Framery plans to go public

Stocks
,
24

How do you see Framery’s competitive advantage existing/persisting? Surely phone booths can’t be patented in all aspects, and if, for example, Martela also had a top-notch product that didn’t take off, is the competitive advantage merely brand recognition and a name that’s more suitable for international markets?

So, I’m not belittling Framery’s products, and I’ve sat in all sorts of booths myself, but as long as I can’t directly transfer my meeting to the booth wall with perfect video/audio/internet connection only in a Framery booth, I don’t really see why some other operator (read: foreign and likely from Asia) wouldn’t make similar ones and drive the price down?

9 Likes
25

Owners want to sell part or all of it. The company, with those figures and dividend payment plans, doesn’t need a single penny more on its balance sheet.

The key question is what the company’s competitive advantage is when low-cost producers jump into the business. There’s always a rush to the honey pot eventually, even if someone might get there alone for a moment.

7 Likes
26

I clearly see a lot of competitive advantage regarding the pods compared to competitors. 15 years focused on their development and refined supply chains, manufacturing, resellers, contacts, etc. And through that, margins. And as the CEO mentioned, a lot of sales come from returning customers who buy more booths for their offices. So the product works and the customer base has found it necessary.

Others also have similar soundproof booths, but few seem to focus solely on them. For example, Martela also has a booth, but their core business is in other products.

I think office spaces need a lot of optimization now. If/when employees are ordered back to offices, there won’t be enough seating, as office spaces have been reduced in the aftermath of Corona (based on my own experience). The easiest way is to get pods for open-plan offices for meeting and concentration spaces. So, just as the CEO mentioned, this trend benefits Framery.

But that software business is what I’m a bit puzzled about. What is its added value alongside current products? Currently, existing meeting rooms can already be booked for meetings in Teams/Google systems. And similarly, pods can be integrated into these existing systems. So, does this compete with these giants? Is it expected that employees will download a separate app to book these? Being able to quickly book a space for yourself from outside a meeting room/pod is quite convenient, but is it ultimately worth the price for the office worker and the company, bringing much added value? Or tracking utilization rates, is that very useful for a company? Some meeting space must exist, even if its utilization rate is low. And office spaces cannot really be optimized on a monthly/semi-annual basis (or perhaps in the future with Framery’s subscription service).

It occurs to me that since the smart office category has been found to grow faster than the pod market itself and sounds sexier, a product is being developed from it that, at least on paper, seems suitable alongside the pods. However, pods are almost traditional industrial assembly, and this is where the company’s strong expertise lies. So, how smoothly will the pivot to software sales succeed? Software naturally has better margins. Anecdotally, as an office user, I don’t see anything in this Framery software that would make my workday easier. But it’s possible I’m not seeing the big picture.

This listing is a private equity investor’s exit. Growth has been profitable so far, so I don’t know what this money is needed for by the company, as no clear major acquisition or investment was announced. An exit is not a bad thing; Vaaka’s investment horizon with Framery has been met. And it’s great that a new company is being listed on the stock exchange and we get to own it.

35 Likes
27

In many ways, Framery looks like a real gem, but what could go wrong with the IPO?

Gem characteristics:

-An operator in a rapidly growing market
-Market leader in its field
-Sales well diversified globally, bringing stability

-Significantly profitable
-Debts under control
-New innovations and patents
-Based on public scrutiny, products proven to work
-Generous profit distribution and able to finance investments generously with cash flow
-Management’s appearances do not give the impression of tired, uninnovative leaders or creators of castles in the air, but rather of down-to-earth, growth-hungry individuals

Potential IPO pitfalls:

-The offering is overpriced à la Cityvarasto
-A large portion of the offering is carved out for institutional investors, and due to strong oversubscription, small investors are left with only scraps and a sour mood

In any case, in addition to competitive advantage and financial figure reviews, I will examine the offering terms with great interest. Time will tell, but this could, at best, have the ingredients to be a new Harvia.

