Mercer Int'l (NASDAQ: MERC) reported Q3 EPS of $0.63, $0.11 worse than the analyst estimate of $0.74. Revenue for the quarter came in at $331.06 million versus the consensus estimate of $394.37 million.

Mr. David M. Gandossi, the Chief Executive Officer, stated: "Our agreements to acquire Daishowa-Marubeni International Ltd. and the Santanol sandalwood business reflect our disciplined approach to acquisitions and capital allocation. Both advance our long-term value creation strategy to deliver sustainable profitable growth. These businesses leverage our core competencies and complement the world-class assets that comprise Mercer’s platform for growth.

Our third quarter performance reflected modestly higher average pulp prices and the absence of the scheduled downtime we took in the second quarter to implement productivity upgrades at Celgar. While the ramp-up of this new equipment negatively affected production early in the third quarter, the mill is now meeting our performance objectives. We also took significant downtime in our lumber business in the third quarter, completing important upgrades to our large saw line and installing a new auto-grader in the existing planer mill. These capital investments have increased production, optimized lumber grading and reflect our commitment to continuous improvements in our plant, equipment and operations.

Global pulp markets remained steady throughout the quarter, while our third quarter lumber realizations were negatively impacted by weaker demand in the U.S. market, where approximately 25% of our lumber is sold.”

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