Ahlstrom's Capital Markets Day on November 21, 2013

Ahlstrom Corporation STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE November 21, 2013 at 9.15

Ahlstrom, a global high performance fiber-based materials company, is arranging its Capital Markets Day today, November 21, in Helsinki, Finland. The event will give further insight into the company's growth strategy extending to the year 2020 and how Ahlstrom will reach its long-term financial targets.

Following the major transformation the company has undergone in the past few years, Ahlstrom announced its new strategic agenda and its long-term financial targets in September.  

The company aims to grow with a high performance product offering for a clean and healthy environment.

"In our strategic roadmap for growth, we will build on our current businesses, which offer good opportunities for growth globally. In addition, we have identified three new high growth areas: clean water, medical diagnostics and composites for the construction and transportation industries," said Jan Lång, President and CEO.

"Ahlstrom is targeting an operating profit margin excluding non-recurring items of 7% in 2016. I am confident that we can achieve this through margin and volume improvement of our product portfolio and improved performance from our focus units. In addition, our rightsizing program will have an annual net effect of approximately EUR 25 million by the end of 2014, with full effect visible in early 2015," said Lång.

"We are pleased with the progress we have made with the pipeline of our new products, driven by our increased investments into product development. Therefore, I am confident we can reach our ambitious long-term target of generating 20% of net sales from new products," stated Lång.

The outlook for 2013 remains unchanged.  

The speakers of the day are:
- Jan Lång, President & CEO
- Fulvio Capussotti, Executive Vice President, Advanced Filtration
- Seppo Parvi, CFO & Executive Vice President, Food and Medical
- Jari Koikkalainen, Executive Vice President, Transportation Filtration
- Paul Stenson, Executive Vice President; Product & Technology Development

Presentation materials of the day are available at approximately 9.00 am (CET+1) on http://www.ahlstrom.com/en/investors.

For more information, please contact:
Liisa Nyyssönen
Vice President, Communications
Tel. +358 10 888 4757

Ahlstrom in brief
Ahlstrom is a high performance fiber-based materials company, partnering with leading businesses around the world to help them stay ahead. Our products are used in a large variety of everyday applications, such as filters, medical gowns and drapes, diagnostics, wallcoverings, flooring and food packaging. We have a leading market position in the businesses in which we operate. In 2012, Ahlstrom's net sales from the continuing operations (excluding Label and Processing business) amounted to EUR 1 billion. Our 3,800 employees serve customers in 24 countries. Ahlstrom's share is quoted on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki. More information available at www.ahlstrom.com.