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Company acquisitions from Spain were “promised” for the end of the year. I haven’t noticed any news yet, but there’s still some of the year left…

In Southern Europe, August is spent on vacation. They are just returning to work. I wouldn’t hold my breath for news yet.

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There are many reasons to sell, but it is not a pleasant observation from the perspective of a potential investor that Easor’s lead is selling off shares quite vigorously:

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According to this, a larger amount was last sold in '22. However, it is not currently listed among the insiders there. Of course, if still involved in that business, this certainly doesn’t encourage purchases.

It would be nice to see insider additions at these prices or share buybacks instead of dividends. However, Kaksoismoottori has increased its ownership quite nicely :men_holding_hands:

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Hello to the thread!

There’s been a lot of talk here about how internationalization, and especially Sweden, has been quite a drag for Talenom. I put together some rough material for another purpose, so I thought I’d share the following graph here as well:

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The point probably comes across directly from that, but let’s state the following:

  • Talenom has invested almost 70 MEUR in acquisitions abroad since 2019 (including 2025e). In practice, this has gone to Sweden and Spain, and a little to Italy. The exercise is furthest along in Sweden, and the results so far are the worst.
  • My own subjective estimate is that in successful acquisitions in the industry, the payback period would be 5-7 years. This, to my understanding, has also roughly materialized in Finland.
  • Related to the above, I put a theoretical 15% return on cumulative capital there, but in reality, the curve would not, of course, be linear. However, we are now far enough from the first ones that they can already be “judged.”
  • So far, the earnings contribution from Sweden and Spain has been roughly negative 15 MEUR for Talenom over the last five years. This is not an exact figure, and the forecast for late 2025 will push that even lower.
  • As a side note, the last period of zero interest rates was otherwise a bad time to hit the gas in terms of acquisitions.

Of course, things take time, and the results include country organizations and other costs, so this cannot be directly attributed to the results of acquisitions – but it hasn’t exactly gone smoothly. This is also the biggest reason why this case has gone the way it has in recent years. Rarely does one put negative returns on investments into Excel, at least not for a very long period.

Well, an optimist would say there’s a hell of a lot of potential if we can get on the right track. A pessimist would curse the whole exercise. A realist might say that this misery is indeed reflected in the share price. I won’t say more myself.

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Danske’s internal blocks have now been used up. Last week, 53k units were used, if I remember correctly, and just now 100k units were used.

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You’re talking nonsense. “Sweden is a s*** country.”

Somewhat less attention has been paid to Spain’s renewed acceleration, after a small lull when the sales director changed. On top of that, Verifaktu may now genuinely bring new business. Empiria reports that authorities there have taken a drastically tougher grip even on private bank accounts.

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Thanks, interesting summary.

From the link below, when you scroll to the country-specific table, we can see that Talenom has managed to choose three out of three European countries with the highest unemployment for its business operations (quite an achievement in itself). The positive thing is that in at least one of them, unemployment has decreased from a year ago, as it has on average across the entire EU area. And it’s also positive that, under these circumstances, they have managed to achieve even somewhat tolerable results. And furthermore, it’s positive that Sweden’s results are likely on the rise.

I can’t know for sure, but I assume, based on the news flow and Verneri’s articles, that Europe’s economic development is now on an upward trend. This should be positive for both Finland and Sweden. Our government has also promised to promote entrepreneurship, so there are ingredients for the wave of bankruptcies to subside and even for new businesses to emerge.

The company has surprisingly made a lot of acquisitions since the beginning of the war in Russia. They probably couldn’t estimate the duration of the war and its worsening consequences, such as the energy crisis, rising interest rates, etc. A separate issue is the big duck in America, which has messed up trade policy patterns and created significant uncertainty for companies’ US businesses. This, of course, only has indirect consequences for Talenom. But Sweden’s struggles and the shifting of the jam jar have certainly been sad to watch.

New black swans may emerge again, but this summer too, in our nearby pond, 6 vigorous cygnets hatched, whose grey colour is starting to turn white. So I choose option 1, meaning a lot of potential, getting on the right track, and the stock price :rocket:

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In Talenom, there now seem to be almost daily internal block trades by Danske. This morning, a block trade of 25,000 shares. Within the last week, there have been 3. Last month, Elo was the sole seller. It will be interesting to see who acquires these.

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Inside Information: Talenom Plc initiates a strategic review of the potential separation of the Easor software business into an independent listed company | Kauppalehti

Has there been talk of this kind of value creation before? Interesting.

