Initiated in May, the Tulikivi Group’s codetermination negotiations on discontinuing its building stone manufacturing and on centralising and reorganising production were concluded today.

The negotiations were part of the Tulikivi Group’s profitability programme. The company wants to focus on its core business in the future: fireplaces, saunas and interior stone products.

As a result of the codetermination negotiations, Tulikivi will discontinue its building stone business in Taivassalo and focus its natural stone products business on interior stone production at the Espoo factory. At the same time the production of counter tops in Taivassalo will end.

It was decided that at the most 15 people will be made redundant at the Taivassalo factory. The building stone personnel will continue their employment as existing employees under the new owner. Tulikivi sold its Taivassalo-based building stone business to Vientikivi Oy Finland on 30 June 2011. A separate release on the sale has been published today.

By centralising its operations, the Tulikivi Group is divesting its smaller, clearly unprofitable businesses that are outside its core business, thus releasing a significant amount of working capital for its core businesses. The divestment of the utility ceramics business and the Taivassalo building stone business will result in extra expenses of EUR 0.5 million during the current financial year, including a restructuring provision of EUR -0.4 million, impairment losses and other expense reserves of EUR -0.3 million, and sales profits of EUR 0.2 million. Due to the centralisation measures, the Group´s personnel diminished by 50 persons.

TULIKIVI CORPORATION

Heikki Vauhkonen
Managing Director

Distribution: NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Ltd, key media, www.tulikivi.com

Further information: Tulikivi Corporation, FIN-83900 Juuka, Finland, tel. +358 (0)207 636 000, www.tulikivi.com
– Managing Director Heikki Vauhkonen