Sanoma News Expands its Rationalisation Programme

Sanoma News is expanding the scope of its Bridging the Recession rationalisation programme as part of the Sanoma Group’s plan for improving efficiency and reducing costs. Sanoma News seeks savings totalling EUR 30 million, half of which is to come from staff costs. The savings target includes both the earlier announced rationalisation programme and the one now being announced.

“The programme launched in January will save us about EUR 15 million, but unfortunately that is not enough. New actions are called for in order to keep the foundation of the company sound, in order to be able to invest resources in further development and in order to continue securing the prerequisites of independent journalism,” says Mikael Pentikäinen, President of Sanoma News.

The target is to achieve, through the earlier announced and now announced programmes, staff cost savings corresponding to a total of about 300 man-years.

At the Sanoma News level, the company initiates, on financial and production-related grounds, employer-employee negotiations on cutting holiday bonuses for a certain period until the financial performance of Sanoma News returns to a growth track. If this can be agreed upon, it is equivalent to cutting some 100 man-years.

In addition to this, unit-specific employer-employee negotiations will be initiated in order to seek structural savings in the loss making businesses - Taloussanomat, the online financial daily, and Sanoma Free Sheets. Parallel to them, employer-employee negotiations will be initiated for financial and/or production-related reasons in Helsingin Sanomat marketing operations, Sanomapaino and in some support functions of the Sanoma News division.