Mint of Finland Returns to Profit

After several years of losses, the Mint of Finland has reported a significant increase in sales and return to profit for 2021.

Consolidated revenue increased by 45% to €83 million, due largely to a good order backlog at the beginning the year. A loss of €5.14 million in 2020 was converted into an operating profit of €5.7 million.

The last time the group had comparable sales was in 2017 (€85 million), albeit in that year it made a loss of €1.8 million, and has reported losses for each subsequent year bar one.

Better profitability was attributed to the product range, good utilisation rates at both factories in Finland and Germany, and more profitable projects.

The Mint of Finland Group comprises the Mint of Finland in Vantaa, just outside Helsinki and in Germany (where blanks are produced), along with the Spanish blank manufacturer Compañia Europea de Cospeles SA (CECO SA), which is a 50:50 joint venture with FNMT.

The Mint is one of the world’s leading providers of coins and blanks, along with lifecycle and consulting services. Unlike other state-owned mints, it produces very little for its home market, with 99% of its production being exported. Asia, Europe and Latin America were all important markets in 2021.

The Mint has also reported on its progress to reduce its CO2 emissions. The premises in Vantaa now run on 100% renewable energy (electricity is sourced from wind energy, and district heating from biological renewable energy) with zero CO2 emissions. The facility at Halsbrücke in Germany, which produces blanks, switched from a mix of electricity sources to 100% hydro power, resulting in an increase in the share of renewable energy from 7.9% to over 70% (the remaining energy is gas used in various processes such as annealing).

The company has also made changes to internal transportation between the two sites in Finland and Germany, which has moved largely to rail, resulting in a 30% reduction in CO2 emissions.

In total, the CO2 generated by the Mint’s operations and internal logistics have fallen by 78% from 4,123 tonnes to 901 tonnes.