CFO resigns (February 14)

Konecranes chief financial officer (CFO) Teuvo Rintamäki is set to leave the company, citing a need for change. Rintamäki has been a member of the group management team since it was formed after an MBO-transaction in 1994.

CEO Pekka Lundmark said: “I understand and respect Rintamäki’s decision, although I would have preferred to see him continue his successful career within the crane industry for many years to come.”

Name change now effective (March 16)

Konecranes has changed its parent company name from KCI Konecranes Plc to Konecranes Plc. Konecranes’ trading code on the OMX Helsinki Stock Exchange has accordingly been changed from KCI1V to KCR1V. Trading with the new code started on Monday 19 March 2007.

Konecranes progresses with real estate sale (March 27)

Konecranes has signed a letter of intent regarding the sale of six properties located in Hyvinkää and Hämeenlinna, Finland (to the Swedish real estate company AB Sagax) comprising buildings of approximately 74,000 square metres and a land area of roughly 240,000 square metres, which are currently mainly in production, warehouse and office use.

Konecranes enhances African presence

Konecranes has signed an agreement to acquire 19% of the share capital in South African crane manufacturer Dynamic Crane Systems Ltd (DCS). DCS has annual net sales of approximately Euros 4 million and 60 employees.

New CFO (July 2)

Teo Ottola (MSc) has been named chief financial officer (CFO) at Konecranes Plc. His areas of responsibility will be business control, accounting, financing and investor relations. The present CFO, Teuvo Rintamäki, announced his resignation in February 2007, but will continue as CFO until Mr Ottola has settled into his new position.

Lundmark hints at further acquisitions (August 1)

Konecranes has published its January-June 2007 interim report. Pekka Lundmark, president and CEO, said: “We are pleased with our overall performance during the second quarter 2007. Solid growth continues on all fronts, and the quarter well supports our 20% full year sales growth target.”

He continued: “Both our new orders and sales are growing faster than the market, and we are clearly continuing to win market share from most of our key competitors. The demand outlook for the third quarter looks stable.”

The second quarter 9% EBIT margin (not including the capital gain from the sale of real estate) also met expectations. In the second quarter last year this number was 6.2%. The margin development was, however, uneven.

Konecranes buys fellow Finnish firm… (August 2)

Konecranes has acquired Finnish-based container handling software specialist Savcor One Oy. The company, which is part of Savcor Group, is based in Vantaa and provides products and services to more than 20 leading container ports all over the world.

Its software has been part of Konecranes’ product offering in recent years and today Konecranes has over 100 Savcor One solutions installed in its fleet.

“Sales have increased and in order to further develop and integrate the automation technology into Konecranes equipment, it has now become essential to have the automation knowhow in-house,” a press release said.

…and Scandinavian service firms… (August 7)

Konecranes is strengthening its position in the machine tool service (MTS) business by acquiring two MTS companies in Scandinavia, one in Norway and one in Sweden. The agreements were signed in July 2007.

…and Italian service firm… (August 20)

Konecranes has acquired the ports service business of Italian service company Technical Services SRL. The acquired operation specialises in providing maintenance and engineering services to port terminals, shipyards, shipping companies and related equipment manufacturers.

Technical Services was founded in 1998 and is based in Vado Ligure, close to Genoa in north-western Italy. Total sales of the company in 2006 were Euros 1.8 million.

“This addition to the existing Konecranes service network further strengthens our position in Italy and the Mediterranean area,” says Trygve Boström, director, ports service at Konecranes.

…then buys into South Africa (October 15)

Konecranes has bought into South African crane manufacturer Dynamic Crane Systems. The company was formerly a Konecranes licencee.

Konecranes is planning a complete takeover of the business in two years. DCS group general manager Gavin Hanger is expected to be made director of the company.

Stalwart resigns (November 1)

Konecranes group director, administration and business development and member of the group executive board, Arto Juosila, will leave his position to pursue personal interests. Juosila has worked for Konecranes more than 27 years. His responsibilities will initially be divided between existing executive board members.

President and CEO Pekka Lundmark said: “I would like to warmly thank Mr Juosila for his personal commitment and contribution over the years, as well as for his long career in several important management positions in Konecranes.”

Konecranes names chief procurement officer (November 29)

Pekka Lettijeff has been appointed chief procurement officer (CPO) at Konecranes Plc. His areas of responsibility will include all direct and indirect purchasing across the Konecranes Group.

Lettijeff will be a member of the Konecranes Group executive board and will report to Pekka Lundmark, president and CEO. Lettijeff will start in his new position on February 1 2008.

Lettijeff has worked at Nokia Networks since 2001 and is currently head of global purchasing at Nokia Siemens Networks. Lettijeff has previously acted as VP global supply and purchasing at Astra Zeneca, and several executive positions in General Motors Worldwide Purchasing and Saab Automobile in USA, Germany and Sweden. Lettijeff is 46-years-old.