Koskisen seeks efficiency gains through change negotiations
Summary
- Koskisen plans to simplify its organisation and streamline processes through change negotiations covering around 800 employees in Finland, potentially reducing up to 40 positions.
- The company aims to conclude negotiations by the end of this year. Measures will target the Panel Industry and Sawn Timber Industry amid a prolonged difficult operating environment.
- The analyst views the measures positively and estimates annual personnel cost savings of roughly 2 MEUR, equivalent to about 0.5 percentage points of adjusted EBITDA margin. Savings are expected to materialise gradually during 2027, with minor one-off costs possible in Q4.
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Translation: Original published in Finnish on 11/11/2026 at 7:45 am EET.
Koskisen announced on Tuesday that it plans to simplify its organization and streamline its processes by initiating change negotiations that may lead to the reduction of up to 40 positions in Finland. The change negotiations are driven by the prolonged difficult operating environment and efficiency measures partly enabled by the completion of investments. We consider the efficiency measures necessary to safeguard the company's profitability, which has suffered this year, in a market environment that is expected to remain difficult at least in the near term. We will take into account the efficiency measures, which we estimate will generate roughly 2 MEUR in personnel cost savings, in our forecasts following Koskisen's Q3 results to be published on Thursday (preview available here).
The savings program is not a surprise considering the market situation
Koskisen's change negotiations concern a total of around 800 people in Finland and may lead to a reduction of up to 40 people. Koskisen aims to conclude the change negotiations by the end of this year. The planned simplification and efficiency measures concern both the Panel Industry and the Sawn Timber Industry. In the Panel Industry, Koskisen aims to streamline its management model and pursue efficiency gains as investments make production phases more efficient. In the Sawn Timber Industry, savings are sought through organizational restructuring and process streamlining. We estimate that the cost savings will begin to gradually materialize during 2027, and the company may also book minor one-off costs from the measures in its Q4 earnings.
The need for efficiency measures did not come as a surprise to us, as the news flow regarding the company's operating environment has been negative amid recent increases in inflation, market interest rates, and log prices. The depression in (residential) construction and elevated costs are squeezing Koskisen's profitability. Koskisen is also bringing its active investment phase to a close in both business segments, which means there has likely been natural room for efficiency improvements as operating models stabilize. In our view, the change negotiations are partly a response to the weakened market environment, but on the other hand, they are also part of normal business development for the company. We view the efficiency measures positively considering the company's current situation. We estimate that the annual profitability improvement enabled by the announced measures could be roughly 2 MEUR, which corresponds to ~0.5 percentage points in the adjusted EBITDA margin.