Mondi postpones paper machine investment at Stefi mill

Paper and packaging company Mondi has decidedto postpone its €135m investment in a new 90,000 tonne per year machine glazed speciality kraft paper machine at its Stefi mill in the Czech Republic following a "careful review" of market conditions.

The group said there was no change to its €335m investment in modernising the mill, including rebuilding the fibre lines, de-bottlenecking the existing packaging paper machines and a new recovery boiler, which is progressing as planned.

Chief executive officer Peter Oswald said: "While the proposed new machine remains an exciting investment opportunity, offering the lowest cost production of its sort in Europe, recently announced industry capacity expansions are expected to result in a market imbalance over the period in which the new machine was planned to come on line."

At 1355 BST, the shares were down 1.6% to 2,077p.