State holding company Solidium reported strong second-quarter results on Wednesday, reaping dividends for state coffers from partially state-owned companies.
Solidium boasted a 7-percent return on its stock holdings during the first half of the year. It said this was boosted by favourable price developments of large holdings such as networking giant Nokia and the industrial machinery firm Metso. Solidium’s equity holdings were worth more than seven billion euros as of midyear.
Sizeable investment in satellite imaging firm
The state firm recently sold off all its shares in Kemira and Mandatum. Solidium invested about 40 million euros of the sale proceeds in the Finnish satellite imaging company ICEYE. The Espoo-based firm claims to own "the world's largest synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite constellation".
"ICEYE is a globally recognised high-tech company in a rapidly growing industry and has clear potential to grow into a nationally significant publicly traded company. Through this, ICEYE is also building broader technological expertise and a sector cluster in Finland," Solidium CEO Reima Rytsölä said in a statement on Wednesday.
Last year, the state earned 1.6 billion euros in revenue from its corporate holdings. That was especially boosted by Neste and Solidium dividends. The total value of state holdings was around 37 billion euros at the end of 2023, down from 41 billion a year earlier. The biggest reason for the drop in value was a decrease in energy group Neste’s share price.
Fully and partially state-owned firms are overseen by the cabinet minister for ownership steering.
MP Joakim Strand (SPP) took over that job in early July. He succeeded Anders Adlercreutz in the post after he replaced Anna-Maja Henriksson as education minister and leader of the Swedish People’s Party. That followed her election to the European Parliament in June.
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