AINS Group’s profitability improved in 2024

AINS Group, a multidisciplinary engineering and consultancy company for the built environment, improved its performance in 2024 despite stagnation in residential construction in Finland.

The company’s net sales of EUR 134 million increased slightly from the previous year (EUR 130 million).

The operating margin (IFRS) was EUR 10.6 million (2023: EUR 7.2 million), accounting for 8.0% of net sales, including performance bonuses paid to employees. EBITA (IFRS) was EUR 6.1 million, accounting for 4.6% of net sales.

“We succeeded in strengthening our market position in strategically important industrial projects, alongside our traditionally strong real estate consultancy operations. We had the opportunity to participate in multidisciplinary clean energy investments and data center projects. In addition, our expertise in areas such as steel construction has been in demand in Finnish industry’s export projects abroad,” says AINS Group’s CEO Kari Kauniskangas.

“I am pleased that we managed to turn the corner in our performance, despite the challenging market situation and tight price competition. Our results will again allow us to pay performance bonuses to our staff. I expect the positive performance trend to continue this year, although we are unlikely to see a significant change in the market environment until 2026,” he adds.

Thanks to our focus on productivity, the company’s billing rate and average hourly rate increased, and the TRIM programme designed to reduce other operating costs was successfully completed during the year. At the end of last year and the beginning of this year, order books were strong in five of AINS Group’s six business sectors.

“Project and construction management and industrial and building services engineering performed very well. Infrastructure engineering strengthened its railway and environmental expertise, achieving the best result in its history. Structural and renovation engineering also improved their performance, mainly thanks to orders from the public sector. However, there is still room for improvement,” Kauniskangas notes.

Architectural design was affected by the low level of demand for housing design throughout the year, although it was successful in attracting orders from other client segments.

AINS Group addressed the fluctuating demand for private construction projects and low demand for housing design by targeted, unit-specific layoffs. In 2024, an average of 5% of staff were laid off.

Bringing together data, productivity and the circular economy

AINS Group’s development measures in 2024 included the deployment of the joint ERP system in the remaining business units, the completion of the streamlining of the company structure, and the development of a data warehouse as part of our digitalisation development programme, paving the way for artificial intelligence capabilities. In line with the strategy, the company’s development work and investments were focused on three key areas: productivity, environmental sustainability and customer experience.

“Alongside the green transition, a key issue in all our customer segments, from industry to the public sector, is productivity – how to achieve the desired usability at lower total production costs. Adaptation to the situation is necessary throughout the value chain. A design approach that incorporates productivity requirements, data-driven technologies that utilise artificial intelligence and closer partnerships are our answers to this,” says Kari Kauniskangas.

AINS Group’s AI strategy, created in 2024, and its digital productivity development project are aimed at developing the AI skills of the staff and encouraging practical AI experiments and the development of new ways of working, partly in collaboration with customers.

In the area of environmental sustainability, the company committed to circular economy goals by signing the Circular Economy Green Deal, one of the first Finnish companies to do so.

“The circular economy is the future operating model for reducing the use of materials and, consequently, production costs. We have chosen the circular economy as one of the key areas of sustainability where we will further develop our expertise in the coming years,” explains Kauniskangas.

In 2024, the work of AINS Group’s experts in the promotion of the circular economy and the reduction of carbon footprint was demonstrated in 1,400 customer projects. For more information on the company’s environmental handprint measurement and other sustainability topics, see AINS Group’s Sustainability Report 2024 published today.

Corporate structure streamlined

The company, which has grown through acquisitions backed by private equity investor Vaaka Partners, continued to streamline its group structure in 2024 by combining the services of structural engineering, industrial and building services engineering and civil engineering under one company, A-Insinöörit Suunnittelu Oy. This change also allows the company to offer and execute multidisciplinary service packages and full-service deliveries to its customers.

The Group’s architectural firms AW2 Architects, B&M Architects and Konkret merged to form ONE Architects Oy, bringing a new, strong architectural brand to the market in the autumn. The construction and project management business continued under A-Insinöörit Rakennuttaminen Oy, Finland’s leading construction management consultancy.

After the end of the financial period on 1 January 2025, AINS Group acquired the business of the fire safety engineering company Palotekninen Insinööritoimisto Markku Kauriala Oy, thereby complementing its technical engineering service range with fire safety and fire simulation expertise.

Further information:

Kari Kauniskangas, CEO, AINS Group

Contact requests via the Communications Department
Silja Sarkamo, tel. +358 50 379 4767
silja.sarkamo@ains.fi