Storm-hit wood pricing collides with a new drive to monetize land for data centers.
HOLM-B.ST · Earnings Call · 2026-08-20
Storm fallout and wood costs
Holmen's second quarter results were 'solid' per CEO Henrik Sjölund, but the underlying pressures are unmistakable. The storm felling in central Sweden has forced the company to divert harvesting resources and raise costs by SEK 10–15 million in Q2, with CFO Stefan Lorehn warning that “we will have increased harvesting costs due to the storm” — Stefan Lorehn, CFO · 2026-08-20. The company also carries a 'backpack' of wood bought at higher prices, which it is slowly consuming. As Lorehn notes, “Wood cost would have been cheaper if we did not have that backpack.” — Stefan Lorehn, CFO · 2026-08-20
Energy: volatility gives way to planning
The energy division, which had benefited from extreme price swings earlier in the year, saw prices normalize to ~SEK 400/MWh in Q2. Yet the company is quietly positioning for the next wave. Henrik Sjölund revealed that Holmen is actively “helping companies to make sure that they can produce, for example, an AI center up in the northern part of Sweden” — Henrik Sjölund, CEO · 2026-08-20, leveraging its vast land holdings and access to fossil-free power. The strategy to sell land for such projects is explicit:
The base case is to sell a bit of land for a totally different price than if you grow trees.
This is a fresh AI center theme, a notable departure from the company's traditional forest and paper focus.
Board & paper: operating above market
Despite weak European demand, Board and Paper delivered a strong quarter on high volumes. “It was quite a strong performance from Board and Paper in the second quarter, mainly driven by high deliveries” — Stefan Lorehn, CFO · 2026-08-20, said Lorehn. The company's order books remain 'fairly full' and it is running at higher operating rates than the industry's ~75%. This is a rare support pillar as the order book continues to hold up.
Strategic turn: land monetisation
Holmen's move to repurpose land for data centres is not a one-off. It echoes a broader global theme of AI center as a growth vector, though volumes are still small. The CEO admitted the model is evolving: “It's an interesting business for us. We are not fully there yet, but we will tell you when we have done our first part of the business.” — Henrik Sjölund, CEO · 2026-08-20
Prior concerns persist
This pivot comes against a backdrop of ongoing industry pressures. In the January call, Lorehn had downplayed tariff exposure: “Our exposure to the U.S. market is quite limited, Pallav, when it comes to both Board and sawmill and Paper.” — Stefan Lorehn, CFO · 2026-01-30 And in October, he reiterated the sawlog cost headwind: “We have taken down production in the southern part of Sweden, where the log costs are simply too high.” — Stefan Lorehn, CFO · 2025-10-23 These structural issues have not disappeared, but the company's balance sheet remains strong, and the new AI land strategy offers a distinctive optionality.
The takeaway
Holmen is navigating the storm in its core, but the real narrative is the emergence of a new, higher-value AI center business—one that could transform its land from timberland to tech real estate. Whether that becomes material is unproven, but it is a clear strategic pivot worth monitoring.