It’s been a pleasure to see how things are progressing at VEO. A relentlessly stubborn will to move forward clearly creates results. Thank you, everyone, great job! It’s very rewarding to reap the fruits of the past decade. VEO is now a known and renowned company with the excellent reputation the company deserves. Especially the big agreements of late have given us a lot of publicity. Receiving the Ostrobothnian entrepreneurship award was also an important act of recognition.

The energy sector has been a good business choice since the beginning. A successful strategy day in September 2016 showed that both board and management agree that VEO is still on the right path. In 2016, we experienced growth on many levels and successfully entered new areas of business, e.g. ship electrification. Furthermore, our general agreement with I.C. Electrical in the UK marks the beginning of what I hope will be a steady foothold in a new market. It was also good to see sales flourishing in familiar markets. For example, the framework agreement with Norwegian hydropower giant Eidsiva was a real victory. I’d also like to point out our advancements on the challenging Swedish market. I hope that our partial ownership of Svea Power will function as a stepping stone for future operations in Sweden. In Finland, cooperation with WE Tech Solutions and Danfoss are getting tighter and stronger.

Different markets need different solutions, and thus VEO should enter with the right kind of knowledge. We should plant seeds where there are lucrative growth possibilities. There’s a lot of potential. At the same time, we must also make sure that we finish all the internal development projects we launch. Rather than being stuck in long-lasting internal development, we should find more partners that can make us stronger. For example, our UK partnership is the kind of cooperation that I wish would exist in every business area. When we combine our core competence with the know-how of companies like I.C. Electrical, the alliance is quite unbeatable.

The future is certainly an interesting thing. New energy production sources such as solar power, wave power and grid management are showing us where the energy business is heading. Although we have most of the expertise, we need to be present when the business possibilities arise. We need to ask ourselves what kind of knowledge will solve tomorrow’s challenges and how we can make maximal use of new technology. However, it’s important to remember that people, not machines, make results. Thus, VEO must remain a great workplace for future experts. To me, VEO is more than an international integrator. We solve global energy challenges by offering know-how and products superior to our competition. We lead the change. Upward and forward – that’s the direction for increased competitiveness. That’s the mindset we must take with us into 2017 and beyond.