EL7.AI
StocksMedium•23 October 2026•
3 min read

Unable to Verify Claim That SCA Earnings Beat Third-Quarter Expectations by 3%

Key Facts

1SCA first-half sales fell 6% to 9,893 million Swedish kronor from 10,541 million.
2First-half EBITDA was 2,410 million Swedish kronor, compared with 3,684 million a year earlier.
3Second-quarter EBITDA rose to 1,303 million Swedish kronor from 1,107 million in the first quarter.
4SCA announced a 100-euro-per-tonne price increase for all kraftliner grades in Europe, effective 1 September 2026.

It could not be verified that Swedish company SCA beat third-quarter earnings expectations by 3%, and no evidence was available to show that the pulp segment drove results. The company was scheduled to publish its report on 23 October 2026 at 08:00, following a 30-day quiet period before its release. In the first half, net sales fell 6% to 9,893 million Swedish kronor from 10,541 million in the corresponding period. EBITDA declined to 2,410 million kronor from 3,684 million. These figures provide background on the pressures the company faced before announcing third-quarter results, while the quarter’s performance itself remains unverified here.

SCA attributed the first-half sales decline mainly to lower selling prices and negative currency effects, and said higher delivery volumes partly offset those factors. The company linked the fall in EBITDA to selling prices, exchange rates and raw-material costs. In the second quarter, it said the year-on-year decline in earnings was linked to lower selling prices, negative currency effects and higher raw-material costs. This account points to the range of pressures the company cited in its first-half disclosures. It does not, by itself, establish the performance of any particular segment in the third quarter.

Quarter on quarter, EBITDA in the second quarter rose to 1,303 million Swedish kronor from 1,107 million in the first quarter, while the EBITDA margin increased to 25.3% from 23.4%. SCA attributed the improvement to higher selling prices, lower raw-material costs and increased delivery volumes. Planned maintenance shutdown costs and higher fuel prices, however, limited the increase. This trend provides a comparison between the first and second quarters, but does not settle the direction of third-quarter performance.

In the first quarter, SCA sales fell 8% to 4,740 million Swedish kronor from 5,161 million a year earlier. The company said lower selling prices and negative currency effects were the main reasons for the decline. The company’s first-half disclosures thus showed continued pressure from prices and exchange rates on sales, alongside higher raw-material costs weighing on earnings. The 3% beat of expectations cited in the initial draft could not be verified from a reliable open source, and no evidence was available to support an explanation based on the pulp segment’s performance or weakness in other segments.

On pricing, SCA announced in August that it would raise prices for all grades of kraftliner in Europe by 100 euros per tonne, with the new prices taking effect from 1 September 2026. The announcement places the price increase in the second-half backdrop, but its actual impact on the company’s results was unclear from the available information. SCA is scheduled to publish its fourth-quarter and full-year report on 29 January 2027. The upcoming results will provide a more recent picture of the company’s performance following the pressures recorded in the first half and the announced kraftliner price adjustment.