The Algol Group’s business continued to develop steadily in 2024. Although the operating result weakened in line with expectations compared to the previous two years, it remained at a good level. The operating profit amounted to EUR 7.8 million, which corresponds to the Group-level performance target set for the year. The results for the Group’s business sectors were also well in line with expectations. The decline in net sales to EUR 194 million was mainly due to declining raw material prices and the weakening of investment demand in the project business.

Outlook for the current year continues to be stable

The current year still looks stable for Algol. The outlook for industrial investments has improved somewhat compared to a year ago. Algol Group companies operate in many different sectors and regions, which provides stability also in times of uncertainty.

According to our forecast, net sales and the result at the Group level will improve in 2025. We continue to aim for moderate growth, continuous long-term improvement in our results and strengthening our balance sheet.

Further information

Alexander Bargum, CEO, Algol Oy, tel. +358 40 732 3232

Algol in brief

Algol is a family-owned business and multi-branch group with more than 130 years of experience in international trade. Our companies import, market and manufacture products for industry and the healthcare sector. In addition, Algol companies offer services related to their business areas, such as design services, tailored delivery solutions, and installation, maintenance and training services. We are building a successful and sustainable future for our partners. Algol employs nearly 500 experts in ten different countries. www.algol.fi

The Algol Group is donating a total of 40,000 euros to UNICEF and the Red Cross to support victims of the war in Ukraine. A donation of 20,000 euros is being made to each organisation.

Over the past four years, Algol has demonstrated its support for Ukraine by donating a total of 160,000 euros to UNICEF’s Ukraine Fund and the Disaster Relief Fund of the Finnish Red Cross.

With this year’s donation, the company wants to demonstrate its continued support for the government and people of Ukraine on the anniversary of the Russian invasion. We continue to stand with the people of Ukraine, and our thoughts remain with them.

Further information:
Alexander Bargum, tel. +358 40 732 3232

Algol in brief

Algol is a family-owned business and multi-branch group with more than 130 years of experience in international trade. Our subsidiaries import, market and manufacture products for industry and the healthcare sector. In addition, Algol Group companies offer services related to their business areas, such as design services, tailored delivery solutions, and installation, maintenance and training services. We are building a successful and sustainable future for our partners. Algol employs nearly 500 experts in ten different countries.

Alexander Bargum and Joakim Flinck

The Board of Directors of Algol Oy has today (30 January 2025) appointed Joakim Flinck, M.Sc. (Econ.), Group CEO. The appointment will take effect on 1 April 2025. Joakim Flinck has served as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Algol Group since 2019 and as Group Deputy CEO since 2020. He succeeds Alexander Bargum, LL.M., who became Group CEO in 2012 after serving as a member of the company’s Board of Directors since 2006.

Algol Oy’s largest shareholders have also agreed that Alexander Bargum, one of the principal shareholders, will become the company’s full-time Chairman of the Board of Directors as of 1 April 2025, after the Annual General Meeting. At that time, Joakim Flinck will also be elected as a member of Algol Oy’s Board of Directors.

With these changes, the Board of Directors of Algol Oy, as the parent company, will focus more strongly on the Group’s ownership strategy, financing and steering of shared functions, as well as Group-level financial monitoring and reporting, sustainability reporting and risk management. The boards of Group companies will continue to be responsible for the strategic steering and monitoring of their own business operations.

The parent company’s Board of Directors will be scaled down in such a way that current members who are independent of the company and shareholders, Kaj Hedvall (Member of the Board since 2011, Chairman since 2020), Kenneth Nystén (Member of the Board since 2017) and Kristina Pentti-von Walzel (Member of the Board since 2022) will resign from their positions.

In addition to Alexander Bargum and Joakim Flinck, Algol’s other principal owner, Johannes Bargum, who has been with the company since 2011 and a Member of the Board since 2018, will continue to serve on the parent company’s Board of Directors. All three also sit on the boards of the Group companies, with Alexander Bargum serving as their Chairman. Otherwise, the boards of the largest Group companies, Algol Chemicals Oy, Algol Technics Oy, Algol Trehab Oy and Histolab Products AB, comprise members who are independent of the companies and their owners.

