Financial information

CEO's comments on the Business Review January 1–March 31, 2025, published May 7, 2025

Continued strong profitability and operational execution

Raute had a strong start to the year as our comparable EBITDA reached an all-time high in the first quarter of 2025. This was once again driven by excellent operational execution, demonstrating that we have the capabilities to operate in a high-volume business environment and deliver large projects successfully.

In the first quarter of 2025, Raute’s comparable EBITDA reached EUR 7.4 million, representing a margin of 14.3%, and net sales were EUR 52 million. This quarter was also the second time we exceeded our long-term target of 12% comparable EBITDA margin since setting the targets in March 2023. The Wood Processing business continued its strong operational execution and efficiency, while performance in the Services business remained at a reasonable level. The Analyzers business showed a profit compared to a loss in the comparison period despite the exceptionally challenging market environment.

Our order intake slowed in the first quarter after a more promising fourth quarter. This, unfortunately, confirms our earlier prediction that a sustained market recovery has not yet taken place. The recent turbulence in global trade, imposed tariffs, and subsequent counter-tariffs have increased uncertainty and indeed pushed the market recovery even further ahead.

Nevertheless, Raute still has a reasonable order book. While the challenging market environment and related uncertainty are universal in our industry, I am confident we can capture new business opportunities in the engineered wood segments given our strong and long-term relationships with customers once the market recovers.

Looking into the rest of this year, we raised our comparable EBITDA guidance for 2025 in April. This reaffirms the message that Raute has the building blocks in place for another good year and we are making good progress towards our strategic targets. In addition, we have demonstrated that we have enhanced our operational and commercial capabilities as well as the ability to offer digitalized and AI-based solutions.

Mika Saariaho
President and CEO