Pulp and paper company Domtar is reporting an operating loss of between $30 million and $35 million for the second quarter of 2013 – the result of production problems and maintenance slowdowns at several of its mills.
The B.C. company is reporting the results in advance of the release of its second quarter financials July 25.
The high cost of freight and fewer pulp shipments also affected the company’s performance. The operating loss includes a litigation settlement charge of $49 million, closure and restructuring costs of $18 million, a charge of $5 million related to the impairment and write down of property, plant and equipment and depreciation and amortization of $93 million.
“We had suboptimal pulp productivity and unusually high costs due to significant planned maintenance and delayed restarts in our pulp mills,” said John Williams, president and CEO of Domtar.
Williams said that the company expects to return to normal production levels by the end of the third quarter.
More than 100 workers lost their jobs earlier this year when Domtar closed part of its Kamloops pulp mill. The company said it could not compete globally with other producers of the same pulp product.
