Page 6 - KWH Group – Annual Review 2016

A SUCCESSFUL YEAR FOR THE KWH GROUPThe past year has been a highly success- ful one for the KWH Group. Sales in- creased by 8%, and pro ts reached therecord level we had been hoping for.2016 provided us with some surprising events. Great Britain voted for Brexit and Donald Trump was elected President of the USA. Some of the consequences of these events are impossible to predict, but it is safe to say that uncertainty will grow. The lesson from these two events is that we are living at a time when populism is strong and people have a de nite propensity to vote for change. This may also lead to the occurrence of other individual events which could have decisive and disturbing effects on economic growth. Generally speaking, the consensus is that the global economy will grow during 2017.Con dence in the futureIn recent years, the KWH Group has had a deliberate policy of investing in projects with payback far in the future. Already in 2017, we can see that the long-term investments are beginning to pay off in the form of increas- ing market shares and growth within the new business areas. Through the active recruit- ment of key personnel and investing in skills development, we are well placed to take on new and challenging assignments from our customers.I took over as CEO on 1 January 2017, and I can see that the KWH Group is well placed to succeed in realising Vision 2020, which will produce continued pro table growth.In spite of the challenging business climate, all business groups have succeeded in achiev-ing satisfactory growth gures. This success is due to a successful product and service development programme and a strong sales network.The most immediate threats are political con- cerns which will probably lead to increased protectionism, trade barriers and sharp cur- rency uctuations. For an export-depend- ent company such as the KWH Group, it is essential to maintain international competi- tiveness in the labour market in Finland. The competitiveness pact is a step in the right di- rection, but further measures are required to ensure that the goals that have been set are actually achieved.All our core areas will growMirka will continue to grow in the majorityof market areas.Thanks to the new industry service concept, Logistics will be able to establish operations in a number of locations in Finland.During the year, Prevex acquired a fami- ly-owned company in the same sector in Po- land. This is a crucial step forward for Pre- vex. This opens new opportunities and will provide a new platform for continued strong growth in Europe.We expect organic growth to remain good, while we search out new complimentary op- erations which can be slotted in to one of our three core areas, Mirka, Logistics or Pre- vex. The KWH Group already possesses the nancial resources required to increase our growth rate if opportunities are identi ed.4