Billerud and design firm No Picnic form new company

Billerud and design firm No Picnic form new company

Develop packaging from first concept to store shelf in half the time

Nine is a consulting company specialising in the entire chain from new product
concept to the packaged item in the store. Today it takes around one to two
years for a food producer to get a new product onto the store shelves. By
gathering expertise in material selection, packaging, design, brand promotion
and logistics within one company, the development time from idea to shelf can be
cut to 6-8 months.

Nine TPP, Total Packaging Partner, AB is a venture led by Billerud and No
Picnic, one of Scandinavia's leading design firms. The jointly owned subsidiary
is the result of a long period of co-operation during which entirely new product
concepts have been developed for pasta, confectionery, potato crisps and other
food.

Billerud has specialist know how in material selection, machinery and production
optimisation. No Picnic specialises in design, trends and consumer behaviour.
Putting the two areas of expertise together means that Nine has all the skills
required to launch a new product.

“More and more businesses have learnt that product development and packaging
development are not parallel processes - they are in fact integrated. The
companies that understand this will discover significant benefits from working
with Nine,” explains Jon Haag, CEO at Nine.

Nine's business concept is that a brand owner only needs to assign a single
partner to package a new food product, for example, or a new hygiene item or
non-prescription drug. Nine aims to be first choice for customers whether they
are launching a new product that requires a changed packaging line, are looking
for smarter in-store handling or just want a new design.

“Our ambition for Billerud is to sell more than pulp and paper. As we have said
before, we aim to develop our business. Analysis of the value chain for packaged
food has shown obvious areas for improvement. With Nine we can use our expertise
to shorten development cycles for food producers. That makes everyone a winner,”
says Per Lindberg, President and CEO of Billerud.

The name, Nine, comes from the nine stages of development that run from new
product concept to packaged product on the store shelf.

The new company will not have any impact on earnings for Billerud in 2007.


Stockholm, 10 September 2007
Billerud AB (publ)


Per Lindberg
President and CEO

For further information, please contact
Per Lindberg, President and CEO, Billerud, +468-553 335 00
Jon Haag, CEO of Nine TPP, +46 70-207 25 57
Sam Peters, CEO of No Picnic, +46 8-556 965 50

More details
Read more about Nine at www.ninetpp.com

Billerud is a packaging paper company. The company's business concept is to
offer customers packaging materials and solutions that promote and protect their
products - packaging that is attractive, strong and based on renewable
materials. Billerud has a world-leading position within several product segments
including paper for consumer packaging and industrial applications. Production
takes place at three integrated pulp and paper mills in Sweden and at one paper
mill in the UK.

No Picnic
No Picnic is a Stockholm-based design company specialising in innovation,
concept development, design of products and packaging, and brand environment.
Assignments range from cosmetics to high tech space projects and prototypes
illustrating a future business vision. The company was formed in 1993 and has
since become one of Scandinavia's largest and best-reputed design businesses.
Read more at www.nopicnic.se