Year 2019 was record-breaking for forest machine manufacturer Logset Oy. The turnover was 48.0 million euros (2018: 40.1 million euros) and the operating profit landed on 2.5 million euros (2018: 1.6 million euros). The turnover and result were higher than ever.
During 2019 Logset invested in growth and developing its distribution network. Logset established a subsidiary named Logset Inc. in Ottawa, Canada. Three employees moved from Finland to Canada to get the business started. Also, Logset established a sales company in Sweden named Logset Sverige Filial. The sales company is responsible for the sales in Southern Sweden and Denmark, as well as supporting all dealers in Scandinavia. Logset and Pesa CAT deepened their cooperation in Brazil by including two new Brazilian states to the Pesa CAT sales area. The market areas that developed the most globally were Canada, USA, Brazil and Spain, as well as Czech Republic and United Kingdom.
In 2019 Logset launched the medium-sized hybrid harvester model Logset 8H GTE Hybrid and expanded the Stage 5 engine family to machines under 130 kw. During the year the hybrid harvester won two significant prizes: in France it was selected as the Forest Machine of the Year and in Austria the machine won an Innovation prize. The hybrid harvester has fulfilled the customer expectations and regarding the product the company can now concentrate on sales and expanding the market area.
However, during the first months of 2020 the market situation has clearly weakened. In the beginning of the year it was observed that the demand for forest machines has decreased. In Finland the demand was affected by labour disputes. The global market suffered from the amounts of force cut timber due to storms in Central Europe and insect damages in North America and Europe. The price of timber had dropped already before the outbreak of the global Corona virus pandemic. The current risks have to do with the world’s economical state and health issues, as well as how the sales will develop. Logset believes that the growth target for 2020 is still within reach, even when taking in account the disturbance of the market caused by the Corona virus.
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