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Lappset Group Oy clearly improved its results after a difficult year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Group’s turnover increased moderately at the end of the year to EUR 62 million (cf. 57.1 MEUR in 2020). Operating profit was EUR 2.6 million (4.2%), compared to a loss made in 2020 (-1.3%). Return on investment rose to 11.4% from -3.8% in the previous year. At the end of the year, the Group employed a total of 386 employees.

The need for humanitarian aid is growing all the time in Ukraine. Johanna Ikäheimo, Chair of the Board of Directors of Lappset Group Oy, Tero Ylinenpää, CEO of Lappset Group Oy, and Ilkka Länkinen, Managing Director of SantaPark Oy, have asked their employers to refrain from paying their wages in March. At the same time, they are challenging the chairpersons of the boards of companies and the managing directors to participate in providing humanitarian aid for Ukraine.

Rahkola's Master’s thesis examines landscape history and landscape impacts of the mining industry.

Lappset Group has unanimously decided to withdraw its business from the Russian market by ceasing its exports of playground and outdoor sports equipment as well as theme parks as of the 28th of February 2022 until further notice.

Lappset Group will support Ukraine by donating 25,000 Euros through the Finnish Family Firm Association and their funding channels. The donation will be used to support the Ukrainian refugees and their families.

Johan Granholm, who has been the Honorary Consul of Denmark in Northern Ostrobothnia and Lapland since 2013, has received a significant recognition from H.M. Queen Margaret II of Denmark. On the 1st of January 2022, the Queen appointed Johan Granholm as Knight of the Order of Dannebrog for his work for the Kingdom of Denmark and awarded him the Knight's Cross.

The cooperation between Lappset and Moomin Characters Ltd began in 2019. Moomin Play by Lappset is a series of Moomin-themed playground equipment. Dedicated to Snufkin, the most recent themed playground launched on the market consists of a versatile tower, a tent and a tunnel. The playground also features a range of elements suitable for balancing or to be used as tables or seats. Snufkin’s Camp can be placed alongside the Moominhouse Yard playground. The products are manufactured in Rovaniemi, Finland, and they have been awarded the Key Flag Symbol in recognition of the jobs their manufacture creates in Finland.

Welcoming Sales Director Jens Lindgren as the Managing Director of Lappset Sweden AB. He will start in his new position on 1 September 2021. He will be shifting from his post as Sales Director of the Swedish subsidiary that he has held since the beginning of this year. Jens Lindgren has long-established experience in the demanding sales and service business development tasks in the parent company of the Lappset Group. Jens will be moving to Enköping in the autumn to be closer to customers and the outstanding team of the subsidiary.

For more than half a century, we have provided our customers with play, sports, and outdoor furniture products that last from generation to generation. In line with one of our core values Sustainability is in our DNA, we are extremely delighted to announce that as of 1 June 2021, we have decided to extend the warranty time of wooden products by five years from 10 to 15 years. The new warranty is valid for our wooden play, sports, and outdoor furniture ranges (applies to preserved wooden parts with no ground contact and preserved wooden parts with ground contact in Europe).

Cooperation with subcontractors and raw material suppliers is a key part of Lappset's success. More than half of the Group's net sales are generated through acquisition costs as direct purchases of materials and services. Supplier audits form an integral part of our sustainability actions.

The markets for playground and sports park equipment and theme parks were experiencing strong growth in the beginning of 2020, until the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic became evident in the sector. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, turnover and profits for the Lappset Group fell. The consolidated turnover for the Group was 57.1 million euros when the 2020 financial year came to a close, while same figure for 2019 reached 73 million euros. Profit became a loss, while two years ago there was a distinct profit of 3.9 million euros.

Sustainability is one of Lappset’s four key values. The Group’s offices and factories have gradually transferred to green energy. In Finland, the Company’s facilities moved to 100 % green energy from the beginning of 2021. The Swedish and Dutch subsidiaries have already been using electricity from renewable sources during a few years. As a part of the expansion of the scale of operations in Estonia, Lappset Group has also decided to increase the share of green electricity in the Tallinn factory.

In her Master's thesis, Tuokko investigates how virtual landscape modeling can be utilized in the participation of spatial planning.

Lappset Group Oy starts co-operation with the former freestyle athlete Pekka Hyysalo, known for his FightBack personal brand. He will be the ambassador for Lappset's new Sisu product line to be released in January 2021. Pekka inspires people to do outdoor sports through his own story, personality and positive attitude.

Safety certification of an individual product requires that the manufacturing unit be audited on an annual basis. Consequently, TüV completed the annual revision of Lappset’s Rovaniemi Factory on 8 October 2020. The factory passed the audition with ease.

