Panostaja’s strategy and financial objectives for 2022–2024: We accelerate value creation by focusing on Finnish growth companies in the service and software sectors

Panostaja Oyj                Stock Exchange Bulletin        February 2, 2022        10:00 am

Panostaja’s strategy and financial objectives for 2022–2024: We accelerate value creation by focusing on Finnish growth companies in the service and software sectors

Panostaja Oyj’s board has approved the company’s updated strategy for 2022–2024 as well as long-term financial goals.

Key strategic goals and focuses

• Panostaja will focus on investing in service and software companies. Panostaja will transition to a more networked operating model and build a tight network of advisers with the best accumulation of capital investment expertise in the Finnish service and software sectors.
• Through the sector-specific focus, Panostaja will work to build a balanced investment portfolio in which the total value creation is also supported by the synergies between the segments.        
• Panostaja will make sustainability a key element in value creation and investment activities to enable sustainable growth and identify new business opportunities.
  
  

The clear focus on the service and software sectors enables Panostaja to produce even more added value and invest in developing its segments. The realization of the growth strategies is ensured by means of the adviser network that will be built through the sector-specific focus. The strategy leverages the extensive experience provided by Panostaja’s operating history to implement successful value creation strategies in the chosen fields. The sector-specific focus also makes it possible to utilize competence synergies between segments more widely than before, and to increase the competitiveness and efficiency of investment activities. The development opportunities of the service and software sectors are supported by clear trends that forecast increasing customer needs and new business opportunities. In addition to this, the large scale of the chosen fields ensures sufficient opportunities to diversify the investment portfolio against risks caused by economic and field-specific trends, as well as a sufficient number of potential investment targets in our desired size category.

“Finland has plenty of entrepreneurs with growth ideas who need a capable partner to accelerate and manage their growth. We believe in Finnish growth entrepreneurship and our ability to create success. We also strongly believe that responsible and growth-oriented entrepreneurship will create sustainable well-being in Finland. Over the course of Panostaja’s history, we have succeeded in creating numerous success stories specifically in the service and software sectors. The experience and expertise we have accumulated from these endeavors, combined with our vision that the growth opportunities in these sectors are supported by clear and positive structural trends, lay a solid foundation for building Panostaja’s future success. During the past year, we have made determined efforts to update our investment portfolio, and I am very excited about our future opportunities of continuing the implementation of our strategy with new sector-specific investments that align our portfolio with upcoming trends in a balanced manner. In our operations, we will also be making responsibility development a more integral part of the value generation of our segments because we believe that the themes related to responsibility will create new business opportunities for our segments,” says CEO Tapio Tommila.

In the strategy period, Panostaja is aiming to increase its investment portfolio with several new investments. Potential investment targets that match Panostaja’s investment criteria are Finnish service and software companies with net sales in the range of MEUR 5–50. The investment targets boast significant growth potential, a positive cash flow forecast, competent management and a responsible business model. To realize the value creation potential, we choose the moment of divestment independently with our owner partners. Panostaja’s most significant divestments in the service and software sectors are SokoPro, Kotisun, Flexim Security and Vindea.

Long-term financial objectives

Panostaja’s long-term financial objectives describe the capability of our strategy to generate value in the long term. Our financial objectives will remain unchanged, and the determined execution of our updated strategy will enable us to achieve them consistently:

• Return on equity is at least 15%, with the objective for the internal rate of return being more than 22% for each investment target.
• Constant increase of shareholder and market value so that the overall yield of shares exceeds the average long-term yield of the Nasdaq OMX Helsinki Small Cap Index.
• The equity ratio is at least 40% and, under normal circumstances, the parent company’s financial structure is debt-free. The parent company may incur debts only temporarily to fund corporate acquisitions between divestments.
  
  

Panostaja’s distribution of profits reflects the development of the Group’s result in the long term, and the primary aim is to ensure the continuity of the Group's investment activity, after which it will be possible to distribute at least half of the annual consolidated profit targeted at the parent company shareholders, either as dividends, capital repayments or the repurchase of shares.

Panostaja Oyj

Tapio Tommila
CEO

More information:

Tapio Tommila, CEO, Panostaja Oyj, +358 (0)40 527 6311, [email protected]

Panostaja is an investment company developing Finnish companies in the service and software sectors as an active shareholder. The company aims to be the most sought-after partner for business owners selling their companies as well as for the best managers and investors. Together with its partners, Panostaja strives to increase shareholder value and create Finnish success stories. Panostaja has five segments. Panostaja’s shares (PNA1V) are quoted on the Nasdaq Helsinki Stock Exchange. In the 2021 financial year, the Group’s net sales totaled MEUR 133. www.panostaja.fi

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