Increasing the shareholder value in the long term
INCREASING THE SHAREHOLDER VALUE IN THE LONG TERM
Aspo creates value by owning and developing its businesses responsibly in the long term. Aspo’s portfolio consists of three businesses, i.e. ESL Shipping, Telko and Leipurin. The common goal of the owned businesses is
to be the market leaders and sustainability forerunners in their respective fields. The subsidiaries are responsible for their operations, customer relationships and development. At the end of 2023, Aspo Group had business presence in 13 different countries, and employed some 700 professionals.
ACTIVE OWNERSHIP ENABLING GROWTH
Aspo supports the growth of its businesses and aims to improve their profitability and ensure steady cash flows. Our ambition is to take an even more active role in mergers, acquisitions, and other restructuring activities as well as in growth investments in the current businesses.
Aspo focuses especially on industrial services, and its key clusters include logistics and trade. Sustainability is a key element in our management system and guides the process for new investment opportunities.
TRANSFORMATION PROGRESSING
In 2023 we continued executing our strategy successfully. ESL Shipping progressed as planned with the ongoing investment in twelve green coasters: seven vessels are under construction and the first vessel in the series, Electramar, was successfully launched in June and was delivered in December. The second vessel, Stellamar, was launched in October. Aspo initiated a review of strategic options in spring 2023 to support and further accelerate ESL Shipping’s low-carbon growth strategy. The program is assessing alternative measures, including launch of a second wave investment pool, potential minority equity investments in ESL Shipping, and the sale of the two supramax vessels.
As the first result of this assessment, Aspo signed an agreement in November with OP Finland Infrastructure LP regarding an investment of EUR 30 million into ESL Shipping. In February 2024, Varma Mutual Insurance Company made a co-investment of EUR 15 million alongside OP Finland Infrastructure.
Telko continues to actively pursue acquisitions, both synergistic add-ons as well as new growth platforms. In January Telko acquired a Polish distribution company Eltrex, which is a distributor of specialty chemicals and industrial packaging materials. The company’s wide offering includes raw materials for coatings, flooring and household chemicals industries. Telko also continues to pursue organic growth, based on the growth in the underlying market as well as through gaining market share. Telko completed the sale of its Russian operations in April.
Leipurin’s full profit potential program progressed as planned, with significant profit improvement compared to 2022. The integration of Kobia progressed well and the acquisition has proven to be a game changer for Leipurin, strategically serving principals and customers in the Nordics. The divestment of bakery equipment trading business in October and series of sales and lease backs of Swedish and Lithuanian properties during the year supported Leipurin’s strategy to be a focused, Nordic ingredient and service company. The completion of the divestment of Leipurin Russian, Belarusian and Kazakh operations is still pending on approval of the local authorities.
SUSTAINABILITY IN THE CORE OF BUSINESS
Sustainability is a key driver for Aspo’s management system and especially for the company’s investments. Aspo’s businesses aim to be forerunners in sustainability in their respective sectors. The current key target of Aspo is to reduce emission intensity, CO2 (tn) per net sales (EUR thousand), by 30% by 2025. The starting point (2020) was 0.44, while the target level (2025) is 0.30. In 2023 the emission intensity was at 0.37, only marginally behind the set goal of 0.36.
Another key sustainability focus area of Aspo is employee safety, measured by the development of accident frequency. Here we achieved great development, totaling into TRIF at 4.8 (8.1 in 2022).
CAPITAL EFFICIENCY SUPPORTING STRATEGY EXECUTION
The Group’s capital efficiency is tightly linked to the fulfillment of Aspo’s strategy. Aspo’s high debt management capacity, supported by its strong cash flow, enables the effective use of capital markets. As part of its strategy, Aspo also takes care of its capital structure to support strategy execution. Aspo must have sufficient resources for operations and structural arrangements that produce more value.