A SUCCESSFUL YEAR
FOR THE KWH GROUP
The past year has been a highly successful one for the KWH Group. Sales increased by 8 %, and profits reached the record 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 definite 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.
CONFIDENCE IN THE FUTURE
In 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 increasing market shares and growth within the new business areas. Through the active recruitment 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 profitable growth.
In spite of the challenging business climate, all business groups have succeeded in achieving satisfactory growth figures. This success is due to a successful product and service development programme and a strong sales network.
The most immediate threats are political concerns which will probably lead to increased protectionism, trade barriers and sharp currency fluctuations. For an export-dependent company such as the KWH Group, it is essential to maintain international competitiveness in the labour market in Finland. The competitiveness pact is a step in the right direction, but further measures are required to ensure that the goals that have been set are actually achieved.
ALL OUR CORE AREAS WILL GROW
Mirka will continue to grow in the majority of 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 family-owned company in the same sector in Poland. This is a crucial step forward for Prevex. 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 operations which can be slotted in to one of our three core areas, Mirka, Logistics or Prevex. The KWH Group already possesses the financial resources required to increase our growth rate if opportunities are identified.
Kjell Antus, CEO