Avensia

In Finland, revenue growth picked up towards the end of the year, surpassing that of the other Nordic countries for the first time in a long while.

In the rest of the Nordic countries, organic revenue development turned downward and profitability weakened in Q2. Thus, even applying the Rule of 20, the situation in the IT services market remains distinctly challenging, with only one company achieving good performance and two achieving satisfactory performance.

We examined Nordic, listed IT service companies with the 'Rule of 20' metric we launched, measured with which a few companies achieved excellent performance in 2024. On average, Finnish IT service companies fared worse last year than other Nordic companies. Overall, however, it can be said that 2024 was still challenging throughout the Nordics.

In the rest of the Nordic countries, organic revenue development turned upwards and profitability was at a reasonably good level in Q2.

Uncertainty in customer demand was realized more widely in Q2, but development was even more mixed than before. Companies with a high weight of tailored software development and the private sector suffered more in relative terms. Reported figures included mainly negative surprises, which was also seen in the form of change negotiations and profit warnings. We predict that the duality will continue in 2023, but the demand outlook will remain more subdued as a whole in 2023 in the private sector, while public sector demand is expected to remain at a good level.