Tuesday, January 3, 2012

PPI; Five Companies to Watch

Five companies to watch: As the New Year kicks off, what better place to start than to highlight the companies we at PPI think will be the ones the watch over the coming 12 months.

UPM
UPM is big in graphic papers in Europe, but it is also making huge progress elsewhere and away from the commodities based end of the paper industry. And this is why the Finnish giant appears on list of Five to Watch for 2012. UPM has garnered a reputation as being one of the most innovative in the global industry and it continues to pursue its "Biofore" strategy which it devised in recent years, which of which it says : "Bio stands for future orientation, sustainable solutions and good environmental performance. Fore stands for forest and the company's position at the forefront of development".

International Paper
Often, we look at smaller companies, those flying under the radar so to speak, to fill out this list. It's a given that the larger companies are almost always in the spotlight. However, this year PPI's long-time Number One in the Top 100 listings (PPI, September 2011) merits special attention and not only because its CEO, John Faraci, also was named Number One in the RISI Top 50 Power List (PPI, July 2011). And, Paul Herbert, CEO of Ilim Group, in which IP holds a 50% stake, was recently named Global CEO of the Year at the recent PPI Awards gala held in November.