Tieto CFO Tomi Hyryläinen to leave as software-led strategy gathers pace

Consumer confidence in Finland slipped in September, ending a three-month climb from April's low. Beneath the headline figure, a sharper pattern is forming. Households now rate Finland's prospects at their long-term average, while their view of their own past year remains well below pre-2022 levels, and the lowest earners are still losing purchasing power.

The consumer confidence indicator stood at 4.9 below zero in September, down from 3.0 below zero in August. August had been the strongest reading since February 2022. The long-term average since 1995 is 2.9 below zero. The indicator has now been below zero for 55 consecutive months, every month since March 2022. 

The rebound itself was fast. In April the indicator sat at 12.5 below zero, and by August it had recovered 9.5 points. September's dip is small, and one month does not make a reversal. What matters more is which parts of the survey carried the recovery, and which did not.

The national outlook has recovered 18 points since April, the household view far less

Most of the improvement since April's low has come from how consumers see Finland. The national outlook accounts for about 60 per cent of the indicator's 7.6-point rise. Consumers' view of their own past year has moved far less.

Expectations for Finland's economy over the next 12 months improved from a balance of 23.2 below zero in April to 4.7 below zero in September, which is on its long-term average level. Between March 2022 and August 2026, the same measure averaged 16.9 below zero.

Households' assessment of their own finances tells a different story. The balance for own economy now stood at 1.9 below zero in September, against an average of 4.9 above zero in the five and a half years before March 2022. Expectations for one's own economy in 12 months fell to 5.8 from 8.1 in August, short of the pre-2022 average of 9.8. Twenty-eight per cent of consumers said their finances were worse than a year earlier, while 25 per cent said better.

The gap follows income, not prices

Labour Institute for Economic Research Labore estimates that purchasing power in the bottom income decile will decline by 3.5 per cent this year, while the top decile gains 2.2 per cent. Between 2023 and 2026, the difference in purchasing power growth between the two groups will exceed 16 percentage points, with renters and single parents facing the weakest outlook. Senior researcher Milla Nyyssölä attributes the split to "different income trajectories" rather than prices.

Labore describes this as unusual by historical standards. Even in the growth years after Finland's 1990s recession, when income growth varied widely between groups, purchasing power in the lowest decile did not fall.

The confidence survey shows the same fault line. Upper-level salaried employees posted a confidence reading of 1.1 above zero in September, while the unemployed stood at 13.1 below zero and pensioners at 11.5 below zero. Greater Helsinki recorded 2.4 below zero and Eastern Finland 10.7 below zero. Women's reading of 7.4 below zero remained well under men's 2.4 below zero.

Job security is part of the explanation. Among employed consumers, 27 per cent felt their personal risk of unemployment or lay-off had increased, and only 5 per cent felt it had lessened (Statistics Finland). Price pressure has not eased either: consumers estimated inflation at 4.9 per cent over the past year and expect 4.1 per cent over the next.

LapWall Corporation has named Tiina Määttä as Chief Financial Officer and Legal Officer, one day after announcing the departure of CFO Tuomo Riihonen. Määttä joins the management team on 1 October 2026. She takes over finance at the point where the company's full-year guidance depends on a sharper second half and on a factory ramp-up that has already slipped once.

Riihonen's employment ended on 24 September, the day his exit was announced, with CEO Jarmo Pekkarinen covering the CFO duties in the interim. No reason was given. Seven weeks earlier, Riihonen presented the half-year results alongside Pekkarinen. 

The first half delivered growth, but the guidance needs a margin step-up

LapWall's January to June revenue rose 24.0% to EUR 23.3 million, and EBITA grew 80.1% to EUR 2.0 million. The EBITA margin reached 8.6%, against 5.9% a year earlier. Between quarters, however, the margin moved the other way, falling from 9.5% in the first quarter to 7.9% in the second, although both were ahead of the prior year 

The company kept its guidance for 2026 of EUR 49 to 54 million in revenue and EUR 4.8 to 5.8 million in EBITA. 

Order backlog gives visibility, the Pyhännä factory sets the pace

Demand is not the constraint. The order backlog reached EUR 25.4 million at the end of June, the highest in the company's history, and the offer pipeline stood at nearly EUR 60 million. Pekkarinen pointed to data centre construction as a growing segment, including a supply agreement for XTX Markets' data centre project in Kajaani.

Capacity is the variable. The new Pyhännä factory, LapWall's largest investment to date, was about 95% complete on a cost basis at the end of June. In April, the aim was single-shift production across the whole factory during 2026. By August, the target to meet the investment's production goals had moved to the final quarter of the year, with the company noting that ramp-up remained behind its original schedule. Headcount rose from 127 to 143 over the year to June.