“The independent board work of our Group companies was introduced in 2020, and this management model has proven its effectiveness in terms of business and the Group’s multi-sector strategy. The parent company’s board has developed especially its practices related to the ownership strategy since then. In this way, we have created the conditions for the change that has now been decided, in which the scope of tasks of the different boards will be further clarified. This will bring more efficiency and agility to our board work at different levels,” says Alexander Bargum.

“I would like to thank the outgoing members of the Board of Directors of Algol Oy for their valuable work, which has required a strong commitment to ownership issues, as well as close monitoring and in-depth understanding of business operations. In the company’s history, it has been customary for either the CEO or the Chairman of the Board to come from outside the ownership circle. Now, for the first time in almost 40 years, we are entering a phase where the CEO does not represent the ownership family. As Chairman of the Board of Directors of the parent company and Group companies, I will continue to actively work for the benefit of Algol as a whole. It is a pleasure to share this work with Joakim Flinck. At the same time, I am very pleased that my brother and other principal owner, Johannes Bargum, has also joined the boards of the Group companies, which will contribute to strengthening the development of the family company,” Alexander Bargum continues.

“I am honoured to accept the duties of Group CEO in such a traditional family company. Over the past five years, we have invested in developing processes and management at Algol. During this time, we have strengthened the Group’s balance sheet and grown our net sales and, above all, operating profit, thereby creating significant shareholder value. This would not have been possible without our skilled and committed employees. I feel that we are well positioned to continue Algol’s sustainable development together with our customers and partners,” says Joakim Flinck.

Further information:
Alexander Bargum, tel. +358 40 732 3232  

Media contacts:
Tuulikki Suihkonen, Communication Manager, tel. + 358 50 346 7248

Algol in brief

Algol is a family-owned business and multi-branch group with more than 130 years of experience in international trade. Our Group companies import, market and manufacture products for industry and the healthcare sector. In addition, Algol Group companies offer services related to their business areas, such as design services, tailored delivery solutions, and installation, maintenance and training services. We are building a successful and sustainable future for our partners. Algol employs nearly 500 experts in ten different countries.

Among Algol Group companies and business areas, Algol Trehab Oy has represented the relatively small but strategically significant assistive devices sector for almost 20 years.

“Algol Trehab’s products and services enable their users to lead a better and more functional everyday life, which adds significance and responsibility to our work. From the Group’s perspective, the assistive devices sector acts as a counterbalance to the economic fluctuations of other sectors. We see clear growth potential in it as the age structure of the population develops,” says Alexander Bargum, CEO of Algol and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Algol Trehab.

As a result of the business acquisition made in 2023, Algol Trehab’s net sales increased by almost 50 percent. The company thereby reached a size that justified the launch of active board work in line with the model of other companies in the Algol Group.

“We added diverse expertise to the Algol Trehab board last year. The company’s prospects and the Group’s goals for developing the company clearly attracted the kind of experienced experts and business leaders we were hoping for,” says Bargum.

“The new board has now been in place for a year, and during that time we have already formed a good understanding of the company’s growth opportunities and the means to achieve them. The financial pressures of public healthcare will affect demand in the coming years, but the longer-term growth drivers still exist. We also believe that the industry will continue to consolidate, and we want to be an active player in this,” he continues.

The members of Algol Trehab’s board of directors include Pauliina Bovellán, who has extensive experience in healthcare-related business management, Maria Grannas, a specialist in exercise and sports medicine, and Kenneth Sandström, an experienced management consultant and business director specialising in the healthcare sector. In addition to Alexander Bargum, the owners and the Group are represented on the board by Johannes Bargum and Joakim Flinck.

“Even the best board of directors cannot succeed in their duties without excellent management and personnel. What is particularly motivating about the work of the board is that Algol Trehab has an extremely professional, enthusiastic and committed team,” says Alexander Bargum.