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This explains why in the latest bill, Easor’s zero-VAT price had risen a whopping 45% from the previous month!

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How would this then work in practice? Does Talenom still have an interest in favoring Easor? Would Talenom remain a large owner of Easor? A fairly large part of Easor’s growth path is converting those Talenom customers into Easor users.

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Furthermore, in my opinion, Talenom Online has only gone in a worse direction since they changed it to Easor. The latest sales invoicing update is a new low. They apparently pulled back the purchase invoices update? Initially, when it came out, one couldn’t even approve anything but Finnish invoices.

Poor updates and the system’s old rigidities made me look for a different solution for financial administration.

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That graph and post are a good description of the financially challenging progress of internationalization.

But, could the root cause for the slow growth, if not outright failure internationally, be the unfounded assumption that “what works in Finland, works abroad“? In practice, things just don’t work the same way in different countries. Furthermore, for expansion, so-called conservative countries have been chosen, where market disruption, when done by a Finnish player, is not a walk in the park.

How one could have analyzed this cultural management challenge, who knows, if the company management boasts about having acquired “the

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I am initially negative about this news. What’s the rush to list Easor in this market situation? At least we’ll have two sets of listed company expenses.

This reflection from the previous message is quite relevant, in my opinion. Why on earth would I, as an owner of pure Talenom, want Talenom to favor Easor’s software (if I don’t own Easor myself) over someone else’s in the future?

I get the impression that Easor might not be in as good a market position (or as good software) as is implied, and now has been deemed a good time to “cash in” what can be cashed in. Why not wait a couple of years for Easor to show good growth figures? Easor’s leader just recently cashed in a significant portion of their Talenom shares.

Of course, all this deliberation is speculation/fluff until we know if the listing will happen and how it will practically occur. Talenom’s share price has been lively all week. That also raises some questions.

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These issues have been pondered quite a lot earlier in this thread. I wouldn’t necessarily sum up Sweden and Spain in the same category; they are so different countries and Talenom’s development has also been different. But regarding the expansions in Sweden, one could playfully say that what works in Finland will not work in Sweden :smiley:

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Here are Juha’s quick comments on video regarding today’s news: :movie_camera:

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I was just wondering last night what has been lifting Talenom all week.

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Kinnunen has penned his thoughts on the separation of Easor: Talenom arvioi Easor-ohjelmistoliiketoiminnan eriyttämisestä itsenäiseksi pörssiyhtiöksi - Inderes

It will be interesting to see how Talenom’s story continues from here. A defensive and nicely growing accounting firm will likely act as a dividend machine. Problem areas like Sweden should just be fixed and start generating positive results.

Easor is, to my understanding, a competitor to Fortnox, for example. If the cash flow can be invested back into the business with a good return on capital, one could have quite a compounder on their hands. There would be growth potential, for example, in Spain, if market shares can be successfully gained.

But only time will tell how these companies perform separately. The track record of recent years hasn’t been very impressive, though… As separate companies, the implementation of completely different strategies should naturally

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It’s quite quiet here and in the media regarding Easor’s listing process and what was the underlying reason for the announcement. Now, we are finally at a turning point where the company’s true value is about to be unleashed. I personally expected this to happen only in 2027, but the underlying reason seems to be Visma’s anticipated IPO in 2026.

Tallukka’s talk about Easor’s potential listing is a classic “dual-track” process, i.e., a negotiation tactic whose sole goal is to create a competitive situation and maximize the sale price in a direct sale vs. IPO. The real endpoint is redemption, not an IPO. Through an IPO, in my opinion, the company cannot implement its previous “buy and leverage” strategy, as the cash would not allow for very massive acquisitions. Also, in an IPO, the price would remain lower, as the “redemption premium” would be missed + strategic advantages from the buyer would be absent.

I divided the text into Part 1, Easor’s sale, and Part 2, what the new Talenom could look like once Easor is sold. I admit my laziness and partly ran this through Gemini, but everyone can delve deeper according to their interest, as it’s difficult to write a longer personal analysis in this message field. This only gives direction vs. complete silence around the company. This should be related to the company’s current market value of 160m and EV of approximately 253m. Everyone can then calculate what Talenom’s accounting business’s EV/EBITDA will be in 2026 when the exit is made at around 200m. I know that Juha’s task is not to speculate on acquisitions here, but the complete radio silence elsewhere is surprising. How do you, @Juha_Kinnunen, see the depreciation level of Talenom’s accounting business changing once Easor is gone?


