Greetings to the Harvia forum (Haarumi), today I visited Harvia’s AGM and thought I’d write a short review of what we took away from the meeting. Right off the bat, I’ll say these are my own interpretations based on what I heard and my own train of thought. My thoughts don’t always run the same way as others, so it’s good to take this with a grain of salt. The information value is again questionable, but I thought I’d share if anyone is interested 
The event was the first AGM of my life, so I had many questions beforehand, such as how much “real dividend” (catering) was on offer at the AGM and whether I’d get an amount of sauna stones corresponding to my share ownership as a souvenir. (The real dividends were good, I didn’t find any sauna stones).
I was accompanied by The Compounding Tortoise, originally from Belgium, who produces investment content professionally and traveled to Helsinki specifically for the AGM. He has followed and owned Harvia for several years and has produced content about the company.
Before the start of the AGM, we got to talk with CEO Järnefelt. I have no prior experience communicating with CEOs, but I must say that Matias’s enthusiasm and authenticity shine through him. He left a really positive impression on me, emphasizing that the communication felt genuine and wasn’t some pre-rehearsed CEO jargon.
The CEO’s presentation contained much of the familiar information we’ve heard before, and the main focus was, of course, on the past year. However, let me highlight a few of my own notes:
- Harvia gets recurring revenue from accessories.
- The current international business model also enables Harvia to optimize production chains and respond better to global events and uncertainty factors.
- During the year 2025 [sic], there were both tailwinds and headwinds. The company gained tailwinds from increased sauna awareness and enthusiasm for health. Here, the CEO often mentioned the importance of social media. Steel tariffs imposed on the EU were previously around 4%, now they have been as high as 20%. Additionally, there was a headwind from the dollar. These had to be compensated for with price increases.
- During the year, the company has invested more and more in product development, sales channels, and brands so that Harvia remains a competitive global player in the future.
- Sales in the Nordic countries have partly struggled since Kesko discontinued K-rauta in Sweden. Harvia has had to rebuild its sales channel in Sweden, and now these investments are starting to bear fruit (indications may have already been visible in Q4?).
- Control centers and applications provide the company with important user data and facilitate the use of saunas worldwide. Many people don’t know the optimal temperature for a sauna, which is why the sauna can be easily set to different levels like “Cozy, Warm, Hot” etc. via control centers, as this makes usage easier.
- A better customer experience was brought to the AHS and Thermasol online stores during the year, enabling customers to plan sauna order customizations on the ordering pages and see how much it affects the price at the same time.
- Regarding the potential of the US market, the CEO believed/hoped that one day there will be more saunas than swimming pools in that market. Part of the reasoning was that saunas are much more easily available today than before. The other was price and ease. You can order a sauna room for your backyard and set it up in a few days. Building a swimming pool requires significant investment and a lot of work.
After the review, it was time for the CEO’s Q&A, for which my AGM friend had prepared a few questions.
His question concerned the improvement of the gross margin and also the operating profit margin. Briefly and freely phrased: On an annual level, the company has been able to continuously improve its gross margin, even though the sales mix has not been as favorable as in previous years; despite this, the gross margin has improved. How has the company succeeded in this?
To this, we heard that profitability on Harvia’s products is, to put it simply, better the further the products travel from Finland. Thus, the more Harvia grows outside of Finland, the better the gross margin has the potential to become. It was also interesting to hear that Harvia is investing quite a bit in creating a platform for growth by investing in supply chains, the brand, and new products. As it looks now, the company will be making higher investments for 3–4 years. Without these investments, the company could not, of course, grow in the current way, but the investments increase costs and mean that the EBIT margin is not where it could certainly be if the company wanted to scale back investments.
The uncertainty in Iran and general geopolitical uncertainty was also a question, to which we heard that the direct effects are small, but indirect uncertainty, inflation, etc., always have an impact.
Another thing I hadn’t considered at all myself was a possible component shortage. AI has caused a significant shortage of many components, or prices have skyrocketed. This hasn’t affected Harvia so far because the components Harvia uses are not the same as those used in other “hot” industries.
The final question concerned AI and what kind of opportunities Harvia sees in it. The CEO said that the world is becoming more hectic, stress and pressure in working life are increasing, so people crave a place to relax. The sauna is a great opportunity for that. Operationally, AI can bring more efficiency; the company can benefit from targeting marketing and understanding data, etc.
Finally, we got to meet the new member of Harvia’s board, Martin Richter. He has a background in scaling global businesses, including experience at Spotify and Peloton. My own intuition based on his presentation was that his experience could bring strong benefits to Harvia.
All in all, it was an interesting and positive experience to attend my first AGM. Additionally, it was really interesting to exchange thoughts for a couple of days with a very knowledgeable owner. He is the first person I’ve met who knows by heart which heater model it is just from pictures 
A few brave fellow owners came to ask who we were; if anyone is interested in my friend’s blog, you can check it out here: Deep Dive - Harvia - The Compounding Tortoise – though it’s good to note that most of the texts are behind a paywall.
