but we now also feel that we have an increasing demand from industrial customers, which is, of course, good for us.

Then I don't know, but if the second part of that question was substitution, well, of course, if you have a delta now between kraftliner and testliner of €300 per ton, I guess that some companies, they try to substitute kraftliner if they can. We don't feel the pressure too hard just now, but, of course, that is always a risk.

Again, testliner is always cheaper than kraftliner, but, on the other hand, the quality, it's a different quality and different function. The second question, maybe, Andreas, for you?

The third one was what we see going into 2027. As I said, we think that we'll have another price decline now on both pulpwood and sawlogs into the fourth quarter on 4% 5% to 5%.

Then going into Q1, we have not yet seen any further price decreases of wood raw material. At the moment, we feel that we will be fairly flat, but it's too early to say.

Far, with this price decline in Q4, we have not seen anything further than that so far.

Very clear. Thank you.

Thank you.

Morning, thanks for taking my question. I'd like to start with the Pulp division.

The production volumes are very strong. Am I right to assume that this was CTMP ramping up and there's a little bit of a negative mixed effect from kind of the lower priced volumes on CTMP, and just any color on the production into the fourth quarter is the first question.

The second one is on forest valuation. Obviously, interest rates are higher.

You do have one of your peers effectively spinning their forest business in the first half of 2027, I'm just wondering how you're thinking about forest transaction levels, any commentary you can give from the data provider, and just how SCA is thinking about forest management overall. Thank you.

I start with the first one, pulp production. No, we have had a very good year in NBSK, and we are today at a better place than we were in the past.

I would say that we have increased capacity in NBSK. When it comes to CTMP, that is much more market-related, and we run the CTMP mill when energy prices are on decent level and when we feel that we can produce for deliveries to Europe, more or less.

Let's say that we run the CTMP mill by 60%, 70% of the capacity, and that is 100% market-related. NBSK is doing very well this year, and we have and we have had a very stable production in NBSK.

We are really happy for that. Good development.

Then in terms of volumes into Q4, we started the stop at Östrand NBSK pulp mill now at the end of the third quarter, but the big part of the stop will be in the fourth quarter. That, of course, will affect the volumes in the fourth quarter.

Then the second question in terms of forest transactions, we have statistics up until the summer, and it's, as still very few transactions, but so far they are no big changes, fairly stable so far. Again, very few transactions.

Then maybe just a follow-up on wood products. You've called out stable pricing and sawlog costs down quarter-on-quarter.

That implied some improvements into the fourth quarter. It's just unusual seasonally into the kind of the winter period, I'm just wondering if there's anything in the wood lumber business that we need to think about.

No, not really. You have, as we say, a lag effect when it comes to the wood supply.

We have supplied a big part of storm-felled logs, so that is one reason. We also, for the moment being, we have a small maybe surplus of logs in the market, and that is also, of course, related to what happened here almost 1 year ago.

On the other hand, that will give an opportunity to increase the margin for solid-wood products, even if the price will be on the same level. It's a limited risk, but on the other hand, when we process the windthrow logs, we can also see from time to time that we have blue stain, we have other damages in the wood, so that might have an impact on the price.

No big things, but we see it.

Just a reminder, when you talk about the Wood division, that you would buy the sawlog, but then you get the rest products of chips, which is pulpwood. The wood log of course goes down, but then also the by-products from the chips also goes down with the same amount, just to remind everybody.

Thank you.

Hi, good morning. Could you indicate where we are on the Obbola project now?

I think you said an EBITDA of a billion a couple of years ago.

Production-wise, we are still not at design capacity, I guess we need another year to reach 700,000 tons and a little bit above that. Step by step, and I don't know if you, Andreas, would like to say something about the financial impact.

No, I would say that, as you said, we're not at that 700,000 ton yet, of course we're not getting the full volumes effect. I think that the cost position is improving, but of course we still have to get that final cost from both reaching the full production, but also starting trimming the cost once we reached the full production.

Now we're starting to move back some volumes from overseas to Europe, and that means that we're starting to get better gross profit from those extra volumes compared to the previous quarters. Again, just to remind you, it's a big difference if you are forced to go with additional volumes on overseas markets in comparison with what you have in Europe, of course.

So. The margins today at the 700,000 tons, that would give the numbers you talked about some years ago?

In a normal market, yes.

Thank you. A last question from me.

What is your outlook on NBSK prices, say, the next six months, if you discuss pros and cons?

We don't forecast, and you know the market as good as we do. Again, if you look at China now, you see a little bit of a recovered market, and you see also when you look at futures that they are picking up.

We haven't got the latest data about development in the stock level, and so I guess we will have that now. I guess just now as we speak, we have many maintenance stops, and we have also seen announcements of prolonged stops, and we also have seen announcements of permanent closures and so on.

I guess now we will take out quite a lot of capacity from NBSK in the late third, but maybe even more in the fourth quarter, and I guess that will have a positive impact on the balance. When will it happen?

When will prices start to come up? Hard to say.

We saw some trial in US last month. It failed, but I guess sooner or later, we will have a better balance.

Maybe late this year, beginning of next year, I guess.

Thank you.

Morning, guys. Maybe just one from me, just for a point of clarification.

I see there was that tariff refund you guys received in Q3. Can you just elaborate on exactly what that is?