Part 1: The Inevitable Sale of Easor – Price, Buyers, and Timeline

1. Probable Sale Price: 180–250 Million Euros

Easor’s value is not based on its current results, but on its position as a modern, scalable B2B SaaS platform.

  • Revenue (ARR): Easor’s annual recurring revenue is approximately 24 million euros.

  • Valuation Multiples: EV/Sales multiples for similar publicly listed SaaS companies currently range from 7x–8x. In private M&A transactions, high-quality ERP software has commanded multiples of up to 9x–11x.

When a strategic premium, which a buyer is willing to pay to eliminate competition and strengthen market position, is added to this, the realistic transaction price will inevitably fall between 180–250 million euros. A transaction price below 200 million would be a clear disappointment.

2. Strongest Buyer Candidates: Facing Strategic Necessity

There are several players in the bidding process, but two stand out, as for them, the deal is not just an opportunity, but a strategic necessity.

  • Visma: The Nordic market leader is preparing for its own massive IPO and wants to go public with a perfect growth story. Acquiring Easor would serve this perfectly. Although Visma has Holded in Spain, Easor is technologically more modern and better positioned for the upcoming mandatory e-invoicing reform. In its home market of Finland, Visma would neutralize a rising competitor whose licensing model for other accounting firms poses a direct threat to their ecosystem. Acquiring Easor just before its own IPO would be a chess move by Visma that would cement its position.

  • Fortnox: The undisputed market leader in Sweden, but at the same time a prisoner of its home market. Continued growth requires internationalization, and opening new markets organically is slow, expensive, and extremely risky. Easor would offer Fortnox a golden “turnkey” solution: immediate entry into both the Finnish and Spanish markets through a ready-made product, technology, and existing accounting firm network. This shortcut is so valuable that they have every reason to pay a premium price for it.

3. Time Window: Next 6–9 Months

Visma’s IPO intentions create a clear deadline for the process. If the deal is to be done, it must be done soon. This is likely the reason why “considering an IPO” came now, and not in 2027. Currently, Easor has strong campaigns like “rest of the year free” to boost user numbers.

  • Q4/2025: Official negotiations and due diligence processes begin.

  • Q1-Q2/2026: Intensive negotiations and signing of the sales agreement. I believe the deal will be announced before the summer holidays.

  • Q3/2026: Final implementation (closing) of the deal and transfer of funds to Talenom’s cash reserves.


Part 2: “The New Talenom” – How to Convert Over €100M Net Cash into Shareholder Value?

This is the core of the investment case, which has been forgotten during the stagnation of recent years. The sale of Easor is not the end of the story, but a catalyst that will trigger Talenom’s transformation back into the old growth-phase Talenom. For example, Rantalainen has implemented this very successfully and aggressively in the Nordics. Let’s assume a sale price of 200 million euros.

Phase 1: Balance Sheet Cleanup and War Chest Formation

  • Cash inflow: +200 M€

  • Debt elimination: -92.5 M€

  • Moderate dividend (e.g., €0.20/share 2025): -9.1 M€

  • Result: The company has a debt-free balance sheet and net cash of approximately 98.5 million euros.

Phase 2: Igniting the Growth Engine – Full-Throttle Capital Allocation “The New Talenom” will not sit on its cash. It will do what it does best: use its proven “value creation machine” in Finland and accelerate international growth. The company aims to utilize a 2.5x net debt/EBITDA leverage.

This means the company can use all its net cash AND take on new debt on top of future, larger EBITDA. The calculation shows that this gives the company approximately 270–280 million euros in total capital for acquisitions.

What can this capital acquire from a fragmented market?

  • Acquirable EBITDA: Assuming smaller accounting firms are acquired at a historically justified 7x EV/EBITDA multiple, this capital can acquire approximately 40 million euros in new annual EBITDA.

  • Acquirable Revenue: If the average profitability of acquisition targets is 12%, this means over 330 million euros in new revenue.

Result: The sale of Easor is not just an exit; it is fuel that transforms Talenom from its current, complex, and partly risky hybrid company into a pure, highly profitable, and stable cash-flow-generating Northern European accounting firm consolidator.

This new, clear profile and explosively grown earning capacity would eliminate the current “conglomerate discount” and justify significantly higher valuation multiples (EV/EBITDA 10x–14x). This is the path by which the company’s value can be multiplied in the coming years. When comparing the current 253m EV and the future approximately 200m Easor exit, the sum of the parts in the market is completely wrong. In Sweden, at Fortnox, the main owner First Kraft AB bought the company out with EQT, even though the pricing was not quite this far off. Now, a similar opportunity would exist in Talenom.

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