The questions
1. World economic growth remains slow. Has your company taken particular financial measures as a precaution against a prolonged downturn? What are they?
2. Most corporates finance themselves with a combination of loans, bonds and commercial paper. How do you decide on the mix that’s right for your company?
3. Many banks use credit derivatives to transfer their lending risk. How do you feel about banks doing this with your loans?
4. Corporate treasurers are being encouraged to place spare cash in money market funds rather than bank deposits. What is your view of this trend?
5. Has the overall service you get from banks improved, got worse or stayed the same over the past 12 months? What kind of further service improvements would you like to see?
1. We have strengthened our balance sheet structure to buffer any prolonged downturn.
2. Capital markets are the main funding source today. Bank loan facilities are used as back-up lines.
3. We expect our core banks to keep position in Stora Enso. We understand that sometimes there is the need to transfer banks’ lending risk using derivatives.
4. This is a positive trend.
5. Generally, the service has improved. We would like to see banks improve their IT related services so that we can automate further the allocation of customer payments against invoices.