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The appointments support Tokmanni's push to improve Dollarstore and redefine its strategy
Tokmanni Group has strengthened its leadership team with two appointments to lead Dollarstore and oversee group strategy, underscoring new CEO Sampo Päällysaho's effort to rebuild the retailer's leadership around the weakest part of its Nordic expansion.
Martin Sörenhag, managing director for the Nordic countries at Flying Tiger Copenhagen, will join Tokmanni as managing director of Dollarstore on Nov. 1, 2026, as the retailer accelerates efforts to restore profitability at its struggling Swedish discount chain, Tokmanni Group, the Finnish discount retailer that owns Dollarstore and Click Shoes, announced yesterday.
Moreover, Ulrika Göransson, director of retail and associations at Swedish fuel company OKQ8, will become Tokmanni’s chief strategy and transformation officer on Sept. 1, where she will help shape the group's next strategic phase.
Tokmanni is one of the Nordic region's largest discount retailers, operating Finland's Tokmanni chain alongside Sweden's Dollarstore and Denmark's Big Dollar. The 2023 acquisition of Dollarstore marked the group's first major expansion outside Finland and underpins its ambition to build a leading Nordic value retailer.
The appointments mark Päällysaho's second executive team reshuffle since taking over as CEO on July 6 following Mika Rautiainen's retirement. Both executives will report directly to Päällysaho. Dollarstore Managing Director Timo Heimo will remain in the role until Sörenhag joins before returning to Finland by the end of the year.
Two retail executives with Nordic operating experience
Päällysaho said Sörenhag's international retail background and commercial expertise make him well suited to build on the initiatives already underway to improve customer traffic and strengthen Dollarstore's market appeal. He said the new leader will help advance those efforts and support the chain's long-term growth and profitability.
Sörenhag has led Flying Tiger Copenhagen's Nordic business since 2019, overseeing about 160 stores across five countries. He previously managed the retailer's Swedish operations and has held senior positions at COOP, K-Rauta, Apoteket Hjärtat and Lidl, giving him more than two decades of Nordic retail leadership experience.
Göransson joins after serving at OKQ8 since 2025. Earlier roles include CEO positions at Zetas Garden and Teknikmagasinet's Swedish and Norwegian operations, along with senior strategy, business development and marketing roles at Clas Ohlson.
The CEO also said Göransson "will play an important role in shaping and executing our future strategy and supporting the development of our business."
Dollarstore turnaround becomes an early priority
The appointments come as Dollarstore remains a key focus for Tokmanni. In the first quarter of 2026, the segment increased revenue by over 7% year over year, but comparable EBIT declined over 35% to a loss of EUR 10.5 million as weak like-for-like sales weighed on profitability.
The challenges have also affected the wider group. Tokmanni said Dollarstore's integration contributed to significant additional costs in 2025, when full-year comparable EBIT declined 15% to EUR 84.8 million. In the third quarter, higher Dollarstore expenses weighed on group comparable EBIT despite record comparable EBIT in the core Tokmanni segment. The board also withheld a second 2024 dividend installment to strengthen the balance sheet ahead of planned investments.
Against that backdrop, Sörenhag has been brought in to help drive Dollarstore's turnaround, while Göransson joins as Tokmanni prepares its next phase of strategy under CEO Sampo Päällysaho.
What Tokmanni is trying to accomplish
Together, the hires reflect Tokmanni's effort to balance Dollarstore's turnaround with the group's longer-term strategic priorities.
Sörenhag will oversee the next stage of Dollarstore's turnaround by advancing the broader-assortment pilot stores in Erikslund and Kållered, building on the Billigast low-price campaign and completing the chain's integration into Tokmanni's sourcing organization and back-end systems through 2026.
Göransson, meanwhile, joins as the company updates its strategic and financial targets for the period beyond 2025. Tokmanni has said the process will focus on strengthening synergy utilization and supporting sustainable, profitable growth while it works toward its unchanged 2026 guidance of EUR 1.78 billion to EUR 1.86 billion in revenue and comparable EBIT of EUR 85 million to EUR 105 million.
Investor watchpoints
For investors, the appointments create two clear milestones to follow. The first is whether Sörenhag can improve Dollarstore's performance before further losses weigh on group profitability. The second is whether Göransson helps shape Tokmanni's strategic and financial direction beyond its previous strategy period, which ended in 2025.
The leadership changes also extend a period of rapid transition at the top of the company. Within roughly four months, Tokmanni will have replaced its CEO, chief strategy and transformation officer, and Dollarstore managing director. Investors will also be watching whether the board resumes a discretionary second dividend installment after withholding the equivalent payment for 2024 to preserve balance-sheet capacity.
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