Metso has decided to establish a financial service center to centrally handle the financial administration services of its Finnish units. Initially, the service center will provide the basic financial administration processes, such as handling of purchase and sales invoices, payment transactions and financial accounting. The Finnish service center will operate in two locations, Tampere and Jyväskylä. According to preliminary plans, the Jyväskylä center will start operating in the summer and the Tampere center in the autumn of 2003.
Metso will initiate in the middle of December employer-employee negotiations with personnel working in financial administration and payroll accounting in Metso's Finnish units. It is expected that after the reorganization, these tasks, which currently employ about 210 people, will require only about 160.
Metso employees approximately 11,000 people in Finland.
The establishment of the Finnish service center is one of the projects aiming at improving Metso's profitability. Other similar projects include the reorganization of administrative functions in North America and the utilization of synergies in the Corporation's purchasing operations. In the rapidly growing markets in China, Metso's business areas are also concentrating their administrative functions and more efficiently using their joint resources.
Metso Corporation is a global supplier of process industry machinery and systems, as well as know-how and aftermarket services. The Corporation's core businesses are fiber and paper technology (Metso Paper), rock and mineral processing (Metso Minerals) and automation and control technology (Metso Automation). In 2001, the net sales of Metso Corporation were EUR 4.3 billion and the personnel totaled approximately 30,000. Metso Corporation is listed on the Helsinki and New York Stock Exchanges.