We are happy to welcome two new sales partners in the U.S., Cunningham Recreations and MRC, who both have extensive sales networks in the country. The distribution agreements were signed earlier this spring and the hands-on cooperation has already started with a wide range of Lappset’s most popular products for play.

Ranua Wildlife Park is one of the northernmost wildlife parks in Europe hosting 50 animal species of the northern latitudes like polar bears, brown bears, foxes, wolves, elks and other arctic animals. Their newest family attraction, the Tiger Park and the Farm, opened on 15 June 2020, designed, furnished and installed by Lappset.

Inspecta Certification audited the quality and environmental management systems and the PEFC wood chain of custody management process of Lappset Group Oy in April 2020. The findings in the external audit report concerning the Rovaniemi plant and its operating environment were outstanding, with no discrepancies observed in relation to system requirements. Matters related to handling of the coronavirus situation were praised in the report.

The turnover for the Lappset Group increased by 15% compared to the previous year, with all three business sectors experiencing a growth in turnover. The Group’s consolidated turnover for the 2019 financial year was 73 million euros, with the turnover for 2018 being 63.5 million euros. Thanks to a growth in sales and enhancement of operations, the turnover for the Group took a positive trend. Net profit was 3.9 million euros, compared to 2.9 million euros in 2018. The net profit rate for 2019 was 5.3%. Last year’s turnover was the highest in the 50-year history of the Group and the second-best net profit.

We understand that the worldwide Coronavirus pandemic situation causes a lot of worries and uncertainty among us all. At Lappset, we have prepared ourselves with all possible precautions in order to prevent the virus from spreading among our staff, clients and customers, suppliers and all other stakeholders as well as families. Health, safety and wellbeing of everyone is a matter of heart to us, which is why we would like to share information on the actions taken by us with you.

Johanna Ikäheimo, Chairperson of the Board of Directors for Lappset Group Oy and Honorary Consul for Sweden, has been awarded the prestigious Royal Order of the Polar Star with the grade of Commander for her long-standing achievements in advancing relations and cooperation between Finland and Sweden.

In his master’s thesis, Jussi Virta examined how the renewal of playgrounds can better support children’s development. The scholarship was awarded on 12 February 2020 at the Landscape and Technology Expo Viherpäivät 2020 held in Jyväskylä.

Last year, the City of Imatra and Lappset Group Oy came together to organise this competition for ideas for spatial planning, with the Ukonniemi tree nursery being the target location. The grand jury for the award chose the winning proposal as the “Maiha” idea devised by a team of two students from the Häme University of Applied Sciences.

Lappset Group supports the activities of the Lapland University of Applied Sciences by granting student scholarships and achievement awards. The intention is to encourage students to seek employment in the commercial sector and international business. The scholarships are part of the 50th anniversary of the Lappset Group and the company's policy of social responsibility and university cooperation.

The quality and environmental management systems and PEFC wood chain of custody management process of Lappset Group Oy were audited by Kiwa in early October 2019. The findings of the external audit report concerning the Rovaniemi plant and its operating environment were outstanding, with no discrepancies observed in relation to system requirements. Matters related to responsibility and the further development of such received particular praise in the audit report.

Lappset Group Oy increases its stake in interactive playground and sport equipment and local distribution of playground and sport products by acquiring the remaining 49 % of the shares of Yalp Lappset Holding B.V. Lappset Group has been the majority owner in Yalp already since 2012 and will now continue developing the business further. The transaction is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2019.

Lappset Group launches to the international markets the Moomin Play by Lappset product collection, with the first production being the Moominhouse and yard entirety.

The quality and environment systems of Lappset Estonia Oü’s Tallinn plant were reassessed this spring with outstanding results. The outcome of the audit conducted in the end of April confirms that with regard to both management systems, Lappset operates in accordance with the new and more extensive requirements. The report states that high-standard delivery reliability and delivery quality have significantly boosted customer satisfaction.

Heureka Overseas Productions Oy Ltd (HOP), a subsidiary of the Finnish Science Centre Heureka, is partnering with Fantasia Works Oy, a subsidiary of Lappset Group, to increase the export of exhibits produced by Heureka.

Bulls, the company holding the copyright for the Moomins, Moomin Characters and Lappset Group Oy have entered into a cooperation agreement concerning Moomin-themed activity parks and playground collection. This means that Lappset’s business unit responsible for themed activity parks, Lappset Creative, will start to design and deliver Moomin-themed activity parks to chosen markets. In addition, the agreement facilitates producing a Moomin-themed playground equipment collection for the global markets.