Prospects in 2013
The unstable state of the economy in Europe is still creating uncertainty in the market. VR Group has also posted positive figures during the early months of 2014 and the trend is expected to continue even though the operating environment remains challenging. In Passenger Services the efforts put into customer service and the loyalty scheme, coupled with the successful price campaigns, aim at continuing the encouraging developments in sales. The outlook for logistics in 2014 is closely connected with the growth prospects of Finnish industries. The outlook will be strongly influenced by domestic economic developments and developments in the areas adjacent to Finland, especially Russia and the Baltic countries.
Systematic efficiency improvements will continue, and at the same time, VR Transpoint will actively seek new growth opportunities with existing and new customers. Even though the Finnish track maintenance market is expected to remain at reasonable levels, competition will probably become tougher as a result of the slowdown in the construction business and the overall state of the infrastructure engineering sector.
Infrastructure Engineering starts the year armed with a stronger order book than in the previous year. In particular, the business development programme started in 2013 is expected to improve the company's profitability.
The Group’s liquidity remains strong, but the extremely large future capital expenditure means that it will weaken to some extent.
