contentSlug

type

ContentSlug_ContentQuery

slug

ContentPageContentQuery

content

trendingContent

query ContentSlug_ContentQuery(
  $contentSlug: String!
  $type: [ContentType!]
) {
  ...ContentPageContentQuery_13QmVO
}

fragment CompanyDetails_Content on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  companies {
    name
    description
    pageUrl
    id
  }
}

fragment ContentBasicInfo on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  id
  type
  title
  lang
  companies {
    viewerIsFollowing
    id
    name
    pageUrl
  }
  tags {
    viewerIsFollowing
    id
    name
    pageUrl
  }
  ...PublishingDetails
  ...Reactions
}

fragment ContentMetadata on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  type
  title
  lang
  pageUrl
  alternatePageUrls: translations {
    __typename
    pageUrl
    lang
  }
  imgUrl
  description
  ... on Video {
    liveTime
    videoUrl
  }
  ... on Webcast {
    liveTime
    videoUrl
  }
}

fragment ContentPageContentQuery_13QmVO on Query {
  content(slug: $contentSlug, type: $type) {
    __typename
    id
    type
    title
    isPremium
    lang
    htmlBody
    summary
    companies {
      forum {
        latestPosts {
          ...ForumPosts
        }
      }
      name
      id
      viewerIsFollowing
      pageUrl
      defaultInstrument {
        isin
        id
        marketOpen
        marketClose
        marketplace {
          region
        }
        returns {
          total
        }
      }
    }
    tags {
      viewerIsFollowing
      id
      name
      pageUrl
    }
    createdAt
    ... on Video {
      liveTime
    }
    ... on Webcast {
      liveTime
    }
    slug
    ... on CompanyReport {
      reportUrl
    }
    ... on ThirdPartyCompanyReport {
      reportUrl
    }
    ... on StockExchangeRelease {
      reportUrl
    }
    ...ContentBasicInfo
    ...ContentMetadata
    ...PriceAndRecommendation_Content
    ...CompanyDetails_Content
    ...ReportLink_Content
    ...KeyFigures_Content
  }
  ...TrendingContent_1jQ2Cn
}

fragment ForumPosts on ForumPost {
  text
  likesCount
  url
  author
  postedAt
  authorImgUrl
}

fragment KeyFigures_Content on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  companies {
    defaultInstrument {
      estimateData {
        modelType
        reportingCurrency
      }
      snapshot {
        transaction {
          date
          actualized {
            year
            quarter
            revenue
            revenueGrowth
            ebitAdjusted
            ebitReported
            ebitda
            enterpriseValue
            epsAdjusted
            dividend
            dividendYield
            sharePrice
          }
          estimates {
            year
            quarter
            revenue
            revenueGrowth
            ebitAdjusted
            ebitReported
            ebitda
            enterpriseValue
            epsAdjusted
            dividend
            dividendYield
            sharePrice
          }
        }
      }
      id
    }
    id
  }
}

fragment PriceAndRecommendation_Content on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  createdAt
  companies {
    name
    pageUrl
    defaultInstrument {
      priceData {
        tradeCurrency
      }
      snapshot {
        priceData {
          date
          lastPrice
          tradeCurrency
        }
        transaction {
          date
          recommendation
          targetPrice
        }
        prevTransaction {
          recommendation
        }
      }
      id
    }
    id
  }
}

fragment PublishingDetails on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  createdAt
  publishers {
    name
    imgUrl
  }
  authors {
    __typename
    id
    name
    slug
    imgUrl
    jobTitle
  }
  ... on Video {
    liveTime
  }
  ... on Webcast {
    liveTime
  }
}

fragment Reactions on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  id
  reactionGroups {
    reactionType
    reactionsCount
    viewerReacted
  }
}

fragment ReportLink_Content on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  type
  isPremium
  ... on CompanyReport {
    reportUrl
  }
  ... on ThirdPartyCompanyReport {
    reportUrl
  }
  ... on StockExchangeRelease {
    reportUrl
  }
}

fragment TrendingContent_1jQ2Cn on Query {
  trendingContent(type: ARTICLE) {
    __typename
    id
    title
    lang
    pageUrl
    createdAt
    type
    imgUrl
    companies {
      squareLogoUrl
      name
      id
    }
    authors {
      __typename
      imgUrl
      id
    }
    publishers {
      imgUrl
    }
  }
}


gofore-first-class-profitability-management

__typename

title

isPremium

lang

htmlBody

summary

companies

createdAt

publishers

authors

reactionGroups

pageUrl

translations

imgUrl

description

Analyst

Joni Grönqvist

Gofore operates in the IT sector. The company specializes in offering digital solutions and consulting in lead and process design, as well as cloud-based solutions. The greatest knowledge is found in the construction and development of software systems and associated project management. The company's customers are found among corporate customers and institutions. The largest operations are found around the European market.

