Under Pekka Kuusniemi’s leadership, Raisio has embarked on a clear strategic overhaul. The focus has been on 3 key areas, investments have been made in a new production facility, and finally, recruitments have been made for product development.
The groundwork required by the strategy has been laid, but leveraging it for earnings growth has been slowed by, among other things, the exit from Russian trade as well as consumer demand, as high interest rates and inflation dampen consumption.
In my opinion, the success of the strategy cannot be assessed yet. If, according to forecasts, inflation starts to fall rapidly and, as a result, interest rates drop and consumer demand recovers, we could look back in a year to see how the strategy led by Pekka succeeded.
In the Q1 webcast, Pekka stated that 2023 will be challenging, but there is confidence in the 2022–2025 strategy period targets:
“Combined annual net sales growth target (CAGR) for the three focus areas 11% and for the entire Raisio Group 9%. Comparable EBIT over 13%”
Personally, I will look at the situation in a year.