Last spring, we asked our stakeholders to provide their views of our business operations and to list Patria’s key roles and tasks from their perspective.
The related survey identified three major areas – security of supply, partnership and responsibility. To tell the truth, these areas came as no surprise, which is good news since our business has been based on such ideas for years. It was also great to see that our stakeholders’ and our view of the purpose and goals of our operations is roughly in line with our own. These are issues on which we will continue to focus and which will also be highlighted by the changes in our security environment.
During its entire history of 94 years, Patria has formed part of ensuring security of supply for the Finnish Defence Forces. Our subsidiary, Millog, provides an excellent example of partnership and modern security of supply. As a strategic partner of the Finnish Defence Forces, Millog provides life-cycle support services for the maintenance of materiel placed under the responsibility of the Army and Navy, in both normal and exceptional circumstances. During 2015, Millog integrated the Army’s garrison repair shops and Navy’s maintenance centres with its own organisation, while training almost 300 new Millog employees in the process. Millog now has more than 1,000 employees in total. Millog has worked hard and successfully to complete this change process.
The Patria Group is a responsible employer. In addition to its financial performance, Patria bears responsibility for the well-being of its employees and the environment. In the spring of this year, we pledged to develop the energy efficiency of the real estate property we manage and to further enhance occupational safety in order to reduce the number of accidents at work. This is part of Society’s Commitment to Sustainable Development, a project coordinated by the Ministry of the Environment.
Economic responsibility is part of corporate social responsibility and responsible operations. By being successful on the market, we will enhance our capability to improve our performance in other areas of responsibility. In this respect, a company cannot afford to stand still; it must constantly seek new and interesting markets. The situation in Finland is extremely interesting. From the industrial perspective, the number of key strategic projects is larger than for decades. These projects include the upgrade project for the Hamina Class vessels, the field artillery project, the Squadron 2020 project, and the selection of a successor for the Hornet fighter. The combined value of these projects is equivalent to four Finnish defence budgets at the current level. This fact alone has made Finland an attractive sector of the defence industry market, even in an international context. On the international market, in addition to our neighbouring areas Patria will set its sights in the coming years on regions such as Australia and the Middle East.
This issue includes another excellent survey of the versatile range of products and services available from the technology company Patria – a service and product range which we are proud to present. Our products and services bear witness to our commitment and the long-term, responsible work that we perform in close cooperation with our partners.
Heikki Allonen
President and CEO
