PAPER and pulp manufacturer Sappi on Thursday forecast significant gains in earnings per share this year and more progress in trimming debts. ”[Sappi] is on track for a substantial increase in earnings per share and a further significant debt reduction in the current financial year,” chief executive Eugene van As told the group’s annual general meeting. Sappi, drawing on its feedback from suppliers, forecast that the trend in rising pulp prices would continue and said that a pulp prices, which have already reached $639 per metric ton from $460 a year ago, should advance to $670 by April.