Palmako enters Norwegian market with new subsidiary
Norway is neither a new nor an unknown market to Palmako: it has been selling its products there via its distributors for many years, and it was the experience it has gained in doing so that pushed the company to enter the Norwegian market more directly and forcefully by establishing a subsidiary there. Palmako offers a wide range of products, with everything for the garden it is possible to make from timber – garden houses, pavilions, children’s play houses, carports, tool sheds, garden furniture, fences, flower pots and terracing. The company also manufactures garden posts made from round-milled and deep-treated timber and other deep-treated timber products, laminated timber, pre-fabricated elements for assembly as residential homes and heating granules. More than 95% of its output is exported, primarily to other European countries.
Palmako has been making a name for itself in Scandinavia for some time. It established a subsidiary in Sweden (Palmako AB) around a year ago, and it is with them that the new Norwegian subsidiary will share an interim warehouse. “We’re looking to seriously increase our turnover on the Scandinavian market,” explained Timo Hermlin, a member of the Management Board. “We’ve been putting a lot into product development over the last few years as well, so we have quite a bit to offer Scandinavia that’s new and exciting, such as our Palmako Modular Garden™ concept. It’s through our subsidiaries that we’re hoping to increase our efficiency and give ourselves a boost so that our full range of products, in all categories, is represented as noticeably and as successfully as it deserves to be on the Norwegian market.” Taking charge of Palmako Norge AS is Yngve Sommer, a former manager with RKC AS who therefore has an excellent overview of Palmako’s business model and products. “Based on Yngve’s experience, the first major challenge for our Norwegian subsidiary will be to ensure quick and flexible DIY service along with a fairly short supply chain,” Hermlin added.
AS Palmako forms part of Estonia’s biggest timber and forestry concern, the Lemeks Group, whose areas of operation include the process of raising the value of timber as a whole, forest management and timber storage from its initial processing in sawmills to the completion and marketing of end products. The group has 29 subsidiaries and related companies. The consolidated turnover of its subsidiaries in 2016 was 115 million euros, with a further 48 million euros in turnover generated by its related companies. The group employs more than 850 people in Estonia, Latvia, France, the United Kingdom, Sweden and now also Norway.
AS Palmako production in Kavastu