It Is Time to Stop Whining and Complaining — Let’s Roll Up Our Sleeves and Get to Work

News from Finland in recent years has made for rather one-sided reading. We have no growth, no expertise, we have fallen behind in artificial intelligence, our structures are terribly rigid, we are taking on too much debt, and the state does not provide enough support for this, that and the other.

In Sweden, by contrast, everything has supposedly been different: growth, expertise, success and the right decisions.

Much of the rest of Europe has largely been in the same category as Finland. No competence, constant arguing, bickering, vested interests and a lack of innovation. Across the Atlantic, meanwhile, everything has supposedly been different: skilled labour, impressive innovation, the world’s largest listed companies and more or less the opposite of what we have here on the old continent.

In this environment, managing a Finnish equity portfolio has not been easy in recent years, even though I have kept saying that our listed companies know what they are doing too. They also have customers, and while their growth may be hard-won, they do know how to operate. It has not helped much. Until this spring, the role of Finnish listed companies seemed to be to pay hefty dividends, which were then quickly reinvested on the other side of the world in pursuit of higher growth.

But let us look at things from another angle for a moment. From a perspective of opportunities, not merely threats. From a perspective of doing, not fearing. From a perspective of winning, not losing.

As I am an equity portfolio manager at Proprius Partners Oy, my perspective is purely that of companies and investing. I will not take a view on the most difficult problem to solve — political decision-making — and I do not have solutions for it.

Let us therefore look at the world from a business perspective. Take, for example, a small asset management company in Helsinki that received its licence in January 2023. There were many players in the market, so there was no shortage of competitors. Regulation had brought an enormous additional burden to the industry, making the whole idea seem crazy — even downright foolish in the eyes of many. Only complete idiots would set up a new asset management firm in Finland.

And yet, these five portfolio managers found one another, along with five other team members, and off they went — straight into the headwind.

Did they ask the state, parliament or any publicly funded institution for money to start operations? Absolutely not. In the spirit of the market economy, they raised capital from investors who believed in the business and put their own expertise on the line.

They bought their own coffee cups and tables, negotiated with IT service providers and paid law firm invoices. That is what running a business is: risk-taking, work — but also a damn fine kind of activity and hustle. They thought about customer groups, products, marketing, costs and, of course, began by defining the company’s values and vision. All of this was about creating something new. It is not easy, but when it works, it is incredibly fascinating and rewarding. Not necessarily financially, but at least mentally.

Now, after just over two years in operation, Proprius Partners’ team has grown, we are profitable, we manage nearly EUR 160 million of client assets, and our fifth fund has just started operations. At the time of writing, 13 May 2025, all our funds are above their starting levels. In fact, our operations feel stronger than at any point so far — and the greatest thanks for that belongs to our clients.

Why do I use Proprius as an example? Because it is the story I know.

Now let us turn to the bigger picture and Finnish companies. Next autumn, I will have been investing in Finnish listed companies as a fund manager for 30 years. I suppose that makes me one of the more experienced people in the industry. I have seen the wild rise of the 1990s, the globalisation of industrial companies in the 2000s, and the pain that began with the financial crisis. The past five years have also been highly instructive, because so many unique and major events have taken place.

Yet a company is built to be like an amoeba — a constantly changing organism. Its task is to adapt, change and rebuild itself in changing conditions. The forces guiding this amoeba are its owners, the board representing them, and the management team, which together with the personnel carries out that transformation.

Change is constant and permanent. Uncertainty and a foggy outlook are practically part of everyday life. Companies must respond to this through their own actions. Not by asking some external party, such as a government or parliament, for help. Not by waiting for money from the common taxpayer-funded purse, or by endlessly blaming others. And not by saying that the state’s “innovation policy” does not work.

Now is the time for companies to look in the mirror. That is where the solution will be found.

Let us start creating solutions ourselves for customers’ needs — solutions that bring them added value and that they are willing to buy. Let us be creative, brave, agile, fast and innovative. The solution lies with us, not with anyone else.

The current situation for Finnish business is roughly as follows: wage agreements have been made proactively for three years and at a fairly moderate level. We know what the cost level in Finland is. Interest rates have fallen significantly, and the ECB’s predictability as a slow-moving actor has in fact worked in our favour. The cost of financing cannot be an obstacle to productive investments.

Raw material and energy prices have come down, labour is readily available, household purchasing power is rising, and global markets remain completely open — in the east, though of course not in the country waging an aggressive war, in the west and in the south. There are enormous needs waiting for good solutions, and those needs can create excellent growing businesses.

Permanent data centres are being brought to Finland to store the data of global giants’ customers. Why? Because we are a predictable, stable country — and even our climate is suitable. At the time of writing, German defence industry giant Rheinmetall announced cooperation with the Finnish company ICEYE to develop satellite cooperation. In other words, a strategically important European defence giant wants to sign a cooperation agreement specifically with a Finnish high-technology company.

And to top it all off, the Helsinki Stock Exchange is up 12% since the beginning of the year, and the year is not even halfway through. Could the glass finally appear half full?

I could continue this list endlessly, but to spare the reader, I will simply state that the conditions for successful business are excellent. EXCELLENT.

Now it is time to take ourselves by the scruff of the neck, stop whining and complaining, roll up our sleeves and get to work. It is up to the companies themselves.

As Raimo “Raipe” Helminen, the coach of Lappeenrannan SaiPa, which delivered the major surprise of this spring in Finnish ice hockey, encouraged his players to be brave, I now wish the same from the owners, boards and management teams of listed companies: play bravely — and even more bravely. Otherwise, we will lose this game.

That is how we think about it at Proprius.

Mika Heikkilä

Portfolio Manager

+358 50 554 3866 mika.heikkila@proprius.fi

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