New CEO expected for Portuguese paper giant Navigator

The CEO of paper manufacturer Navigator, Diogo da Silveira, is to quit his post heading Navigator.

The paper maker has informed the market that he does not wish to be reelected for a new term in office and will leave on 9 April.

Until a new CEO can be elected, the Chairman of Navigator, João Castello Branco will stand in.

The company’s profits have gone up and down like a yo-yo since 2013 when they stood at net €210 million, falling back to €196.4 million in 2015, €217.5 million in 2016 and €207.8 million in 2017.

The Navigator Company (formerly known as Portucel Soporcel Group) has a productive capacity of 1.6 million tonnes of paper and 1.4 million tonnes of pulp, with 1,380 km2 of forest and an annual turnover of over €1.5Bn.

It is Europe’s largest producer of bleached eucalyptus kraft pulp and is also one of the five largest European producers of uncoated wood-free paper.

Diogo da Silveira’s decision to leave comes five years after having occupied the top job but he says he has fulfilled his mission to “rejuvenate and diversify Navigator.”

Navigator highlighted da Silveira’s central role in “the process of diversifying its activity and the transformation and modernisation of Navigator in terms of its staff, image and management methods”.

The announcement was made on the same day that the company divulged its annual results for 2018 having closed the year with healthy profits of €225 million, a growth of 8% on the previous year while price increases helped offset the effects of several days of production stoppage which were both scheduled and unexpected.

“Restrictions on production had strongly constrained pulp availability for sale throughout 2018, particularly in the first eight months of the year,” states the company with stoppages at its factory in Figueira da Foz and paper pulp line at Setúbal and also the impact of Hurricane Leslie.