In fact, it was actually one of the greatest years ever in the company’s history. I’m especially proud that we have achieved this good result despite the current challenging economic climate. In 2015, VEO’s sales rose by 14 per cent and the profitability was the best ever. Another positive development was the strong increase in exports, mainly to the UK and Sweden. Combined with Norway – a country VEO has had a strong position in for many years already – these three markets now account for 40 per cent of our total turnover.

What then, is the secret behind this remarkably positive development? I have given this question some thought and come to the conclusion that we at VEO have found a truly unique offering. VEO combines solid electrification and automation expertise with in-house switchgear manufacturing, thus guaranteeing high quality deliveries and prompt project executions.

Our way of working differentiates us from both traditional engineering companies and component manufacturers. Most competitors today focus on either products or projects, but not on the combination of the two. There is clearly a place in the market for the kind of company that VEO represents. Over the years we have been fine-tuning the cooperation between our own switchgear manufacturing and our project organisation, and we can now see that this work is bearing fruit.

The positive development that started in 2015 still continues in 2016. For me as a CEO, the most rewarding part of this is being able to show the employees that their hard work really pays off. That being said, we must not lean back and believe there is nothing more to achieve. On the contrary, a lot of potential for further improvement still remains.  Marko Ekman CEO