It's the first I've seen in the paper and packaging kind of sector so far. Then, secondly, is this something we should be expecting kind of going forward, 2027 and beyond, or is that just very much depend on where tariffs land up?

Just any color would be great. Thank you.

We paid tariffs on both wood, pulp, and containerboard last year for all the shipments to the US. For the tariffs on pulp and containerboard, they were said by the court in the US that they are not legal, so that then we asked for a refund, we got those tariffs we paid last year and part of this year back.

Now there is new tariffs on board. The tariffs on wood, 10%, they are legal, we didn't get any tariffs back.

Basically, what we paid previously on tariffs on pulp and containerboard, that we got back. Now we have to pay new tariffs for the volumes we ship to the US.

Okay. Thanks very much, that's all from me.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Hi, gents. You seem to be quite upbeat on the demand side for containerboard, but I'm curious where you are starting to see any sort of weakness in demand as a result of the higher interest rate environment we're in, obviously sort of inflationary environment we're in.

Are you seeing that starting to come through in the sawn wood business? Where are you actually starting to see that so far?

Also, on the same theme, we've got wood costs coming down, interest rates going up in terms of those forest transactions in your sort of regions. What are you seeing in terms of trends?

Anything you'd call out, the market dried up, what impact are those factors having on valuations, etc.?

The first one was about the impact of high interest on demand.

It's hard to say. As we've said now, we have a very mixed market situation, and I guess demand for containerboard, strong, really strong.

Demand for pulp, as it is just now, rather weak. Solid-wood products, it's okay, it's stable, but still not good enough for price increases in the first or in the fourth or in the fourth or the first quarter next year.

I guess we have to wait until the second quarter next year before we see something. I don't know what kind of impact interest rates will have on the demand in different areas.

It's always a question about supply, demand, and so I guess that's short term, that's more impact in the market. Then

in terms of forest trends, as said, so far, we don't see any big changes this year, very few transactions. Historically, the last two years, we had very, very strong development of wood raw material prices, but the forest prices didn't go up, the correlation was quite

low.

Of course, we'll have to see how it develops, but we have to remember that most forest owners are very long term, and you only harvest part of your forest each year. You might have a forest that's going to be harvested in 20 or 30 or 40 or 50 or 70 years, and that's why it's more of a long-term view of these changes.

Yeah. Fair enough.

Maybe just a quick one on 4Q. My line dropped during Linus's question, I think he was asking about the cost side.

I was surprised the costs were as low as they were in 3Q in the current environment. Curious what development you're seeing in some of the non-wood elements of cost in 4Q, like chemicals and logistics.

You mentioned shipping less containerboard at least, but on those different pockets of costs, what are the sort of trends you're seeing into 4Q?

As I mentioned, the wood cost is coming down another 4% to 5% in the fourth quarter. In terms of chemicals, the chemicals are going up again in the fourth quarter.

They went down in the third quarter compared to the second quarter, because people thought that the development in Middle East would improve, the energy prices and also the chemical prices went down. Now we see that the chemical prices are going up into the fourth quarter.

OCC, we think will be fairly stable. In terms of energy, we're coming into a colder period in Northern Sweden, which of course will be higher costs for our industries, but better for renewable energy.

Then, of course, we have seasonality. We always have lower costs in the third quarter compared to the other quarters.

That's very clear. Thank you.

Thank you. Firstly, in terms of containerboard, there are a number of packaging companies that are calling out deteriorating EU consumer confidence, geopolitical uncertainty, while you are calling out really strong demand on the containerboard side of things, mainly on the industrial products.

Can you just help us understand where is the mismatch? Is there any temporary impact coming in from inventory, because I think on one of your charts you are also showing that the inventory is on the higher side.

That's the first one. Then secondly, on capital allocation, with your capex winding down, what is the priority for free cash flow between deleveraging and returns to shareholders?

First start with the capital allocation question. I think I've previously guided on recurring capex for this year around 1.5 billion.

I think it will be slightly lower, around 1.4, because of some spillover to the next year, while I still think the strategic will be below 400 million. Then, as we mentioned before, that we are focused now on ramping up our strategic projects and getting cash flows from those investments, and once we have those cash flow, we'll have to look at how to spend that cash flow.

I don't know, you want to add anything, Ulf?

No. Then,

Ulf, I think the second one was about the containerboard demand compared to inventories.

I guess we have it's a balanced market, and that's the reason also why we came through with a third price increase in kraftliner. For kraftliner, it's a balanced market.

We can also see, as I said, after summer, an improved demand, and and what is positive for us us, I guess, is that we see it also from the industrial part. Retail has been strong for for long time, but now we see an increasing demand also from the industrial part.

Containerboard market the containerboard market is balanced, and it's also impacted now by the fact that we have had a number of longer or shorter maintenance stops during the the the autumn, it's more or less the same pattern as we have in in, yeah, in NBSK or pulp.

As mentioned before, they had several large closures in the US last year. Of course, it takes a while for those closures to give an effect, because usually it takes time to close, you have inventory that is sold off, but they're starting to give effect now, and of course that have helped to improve the balance.

That was more or less between 3 and 4 million tons,

it's

quite a big volume. Yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you.

This then concludes our presentation of our third-quarter report. We would also like to take this opportunity to welcome you back in late January, when we will present our full-year report.

Thank you for attending.