Gofore has positioned itself as a “pioneer of an ethical digital world,” so it is crystal clear that the company’s ethics will be scrutinized more closely than those of the average company. Talking about the legality of the company’s operations is irrelevant in this context, because the fact that something is legal does not mean that the same thing is also ethical. Correspondingly, when evaluating the ethics of operations, one does not directly evaluate their legality. For example, in the United Arab Emirates, dissidents are thrown into prison without concern, and there is practically no freedom of speech. Is this legal in the United Arab Emirates? Yes, it is. Is this ethical? No, it is not. I think this is an important point to remember, as the discussion easily tends to slip into evaluating the legality of Gofore’s operations, even though it has been about the ethics of Gofore’s operations all along. By the way, Gofore ended the day 4% up. So much for that controversy

It’s quite nice for once to be on this side of the table, as my role is usually to criticize ESG stuff. Gofore’s own ethical handbook emphasizes human rights and every employee’s responsibility to take a strong stand on the implementation of ethical principles and adherence to Gofore’s fundamental values:            The ethical handbook also mentions anonymous whistleblowing as the last acceptable option when all other means have been exhausted. I don’t really see how the employees’ actions can be considered particularly reprehensible when Gofore itself explicitly demands ethical and moral behavior from its employees in all operations and strongly expresses that it wants employees who have the moral backbone to defend the company’s own values. Even when the CEO is the one violating them.

“Values aren’t values if they don’t cost anything.” There is nothing inherently exceptional or reprehensible about Gofore’s actions as they conduct business.  But it shows that ethical marketing talk is mostly just skilled marketers highlighting buzzwords and themes, rather than something that actually guides operations. All companies do the same, mind you, but 95% of it is so disingenuous that it would almost be better to skip the moralizing altogether.

I don’t understand your post. Gofore operates within the framework of business operations approved by Finland and cooperates with countries where it aims to provide added value to local citizens. Hundreds of other Finnish companies do exactly the same in the UAE, in practice also all the listed companies I know. Significant trading partners of many Finnish listed companies operate in states whose governance can be justifiably considered at least questionable. Nevertheless, listed companies are not guardians of morality, but organizations engaged in business whose task is to operate within the framework of laws and regulations. It is also unclear what you mean by “exposing grievances.” Do you mean that there are differing views within a listed company regarding the countries where the company conducts business and strives, completely legally, to increase shareholder value? The leaker may have felt they were acting from moral motives, but in practice, the only thing the employer could be criticized for is exceptional transparency on these issues. In my own experience, all my employers have also done business with the United Arab Emirates, for example.

As an outsider, it is of course difficult to assess, but one core requirement of a trade secret is that an effort has been made to keep the information secret. If the information has been published on an intranet or a comparable Slack channel and made available to a significant number of employees, then it may no longer necessarily be a trade secret, especially if it cannot be shown that this information has direct and significant economic value. Not all non-public information automatically constitutes a trade secret; it can also simply be internal information, the sharing of which may breach the duty of loyalty without being criminal. We will see later whether the threshold for prosecution is even met here.  This is a very common justification that doesn’t really hold up under closer scrutiny. It is hard to understand how, if Gofore, for example, were to deliver a population register to Gaza, it would be any more ethical than if it were delivered by some other operator. The ethical assessment must be done before the contract is signed and before committing to doing what the client wants, as withdrawing after the fact is difficult and sometimes practically impossible, as has been noted with Russian gas purchase agreements, for example.  Have you considered that due to the high level of employee ownership, the person leaking this information is likely also an owner of the company and is thinking of the shareholders’ interest by preventing a misstep? The thinking that disclosing this same information by an authority or an outside journalist would have been acceptable, but by one’s own employee is reprehensible, is a bit strange. On the same moral-ethical grounds, all public disclosure of state grievances by journalists, for example, could also be condemned—and in many countries, the situation is indeed such that you could lose your life for it. Criticizing the actions of a public limited company isn’t really any different. Revealing grievances from the inside naturally always involves risks for the whistleblower, which is why it requires significant moral backbone. It would be easier to keep one’s mouth shut, avoid all problems, and collect blood money into one’s own account. This is, of course, how most people usually act.

