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Lassila & Tikanoja's appointment of Arttu Lindroos as senior vice president of human resources is more than a routine executive hire. It is another step in the company's effort to build the leadership team that will carry it through its next phase as a standalone circular economy business.
The appointment comes less than a year after one of the biggest changes in the company's history. At the end of 2025, L&T completed a demerger that split the group into two separately listed companies.
The former Lassila & Tikanoja became Luotea Plc, focused on property services. The Circular Economy business was separated into a new listed company that retained the Lassila & Tikanoja name. The demerger was approved by shareholders at an Extraordinary General Meeting on December 4, 2025, and completed on December 31, 2025.
The result is a more focused company, but also one facing a new set of challenges.
A hire built for operational change
Lindroos will join L&T on September 1, 2026, reporting to president and CEO Eero Hautaniemi and joining the group executive board, the company announced today. He arrives from VR Group and has previously held HR leadership positions at Teknos and Posti.
The common thread across those organizations is operational complexity. Each relies on large frontline workforces and faces the challenge of balancing productivity, workforce planning, and organizational change.
That experience appears well aligned with L&T's current priorities.
The company employs approximately 2,300 people across Finland and Sweden and entered 2026 under pressure to improve profitability. First-quarter net sales increased 6 percent to EUR 94.8 million, but adjusted EBITA fell to EUR 0.2 million from EUR 2.6 million a year earlier. Management cited lower waste volumes, rising fuel costs, pressure on waste treatment pricing, and higher amortization expenses.
L&T has already launched a review of its waste management cost structure and implemented price increases. Restoring margins is now one of management's most immediate priorities.
Hilppa Rautpalo heads to Terveystalo
Lindroos succeeds Hilppa Rautpalo, who will leave L&T in August 2026.
Rautpalo currently serves as senior vice president of legal affairs, human resources and EHSQ and is a member of the management team. She has been appointed senior vice president, human resources, and a member of the management team at Terveystalo, where she will start no later than August 14, 2026, Listeds reported in February.
Her departure marks the loss of one of L&T's most experienced executives. It also signals a subtle organizational shift.
Rautpalo's role combined legal affairs, HR, environmental health, safety, and quality under a single executive. Lindroos arrives with a dedicated HR mandate, suggesting people, culture, and organizational development are becoming more prominent priorities as the company adapts to life after the demerger.
Preparing for the next CEO era
The appointment carries additional weight because of another leadership change already on the horizon.
Hautaniemi is scheduled to leave the company in June 2027 after leading L&T through the demerger and its repositioning as a pure-play circular economy company. No successor has been announced.
That gives Lindroos less than a year working alongside the current CEO before the next leadership transition begins.
Viewed in that context, the hire looks less like a replacement and more like part of a broader effort to strengthen the executive team before a CEO succession.
What L&T is trying to achieve next
The company's direction is becoming clearer.
First, management is deepening L&T's identity as a circular economy specialist. The demerger removed the complexity of managing two fundamentally different businesses and allows management to focus entirely on recycling, waste management, environmental services, and resource efficiency.
Second, profitability has become a pressing issue. While revenue continues to grow, earnings remain under pressure. Cost reviews, pricing actions, and operational improvements are expected to play a central role in the recovery effort.
Third, L&T continues to expand selectively. In May, the company agreed to acquire Kempeleen Siirtokuljetus and Kempeleen Jätekuljetus, two waste management and recycling businesses in Northern Finland with combined annual revenue of approximately EUR 14 million. The transaction remains subject to regulatory approval.
Taken together, the leadership changes, acquisitions, and operational initiatives point to a company moving from structural transformation to execution.
The demerger answered the question of what L&T wants to be. The next challenge is proving that a standalone circular economy company can deliver stronger growth and profitability than the structure it left behind.
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