BUCKSPORT — Verso Paper reported a net loss of $73.9 million for the first three months of 2012.

In a press release, the Memphis, Tenn.-based company cited a decrease in sales volume and the price paid for its products as factors in the loss.

The company’s net sales dropped $41.3 million (9.9 percent) in the first quarter, from $416,592,000 in the first three months of 2011 to $375,295,000 in same timeframe this year.

“Typically, the first quarter is a seasonally slow quarter due to lower demand for coated paper,” the company said in its statement.

There was “unusually high sales volume” in March of 2011, according to the press release, which had a positive impact on that year’s report.

“The decline in sales volume for the first quarter of 2012 was also affected by the permanent shutdown of three paper machines in the fourth quarter of 2011,” the company’s statement said.

One of those machines was at the Bucksport mill, which resulted in the loss of 109 jobs there. The other machines were at a Verso mill in Minnesota.

Mike Jackson, Verso’s president and CEO, said the company anticipates “both pulp and paper prices will gain positive momentum as we move into the latter part of the second quarter and continuing into the busier second half of the year.”

Jackson also noted that the company attained its “best ever safety performance” in the first quarter, which he said also has a “positive influence on costs.”

For more business news, pick up a copy of The Ellsworth American.