Giant leaps toward reinvention

At the start of the financial period, demand was at a good level for all product lines and subsidiaries. When the coronavirus crisis began in mid-March, Grano successfully adapted its expenditures to match the order volumes that had declined by 30% on average. The average order price increased correspondingly at the same time, so Grano’s actual net sales turned out higher than expected. Demand dropped primarily for sheet printing, large-scale prints and the subsidiaries Grano Digital Oü and Grano Diesel Oy.

The company made giant reformative leaps amidst the crisis, creating a new group strategy, launching more than 10 coronavirus protection products and piloting an agile operating model for sales and marketing, among other efforts. One of the most significant coronavirus protection products was the protective apron development by Grano in collaboration with experts from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. So far, more than 1,000,000 protective aprons have been delivered to health care providers.

Significant customer value now and in the future

Grano’s shift in focus from products to services is at the core of the company’s new strategy. The most substantial difference from before is the transition from a hierarchical management system to shared leadership and from production economy to customer economy. The new strategy will enable Grano to generate significant customer value now and in the future.

Marketing communications as a market will grow in the long term. This provides a wealth of opportunities to Grano as a versatile expert in marketing communications. In the short term, the declining paper-based communications market, in particular, presents a challenge, but Grano has plenty of potential to seize market share from its competitors.

Grano is entering the 2021 financial period from a position that is stronger than anticipated. The significant reforms initiated in the autumn of 2020 will be completed over the course of the financial period. The changes will enable Grano’s growth far into the future. The operating environment will remain unpredictable and challenging. Thanks to the new structural arrangement and shared leadership, however, Grano will be able to react more quickly to changes in the operating environment and help its customers achieve impactful communications despite the changing world.

The strong commitment and flexible approach of the Grano team has resulted in the end result for the 2020 financial period being better than expected. Customers trust Grano, and the feedback they provide helps develop the company further every day.