NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) June 9, 2005--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it revised its outlook on specialty paper producer Appleton Papers Inc. to negative from stable. At the same time, it affirmed all ratings, including the 'BB' corporate credit rating. "The rating action reflects credit measures that remain somewhat weaker than we had been expecting Appleton to achieve," said Standard&Poor's credit analyst Pamela Rice. "Although we had expected that Appleton would need to pursue growth opportunities to replace shrinking carbonless paper volumes, we had anticipated a greater portion to be generated internally. However, revenue growth of thermal products has been less robust than originally projected. In addition, the operating margins of acquired businesses are