The Algol Group Sustainability Report 2023 has been published. In the report, we present a summary of the actions and results of 2023, as well as our short-term sustainability goals. The Group is reporting on its sustainability for the second time, and the report focuses on companies wholly owned by Algol.

“Compiling the Sustainability Report also helps us to view our operations from partly new perspectives, which in turn helps us to develop. Sustainable operations are often also more efficient, stable and safe. At the same time, sustainability creates opportunities and points the way towards future growth”, says Alexander Bargum, CEO of the Algol Group.

Algol’s sustainability highlights in 2023:

– Information security attendance rate among employees: 96.5% (2022: 45.8%)
– Double materiality analysis conducted in Algol Chemicals highlighting climate and safety themes
– Supplier Code of Business Conduct signature rate: 77.6% (2022: 72.1%)
– Review and target setting discussions: 94.2% (2022: 92.9%)
– Recycled waste: 55.97% (2022: 49.52)
– Safety observations: 2262 (target: 1460)

Read our Sustainability Report

Further information:
Tor Edgren, Sustainability Manager, +358 50 525 7625, tor.edgren@algol.fi
Tuulikki Suihkonen, Communications Manager, +358 50 346 7248, tuulikki.suihkonen@algol.fi

Algol in brief
Algol is a family-owned business and multi-branch group with more than 130 years of experience in international trade. Our subsidiaries import, market and manufacture products for industry and the healthcare sector. In addition, Algol Group companies offer services related to their business areas, such as design services, tailored delivery solutions, and installation, maintenance and training services. We are building a successful and sustainable future for our partners. Algol employs nearly 500 experts in ten different countries.

Algol Trehab Oy has acquired the assistive devices business of Mediq Suomi Oy. The acquisition strengthens the position of Algol Trehab in the assistive devices market in Finland.

The acquisition complements Algol Trehab’s existing range of products and solutions for assistive devices and enables the expansion and further development of maintenance services.

“Algol Trehab’s product range currently covers assistive devices such as moving aids, lifting and transferring aids, and posture aids, for example. In addition, the company implements complete projects for the public and private sectors and offers maintenance and training services. The acquisition complements our offerings, for example in terms of hygiene products, moving aids and fixed solutions”, says Johan Wulff, Managing Director of Algol Trehab.

The entire personnel of Mediq Suomi’s assistive devices business, a total of 5 people, will transfer to Algol Trehab. The entire product range will also be transferred.

“The acquisition enables us to offer our customers an even more versatile selection of assistive devices and assistive device solutions. This will further strengthen our position in the market”, Wulff adds.

“Mediq Suomi has been in the assistive devices business for a long time. However, our assistive devices team has been small, and we do not have support for this business from Mediq’s other business areas or markets. For this reason, we have decided to sell the business to Algol Trehab Oy, where we see opportunities for good customer work and further development and support of the business”, says Marika Tiirikainen, Business Development Director at Mediq Suomi Oy.

Further information

Johan Wulff, Managing Director, Algol Trehab Oy, t. +358 50 343 8964, johan.wulff@algol.fi
Marika Tiirikainen, Business Development Director, Mediq Suomi Oy, t. +358 50 429 2847, marika.tiirikainen@mediq.com 

Mediq Suomi Oy in brief

Mediq Suomi Oy serves Finnish healthcare and laboratory professionals as a supplier of solutions and total services to the healthcare sector. The company is part of the Mediq Group, the largest provider of healthcare equipment and supplies in Northern Europe. The company is an international provider of healthcare supplies and equipment, as well as related services. Mediq delivers healthcare products as home deliveries directly to customers, as well as to hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare service providers.

Algol Trehab Oy in brief

Algol Trehab is an expert in assistive devices. We offer our customers a wide selection of assistive devices designed to smooth everyday life from leading manufacturers. The products we represent are selected from the best on the market, and we take long-term responsibility for their functionality well into the future. We help our customers select the most suitable products, and we service them with expertise and experience. We serve customers in both the public and private sectors. Algol Trehab is part of the Finnish Algol Group. Find out more: www.algoltrehab.fi