Parquet – Hartwall Capital takes over Karelia-Upofloor
30/06/2008 - 10:52
Hartwall Capital Oy Ab and Karelia Finland Oy have agreed beginning of April on the acquisition of all Karelia Upofloor Oy shares owned by the latter. Karelia Finland's ownership was 33.3 percent. After the acquisition Hartwall Capital and its stakeholders own ninetynine percent of the group. They became shareholders of Karelia-Upofloor flooring group already in 2004. Karelia Finland Oy is owned by Heikki Väänänen and his family.
Karelia-Upofloor is at present in a transitional period towards intensive international activities and growth which will naturally require further additional capital from the owners. The company's investments in hardwood flooring business in Finland, Russia and Rumania are proceeding as planned.
The Hartwall family has to withdraw this spring from their traditional brewery business invest-ment thus enabling them to increase their investment in Karelia-Upofloor. ‘We find Karelia-Upofloor a very interesting company which has good opportunities especially in Russia. We believe that wood will increase its popularity as a flooring material', says Erik Hartwall, Hartwall Capital's Chairman of the Board.
In 2007 the Karelia-Upofloor Group's net sales totalled EUR 128.8 million, a 5 per cent growth compared to the previous year. The Group's result for the financial year was EUR -5.4 million. The main reasons for the weakened result were rises in the costs of raw materials and the stringent price competition in floor coverings. Substantial start-up expenses related to the Group's production operations in other countries also affected the result.
Net sales for hardwood flooring operations in 2007 totalled EUR 98.2 million. Export accounted for 74 per cent and its volume grew by 6.6 per cent compared to the previous year. Domestic demand remained unchanged. The most significant investments in hardwood flooring operations were related to the domestic logistics centre in Heinola as well as the Romanian and Russian companies.
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