33 Likes
28

Usually, a private equity investor’s exit means an expensive offering from the small investor’s perspective, where shares are mostly intended to be distributed to institutions, as they do not complain as much on investment forums if the share price performance is poor.

17 Likes
29

In Salkunrakentaja, there’s an article that mainly reiterates Framery’s material in terms of content.

But Framery surprisingly widely gathers its sales

The company’s revenue is generated from its main geographical areas as follows: 53 percent from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, 29 percent from North, Central, and South America, and 18 percent from the Asia-Pacific region.

Over 95 percent of Framery’s revenue comes from outside Finland, and the United States was Framery’s largest single export country.

Framery’s global reseller network includes over 650 resellers, and the company has had over 11,900 end customers in more than 100 countries throughout its operating history.

9 Likes
30

What worries me most about this company is their promised high dividend payout ratio. Even if the company is very profitable, it should always allocate some for product development to keep up with development.

4 Likes
31

The numbers are indeed impressive so far, but I could state the traditional ‘past performance is no guarantee of future results’. Below are a few key bullet points:

  • It was mentioned that the pod market is €0.9 billion, which would give Framery about 25% of the market with its 2025 forecasted revenue. Growing market share is not a long-term growth engine.
  • The software market was estimated to be €1.5 billion. I don’t recall hearing about market share, but I assume it’s very small for now.
  • What is a realistic achievable market share and why would they be able to do this better than competing software companies?
  • A large profit distribution indicates to me that they don’t dare to invest fully in software development and marketing. In that case, it will remain just a nice accessory for their own pods and will not become a new growth engine.
  • On the other hand, large investments to transform from a pod company into a software company are certainly not risk-free.

Could this, however, be an excellent dividend machine? :smiley:

14 Likes
32

I just read today how, for example, in the Helsinki metropolitan area, nearly 1/3 of office spaces are empty. The amount of remote work will not significantly decrease; some kind of hybrid model is the most likely new normal. I just wonder where those units will be sold if no new office spaces are created. It’s unlikely that enough co-working spaces will emerge to generate significant sales.

Finland is not the whole world, of course; I admit I’m not up to date on, for example, the situation in the USA regarding office space occupancy rates, apart from occasional “CEO orders everyone back to the office immediately or pink slips will follow”-style pronouncements that occasionally appear in the international news flow.

6 Likes
33

At least in Finland, there was an excessive shift to the open-plan office model before the corona pandemic, as it was imagined to bring more social interaction and innovation.

This was certainly true for some employees, but then there was the other side that longed for their own peace and ability to concentrate on work and meetings. The corona pandemic triggered this current remote work trend and Teams marathons.

The return of employees to the office became more difficult because the current facilities are no longer perceived to meet current work needs, such as a quiet space.

These pods are one answer to this challenge in a compact size. Now, new 1, 2, or 4-person “mobile” meeting rooms can be easily created in an open-plan office, and a comprehensive renovation of the spaces themselves is not mandatory. This way, the needs that work currently requires can be partially, quickly, and relatively affordably restored. What the next trend will be and whether similar reasons exist abroad remains to be seen and investigated.

I am considering marking this.

E. Sentence structures and missing words.

11 Likes
34

Probably an unnecessary worry. Profit is what remains after all expenses (including product development costs). Product development costs can be capitalized on the balance sheet, but perhaps they don’t do this, which would reduce profits faster. From this, a certain percentage would then be distributed as dividends.

9 Likes
35

What might be the lifespan of such pods and can “maintenance services” be sold for them? Maintenance services would provide cash flow throughout the entire lifecycle.

As electric cars become more common, there could also be demand for these at service stations. One could use the time spent charging the car for remote work.

Currently considering three options: participating in Framery’s share offering, buying Martela which is already listed on the stock exchange, or calmly observing from the sidelines.

