M-real's result before taxes excluding non-recurring items was 28 million Euros (15), and earnings per share from continuing operations excluding non-recurring items were 0.07 Euro (0.03)."The profitability of our cartonboard business improved in the first quarter. However, cost inflation has accelerated, which is why M-real needs to increase the prices of board and paper in the future as well," said Mikko Helander, CEO of M-real. "M-real targets a significant profitability improvement by developing the cartonboard business according to its strategy, and planning to either divest or alternatively close the unprofitable paper units."The operating result for the Consumer

Packaging business area improved compared to the corresponding period

last year, but for business area Office Paper the operating result weakened. The operating result for Speciality Paper business area was negative.

The number of personnel was 4,515 at the end of March (31 December 2010: 4,538).

Gross investments in January–March totalled twelve million Euros, compared to seven million the first quarter last year.