CEO Tapio Tommila:

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Setting a new course through corporate transactions
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The coronavirus pandemic continued to impact the operations of Panostaja and its segments through 2021. As a result, the financial year was still exceptional but also extremely active. Panostaja’s year was characterized by three divestments most of all: Helakeskus in February, Heatmasters in June and Spectra at the beginning of July. We had already made a long journey together with all of the divested companies. Helakeskus and Spectra were incorporated into larger organizations by industrial buyers. Heatmasters, in turn, will continue as the Finnish market leader in its field with support from new investors.

Immediately after the end of the financial period, we also made an arrangement that reduced Panostaja’s shareholding in Carrot Palvelut to less than 20%. At the same time, we relinquished the responsibility for steering the company. Our journey together with Carrot has been challenging, and the company will now head toward new opportunities under the management of private shareholders.

All of the completed divestments support Panostaja’s strategy and the goal of actively developing our portfolio. We are heading into the new financial period to build an even more focused portfolio. There is currently a lot of money and competition for investments on the corporate acquisitions market, but, despite the busy market situation, I believe that we will be able to find good investment opportunities.

Predictability remains a challenge

The year 2021 brought about challenges, but there were also signs of a wider revitalization of demand at the end of the financial period as the coronavirus crisis loosened its grip. In the first half of the year, however, the demand for almost all of our segments was substantially weaker than normal and, even from an overall perspective, the net sales and profitability development in the financial year fell short of the targets. Despite the fact that the impacts of the coronavirus crisis were not quite as far-reaching as in the previous financial period, predictability remained more challenging than normal during the past financial period. The actual monthly net sales levels were more defined by the severity of the COVID-19 waves than factors such as the normal seasonal nature of business operations. Furthermore, the international travel restrictions that continued late into the financial period slowed down new projects for CoreHW and Hygga, in particular.

Face-to-face meetings, too

This year, too, day-to-day activities were characterized by remote work arrangements for Panostaja and its segments. Still, this has helped to increase work efficiency and add flexibility to fitting work and free time together. On the other hand, the prolonged period of remote work, without meeting anyone face to face, has also introduced a variety of stress factors. Even though we at Panostaja will continue the hybrid work arrangements, it has been wonderful to meet colleagues regularly to exchange ideas in person once the restrictions were pared back. Hopefully we can continue to do so in the coming financial period.