9 Likes
36

For Martela, that is such a side business that I wouldn’t count on it, at least. The more electronics are crammed into them, the more likely a service business will be built around it. They probably already have some kind of ventilation solution that isn’t eternal, but otherwise, it’s hard to see large cash flows coming from it.

I have indeed been a satisfied user, and I believe that offering multiple sizes, etc., distinguishes Framery from its less specialized competitors. Of course, the product itself might also be better, but it

14 Likes
37

The company event appears to be on 25.11.2025 at 6:00 PM

Framery
Framery579×491 133 KB

Edit: link added

8 Likes
38

A growth company that distributes its profits as dividends? Builds phone booths? I won’t continue the research further. “Rent a warehouse or van” didn’t end up in the portfolio, and “Rent a phone booth” won’t either.

7 Likes
39

Perhaps more about experiences from companies, but I’ll say it anyway: We have a large open-plan office (a terrible space where one sometimes has to work) and in this space, there are 3 small Framery pods. No one uses the pods, ever. What happens then when this open-plan office craze ends?

10 Likes
40

As long as people work remotely 2-3 days a week, then:

  • Companies do not reserve a dedicated workstation or even a private office for all employees due to premises costs
  • Meetings are held via Teams or similar call connections so that those working remotely can participate
  • Those working at the office need a meeting room or a phone booth for meetings so as not to disturb others
  • Due to remote work, there are also significantly more meetings than before, because it’s no longer as easy to discuss matters directly with colleagues at the workplace when they are not necessarily present on the same day

For this reason, I don’t believe that the open-plan office craze will be fading anytime soon, at least not in the coming years. At my workplace, meeting rooms are heavily utilized, and for this reason, Framery phone booths have been acquired specifically for spontaneous calls, which, based on my own observations, are also very popular.

29 Likes
41

Private experiences are a bit tricky, as there are so many different kinds. We also have a couple of those pods, and they are in very active use, even though the office isn’t even large. I don’t recall hearing anything bad about them from anyone; they seem high-quality in every respect. And indeed, where would this open-plan office craze be disappearing to, at least in the near future?

However, I haven’t delved into the company itself or its competitive advantages at all yet.

9 Likes
42

I’ll quickly share my observations on these pods here, quite similar to @minvestor. Although these are my own observations, I do work with several large global players, so my thoughts might be of some use.

  • In my current company (and clients’ companies), all meetings are held via Teams. I rarely see teams where every single person works in the same office. If ad hoc meetings come up, it might be more convenient to just jump into a phone booth than to book a room.
  • Offices have workstations for about 70-90% of employees. If 100% of employees are present, these phone booths are booked 110% of the workday.
  • 2-4 person phone booths are really handy.
    • No need to renovate the entire office as soon as the company grows a bit and meeting rooms are booked all day.
    • In these, one can calmly discuss matters that one might not want to discuss in an open-plan office.
  • My gut feeling is that companies are not going back to shared offices etc., but the minimum is some 5-10 person semi-open space.
    • In these, one can collaborate well with colleagues without pods, but if 5-10 people hold their own meeting without a pod, it gets quite restless.
  • Airports, shopping malls, train stations, and the like will most likely add more of these. There’s already a SpaceHub competitor for these.
  • A bit utopian / far-fetched, but some colleagues have even talked about getting one of these for their own home, as the sound insulation in them is so good.
    • EDIT: I’ll also add a 0 to 1 market here: big cities with really high rents. Adding a 10m2 study to the rent already feels quite significant in the budget. In these big cities, I believe people will also continue to live with roommates for longer, in which case such a pod might not be a bad idea at all.
28 Likes
43

Agree with many others, that since we also have plenty of these booths, they are really heavily used and popular. The latest models include electric desks and excellent workspaces for working during a Teams meeting. Such a booth is probably quite difficult to develop due to sound insulation and ventilation, I wonder what kind of patents Framery has? But the booths will certainly sell in the future, and market leadership sounds good.

9 Likes