Financial responsibility
For us, financial responsibility means, among other things, good corporate governance, preserving and growing the value of the assets of the owner universities and a long-term financial policy.
Our objective is to provide appropriate premises for our customer universities efficiently and on a long-term basis. The main principle behind our financial responsibility is a long-term financial policy that guarantees a sustainable foundation for our operations. This also plays a key role in fulfilling the aforementioned objective. Our aim is to have an economical financing base that supports risk management and enables the implementation of even major investment projects.
Our direct economic impacts consist of purchasing services and materials from subcontractors, personnel expenses, income taxes and property taxes paid by the company, dividends and investments. We regularly monitor our financial and operational indicators, such as our project situation and energy consumption.
SYK gives employment for the amount of about 2000 man-year indirectly per one year of which 32 is own personnel. So the company is in significant role with its investments and services that are provided by us. Figures are based on SYK’s income statement and they are converted to man-years by the aid of statistics of organisations: KTI and Construction industry.
We are one of the largest payers of property taxes in all of the municipalities we operate in, and in the Pirkanmaa economic area, we are one of the largest payers of corporate income tax. In 2016, we paid taxes amounting to EUR 19.2 million in total, of which property taxes represented 56.8 per cent. We paid property taxes in 19 municipalities, totalling EUR 10.9 million. All of our taxes were paid in Finland.
We are one of the largest payers of property taxes in all of the municipalities we operate in.
Real estate assets
By grouping our properties into portfolios and carefully allocating our investments, we ensure the development of our solvency and secure competitive financing. The responsible management of our real estate assets also indirectly creates wellbeing throughout Finland. For example, our employment effect for property maintenance professionals is approximately 350 man-years.
We renovate existing properties whenever possible and refrain from building unnecessary new space.
Campus development
Responsibility in campus development means maintaining the vitality of our campuses. We understand the significance of campuses as part of the urban infrastructure and take a long-term approach to finding new life for campuses. We seek suitable functions or operators for vacated premises.
We use our resources wisely. We renovate existing properties whenever possible and refrain from building unnecessary new space. We also recognise the importance of maintaining the cultural heritage of our properties and preserve it whenever possible.
Spatial efficiency
The learning environments and laboratories of the future are efficient solutions for utilising space and resources. We invest in shared-use multi-purpose premises that are not exclusively intended for specific user groups or activities. We seek synergies between the various operators that use our premises.
We use various methods to maximise the amount of time our premises are used. Spatial efficiency can also be improved in offices by moving from individual offices, working rooms and large underused meeting facilities to multi-purpose offices in which the space can be adapted to the work and requirements, from open to partitioned layouts and vice versa.
We always take the user’s perspective and needs into consideration in the design and implementation of premises. We can design and implement spaces such as university lobbies, corridors, restaurants and cafés in such a way that they are part of the learning and working environment.
According to our survey of the users of university premises, university personnel and students value the opportunity to influence aspects such as air conditioning, interior comfort and spatial organisation. Our survey respondents also indicated that the utilisation of outdoor areas should be improved.
We take user needs into consideration in the design and implementation of premises.
Revenue compared
to 2015: 102 %
Operating profit compared
to 2015: 108%
Tax footprint
| VAT | 4,1 M€ |
| Property tax | 10,9 M€ |
| Income tax | 6,6 M€ |
| Withholding tax | 0,7 M€ |
Purchases (M€)
Indicators of Sustainable Development
| Unit | 2016 | |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | M€ | 147,6 |
| ROI | % | 4,0 |
| Asset value | M€ | 1 224,9 |
| Investment value | M€ | 95,8 |
| Tax footprint, taxes paid *** | M€ | 22,3 |
| SYK employment impact, working years / year | 2000** |
** Figures are based on SYKs maintenance and investment expenses. Maintenance costs are changed to working years according to KTI organizations comparison on maintenance costs and the investment costs are transformed with the statistics of Construction industry in Finland.
*** Includes all types of taxes that the company has paid for. All taxes are paid to Finland.