Sihl+Eika with record sales last year

 Paper trader Sihl+Eika sold more paper in 2007 than ever before. The volume of paper sold rose by 3.6 percent to over 108,000 tons compared to the previous year, while sales increased by 6.9 percent to CHF 208.5 million. The operating result of the Thalwil-based company grew even more strongly. It rose from CHF 12.9 million in 2006 to CHF 13.9 million last year.The Sihl+Eika Group was also able to increase its market share in Switzerland again in 2007. According to its own figures, this amounted to just under 33 percent. Two years previously, the country's second-largest paper wholesaler only had a share of around 30 percent. Company boss Daniel Meier is also confident about the current year: he is expecting further growth despite poorer economic forecasts. At least in the first quarter of the year, sales and turnover have developed as expected and the necessary price increases due to high raw material prices have been implemented on the market, he told the media on Tuesday.
The recent change of ownership should have no direct impact on Sihl+Eika. The Papyrus wholesale organization, which includes the Swiss company, was spun off from the Finnish company Stora Enso at the end of April. Since then, it has been in the hands of the Swedish financial investor Altor. The aim is to make Papyrus the largest paper merchant in Europe. According to Meier, the independence of Sihl+Eika will not change. This is because paper sales are a locally anchored business.