Jorma Rauhala

President and CEO (Managing Director), Kesko Kesko Oyj

Search every verified Jorma Rauhala interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Jorma Rauhala, President and CEO of Kesko, stated in a March 2025 presentation that the company’s updated strategy targets growth. He noted that Kesko operates three divisions: grocery trade, building and technical trade, and car trade, with grocery trade being the largest domestic business and building and technical trade being an international division active in eight countries. Rauhala described 2021–2022 as exceptionally strong years with an operating profit margin above 7%, followed by a decline to 3.9%, but expressed belief that the worst was over, citing a recent uptick in housing sales in Finland as a positive sign for renovation-related business. He projected that the first half of 2025 would not see strong growth but expected improvement later, given that Finland needs 35,000 new homes annually while current construction is below 20,000. In a November 2024 interview, Rauhala discussed Kesko’s focus on strengthening its market position in grocery trade and its systematic board cooperation with Arturas and Arturella. He stated that the company has room to improve, particularly in the building and technical trade division, which experienced a historically weak year. Rauhala said that Kesko aims to maintain good profitability through clear measures, and that acquisitions are a key way to achieve sufficient scale, preferably targeting larger rather than smaller entities. He also reiterated Kesko’s vision to be a leading and attractive growth company in the retail sector in Northern Europe, and noted that investments in pricing and store locations would have a mild impact on grocery trade profitability, targeting a margin clearly above 6% over the strategy period.