Discussion is always good, but every listed company in Finland decides what is permitted and what is not. Listed companies are not democracies, and their primary task is to generate shareholder value. Writing that harms the employer is unequivocally a bad idea. Publicly disparaging an employer is always grounds for a warning or even summary dismissal, especially if the employee discloses business details. In my opinion, the line has been crossed in this case. Gofore has an excellent reputation, and in a way, I understand the UAE reaction, but the employee’s actions in this case are unequivocally wrong. Leaking information from internal company discussions to Hesari breaks internal trust, and everyone will be on their guard from now on. I still hope that Gofore does not remove the possibility for such open discussion on employer channels. It is very rare in Finland, where many companies would like to grow their business in, for example, the UAE, with which Finland has not prohibited business. There are restrictions on operating with the UAE that all companies understand. In this case, you don’t even need to look at them. Less emotion, more business. As if this country and this industry could afford to be picky at the moment.

Well… Information about which tenders are being participated in is normally considered to be at the very core of trade secrets. I also understand that this is the kind of information that a company, at least in Western markets, could not disclose itself without an assessment of whether it constitutes an anti-competitive practice under competition law. I would assess the trade secret perspective differently if this leak weren’t happening in the middle of an intense bidding phase. The points raised by Nylund haven’t really been evaluated here—e.g., that it would be better for human rights if the project had an ethically oriented system provider. I can’t evaluate that either. But if asked which I find more unethical:  continuing the preparation of the bid (the final decision only comes later) in a case where the ethics committee is so reserved, leaking the company’s trade secrets to the media to be picked apart,  it’s not difficult for my ethical compass: you damn well don’t leak things like this to the media no matter how annoyed you are that you didn’t get your way in the company’s decision-making. It’s petty-minded, likely intended only to take revenge and harm the company, just because you disagreed with some management decision. Finally, a bit more about this ethical business.  I can’t take quite such a hardline stance, and I’ll say honestly that I don’t know what the best way to organize sustainability matters would be. Based on what we’ve seen, it’s indeed hard to believe this model is very successful. Internally, it just causes conflict, and from the outside, it looks like the sustainability director is being steamrolled in business decisions and the ethics committee is just overhead.

Gofore

Gofore's revenue growth slowed organically in Q4, as expected, but profitability was well ahead of our expectations. Overall, Gofore's strong performance in a challenging year demonstrates the company's ability to adapt quickly to change and manage critical billing rates and profitability. We expect the company to continue to grow faster and more profitably than the sector in the coming years, even if the weak economy slows things down somewhat. The valuation picture (2024e adj. EV/EBIT 12x and expected return ~20%) is attractive.

<p>Gofore's revenue growth slowed organically in Q4, as expected, but profitability was well ahead of our expectations. Overall, Gofore's strong performance in a challenging year demonstrates the company's ability to adapt quickly to change and manage critical billing rates and profitability. We expect the company to continue to grow faster and more profitably than the sector in the coming years, even if the weak economy slows things down somewhat. The valuation picture (2024e adj. EV/EBIT 12x and expected return ~20%) is attractive.</p> 

	2022	23e	24e
Revenue	149.9	188.7	203.3
growth-%	43.5 %	25.9 %	7.7 %
EBIT (adj.)	22.0	25.1	26.4
EBIT-% (adj.)	14.7 %	13.3 %	13.0 %
EPS (adj.)	1.13	1.28	1.35
Dividend	0.34	0.44	0.50
Dividend %	1.5 %	3.1 %	3.5 %
P/E (adj.)	19.6	11.1	10.5
EV/EBITDA	14.1	7.2	6.3

Gofore: First-class profitability management

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Key Estimate Figures14.12.2023

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