Robit’s leadership transition comes amid a prolonged search for a permanent CEO and further changes to its management team. The company has yet to name Kuusilehto’s successor, while another member of the five-person management team appointed in August is also preparing to leave. The interim arrangement provides internal leadership continuity as Robit works through these changes alongside a cost-efficiency programme and uneven financial performance.
The search for a permanent CEO has run since June without an appointment
Robit announced on 11 June that Kuusilehto would leave to pursue opportunities outside the company, and the board started recruiting his successor at the same time. Four months on, the process is still ongoing, and Robit says it will announce the appointment separately.
Kuusilehto became CEO in August 2025, succeeding Arto Halonen, and his notice period would have run until around 11 December. When Listeds covered his departure in June, it noted that an external successor could face a notice period of their own and push the handover into 2027. The interim arrangement now bridges that gap.
Two of the five management team members named in August will be gone by February
Suokas joined as CFO in 2025, replacing Ville Peltonen. When Robit dropped its strategic business unit structure on 1 September, it named a five-member management team: Kuusilehto, Kimmo Kuusela, Jorge Leal, Pia Mutanen and Suokas. Since then, HR Director Pia Mutanen has said she will leave by 31 January 2027. Her exit adds to the at least five senior departures Listeds counted between March 2025 and June 2026. Once Kuusilehto leaves in November, the CEO role will be filled from within that team until a permanent appointment is made.
The changes come alongside a cost programme. In September, Robit launched a global efficiency programme with up to eight job cuts, and the Finnish negotiations ended in October with two terminations.
Growth is back, but profit fell in the third quarter
Third-quarter net sales rose 17.1% to EUR 22.5 million, while EBIT fell 82.3% to EUR 168K , partly because of exchange rate losses and higher raw material costs. For January to September, EBIT rose to EUR 2.5 million from EUR 1.0 million. Suokas, who presented the results alongside Kuusilehto, takes over a company whose growth has returned but whose margins are not yet holding.
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