HELSINKI (From news reports) -- Stora Enso continues to be late with its invoice payments to subcontractors, and to a greater extent than when Dagens industri made its revelation last fall.

The newspaper points out that, despite backtracking and promising to improve, the company pays its supplier invoices after the due date in two out of three cases, compared to an average of just over a third in the previous period.

According to Stora Enso, the delays are mainly due to changed procedures, where a practice of automatically paying suppliers on a weekly basis has been introduced since last year.

"In practice, this means that payment can be made up to six days after the agreed date. Added to this is the time it takes for bank transfers," press officer Carl Norell tells Di, adding that the new payment system is subject to negotiation in new terms and conditions agreements.

When Di made its revelation last fall, it emerged that the company deliberately delayed payments in order to improve its own cash flow.