79CK Qnb Fin 24

RNS Number:9525R
Sappi Ld
25 February 2002

                                                                   Johannesburg





Press Release


25 February 2002


SAPPI EXPECTS MARKETS TO IMPROVE SLOWLY IN SECOND HALF



Sappi announced at its AGM today (25 February 2002) that it expects to return

its North American business to profitability in the second half of the year and

that, provided the world economy does not deteriorate from its current

projections, it still expects quarterly earnings per share for the rest of the

year to improve to levels similar to those of the fourth quarter 2001.



"The state of the North American coated paper market is our biggest challenge

as it is severely pressured by imported product at low prices.  Our own imports

there are also rising significantly," said Sappi Chairman Eugene van

As. "Retail spending in the USA is increasing and the economy should start to

recover soon. We are therefore confident of returning this business to

profitability."



The new Chief Executive in North America, Kathleen Walters, has now joined the

group and Monte Haymon, the retiring chief executive, is working with her to

effect a smooth transition of leadership.



Consumer inventories of coated woodfree paper in all markets have been sharply

reduced over the last eighteen months, resulting in shipments from producing

mills being much lower than end user consumption.  Sappi expects shipments to

rise in the short term to match consumption, increasing substantially once the

world economies turn, advertising spend begins to recover and end users of

coated paper start normalising their inventories.





Van As concluded by saying that: "We continue to focus on improving the

fundamentals of our business within the constraints of the current market

excess capacity.  Growing our market share has been limited in the past year

due to the extent of the downtime we have taken, but our geographic spread has

minimised the impact of weaker regional markets and currency volatility on our

total business.  We will continue to control our costs and focus on the

opportunities to grow our market share when the market changes."





ENDS



For further information:



Andre F Oberholzer

Corporate Affairs and Communication Manager

Sappi Limited



Tel +27 (0) 11 407 8044

Fax +27 (0) 11 403 8236

Andre.oberholzer@za.sappi.com







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