eQ Oyj (0DK7) Q4 2024 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Yeah. Yeah. Well, there were a few minutes left. Let's start. Welcome. Let's take a quick look at the last few years. How did the market situation affect us? The market situation was not particularly favorable for the EU. In general, the economic situation in Finland and Europe was rather low. which you can see in the stock exchange rates. It's a difficult place for the economy, and it's related to the high rates that we started last year, as well as the unemployment rate in the government sector, which led to the fact that it affected quite a lot of businesses. Of course, on the financial side, as we know, in 2023 and continued in 2024, and also due to the fact that the demand for production has not yet been there during the last year. The currency remains very tight during the last year, and liquidity was really small. If we look at the Finnish commodity markets, it was about 2 billion, if I'm not mistaken, commercial real estate transactions, which were even lower in the year 23, when it was 10 billion a year higher, so we are 20% of that. In addition, this high rate level and also the European exchange rate, although the European exchange rate generally went better than in the Nordic countries, where it dropped a bit, it affected the loss of private equity. 23 was slow, but 24 also continued to be slow, even though it was slightly activated in 2023, but it was still slow. And that affected our movement in general. And of course, the anonymity of the Helsinki Stock Exchange also affects customers and customers' use of the business, which is quite common. that Finland and the Nordic countries, or perhaps Europe, are superior in comparison to others, which then affects the allocation and the appearance. So, that's why the year hasn't been in such a way that it's goo...