S&P cuts UPM-Kymmene to junk

Standard & Poor's said it lowered the long-term issuer credit ratings on UPM-Kymmene Corp. to BB+ from BBB- and its short-term issuer credit ratings to B from A-3, reflecting weak profitability and cash generation. Ratings were removed from CreditWatch, where they were placed with negative implications on Feb. 24.

The outlook is negative.

"The downgrade follows an adjustment to our financial base case scenario reflecting challenging forest product market conditions," S&P analyst Andreas Zsiga said in a statement.

"As a consequence, we consider UPM-Kymmene's financial risk profile and prospective financial performance to be in line with a 'BB+' rating. The downgrade also reflects our view that UPM-Kymmene's business risk is somewhat higher than in the past due to the operating environment in the forest product sector," Zsiga said.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.