Itella takes over newspaper distribution business in Eastern Finland
Finland’s Itella Posti has signed an agreement to take over the delivery operations of the newspaper Karjalainen. The deal will see Itella expanding its early morning newspaper delivery services in the North Karelia region of Eastern Finland from the end of this month.
Itella has been providing early morning delivery for the city of Joensuu and parts of rural North Karelia, but taking over the delivery functions of the newspaper will see this expand across the area.
The new partnership will see about 49 distribution staff transferring from the newspaper business to become Itella employees.
Risto Savikko, vice president of Itella’s periodicals services, said newspaper distribution was still part of the core business.
He said: “We are delighted to expand our early morning delivery service in North Karelia. We want to provide the newspaper Karjalainen a good quality and cost effective service for current and new subscribers.”
Savikko added that early morning deliveries could help safeguard the business of newspaper companies, and that this was a common goal shared with Itella.
Pasi Koivumaa, editor in chief of Karjalainen said his company wanted to expand the number of customers receiving the publication early in the morning.
He told newspaper subscribers there should be no impact on their existing delivery, but “it is better to let the professionals do it”.
“The early morning edition is a critical growth potential for this newspaper,” he said. “We want to ensure the continuation of a comprehensive and high quality service, in cooperation with Itella. With this partnership we provide the greatest benefit to the customer with Itella taking over the distribution.”
OpusCapita
Separately, Itella’s OpusCapita business, which provides financial management outsourcing services, has acquired the Norwegian financial accounting outsourcing company Norian Group.
The acquired firm has eight locations in Norway, and employs 160 people in Norway, Sweden and Lithuania.
Itella said the deal makes OpusCapita one of the major accountancy firms in Norway and will improve the company’s capabilities for small and medium-sized customers.
Heikki Länsisyrjä, CEO, OpusCapita, said: “There is a lot of synergy with our products, services and existing clientele. In addition, OpusCapita will expand its customer base by 1,400 new customers.”
OpusCapita currently has about 2,100 employees and more than 10,000 customers, with annual sales of about EUR 263m.
