Good morning, everyone, welcome to Future Company CEO Announcement Conference. My name is Kiira Fröberg, and I'm the Head of Investor Relations at Konecranes. Before we start, I would kindly remind you that until the completion of the merger, Konecranes and Cargotec will operate fully separately and independently. Please also remember that in a number of jurisdictions, in particular in Australia, Canada, South Africa, Singapore, Japan, and the U.S., the distribution of this presentation and any recording thereof may be subject to restrictions imposed by law. Neither the merger consideration shares nor any other securities referenced in this presentation and any recording thereof have been registered or will be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933. As for our today's hosts, I have here with me the Future Company Chairman, Christoph Vitzthum, Cargotec Chairman, Ilkka Herlin, and the Future Company's CEO, Mika Vehviläinen.
The presentation is followed by Q&A. Without any further speech, Christoph, please, the stage is yours.
Thank you, Kiira, and a very good morning to you all. I'm very pleased to welcome you to what is a major milestone in the creation of a global leader in sustainable material flow. The appointment of Mika Vehviläinen as CEO of the Future Company is why we are all here today. Today represents a major and exciting step towards creating a company that we believe will unlock significant value for the company stakeholders, and with its innovative team of top talent, help solve the sustainability challenge that faces the world. This news marks the culmination of a very rigorous selection process involving the boards of both Cargotec and Konecranes. Speaking on behalf of both boards, we are extremely pleased with the result.
Mika's leadership and industry experience, his proven track record of creating value at Cargotec and at other companies previously, and his vision for the Future Company make him the right person for the right position at the right time. Mika, many congratulations on the appointment. I would also like to take a moment to give my sincere thanks to Rob Smith, who today announced that he would leave Konecranes at the end of the year to take a role at another company. Rob has been a remarkable leader for Konecranes since joining the company, successfully steering Konecranes through the pandemic, through the merger announcement to deliver the best for our customers, as well as strong financial results.
I look very much forward to working with Rob during the remainder of this year before he leaves, and would like to thank Rob for your contribution and hard work, and we wish you all the best for the future. Before we hand over to Mika Vehviläinen, the Chairman of Cargotec, Ilkka Herlin would like to say a few words.
Thank you, Christoph. Speaking on behalf of Cargotec's board, we are delighted that we will continue to benefit from Mr. Vehviläinen's experience and strong leadership. We know that our customers are increasingly seeking green solutions, and that will be a major business driver for us all. We know very well that Mika has been leading this transition in Cargotec, and I'm sure that he is the right guy for this great transition, seamless transition to next phase of sustainability in our companies and the Future Company as well. Thank you.
From my behalf as well, good morning. First of all, I'd like to thank the board of Konecranes and Cargotec for the trust they have put on me on this. I have to say that I'm really excited and energized about this great opportunity ahead of us. I'm looking forward to working together with the extraordinary talent we have from both companies. Together, we can truly deliver value and opportunities for our customers, for our shareholders, for our employees, and the world at large, driving the innovation and driving sustainability in global material flows. It will be a humbling opportunity for me to take the leadership of the new company in the first day of operations when that comes. Also, I'd like to say a few words about The Future Company and some of the key points on that one.
It's a real opportunity for us to unlock further value to our shareholders, to our employees, to our customers by combining the two excellent companies and the great innovation and talent we have there together to deliver growth, to deliver further profitability, and so on. For our customers, the great services businesses we have already today can be further strengthened. We will have an extensive service network, great service platforms, and advanced technology to deliver further value for our customers. We will be helping to solve the sustainability challenge through innovation by investing further into robotics, electrification, automation, and digitalization. We will be extremely well-positioned to grow, first of all organically by further growing our services business, by delivering competitive technology, by investing further into R&D and innovation. With the financial horsepower that the new company has, we can also grow inorganically faster.
Last but not least, this is obviously a wonderful opportunity for the great talent from both companies for further personal development and further career opportunities. Lastly, a reminder where we are in the process. Today we are working actively with the various competitive authorities, and we expect the merger to close and the new company start operations at the end of the first half next year. With that one, I'd like to thank everybody, and I think we are ready for Q&A.
Thank you, gentlemen. Now it's time to take some questions. Please, operator, go ahead and open the line for questions, if there are any.
Thank you, ma'am. As a reminder, ladies and gentlemen, it is star one on your telephone keypads to ask a question. Please state your name and company before posing your question. Once again, that is star one. I'm going to pause for just a moment to give everyone an opportunity to settle for questions.
While we wait for any questions from line, I could perhaps ask some questions that have arrived already this morning. Why now? The merger was announced already on 1st of October last year. Why are we here now today?
As you said, the merger was announced in October last year. Both of the boards have been working diligently. We also announced that we would have a rigorous selection process for The Future Company CEO. Now we have come to a decision, and so now it's time to announce.
Thank you. Christoph, you mentioned quickly Rob Smith. Would you like to comment on his future plans?
I think Rob Smith will, in due course, comment on his own future plans. He has resigned from Konecranes. That resignation becomes effective 1st of January 2022. Until then, Rob is fully committed to deliver the results and business plan of Konecranes.
Thank you. Mika, how would you describe yourself as a leader to all the stakeholder groups, both external and internal?
First of all, I'm a great believer in the good leadership. This is a people business, and people make the difference. I think today it's extremely important that the people will have a clarity and they will have a purpose. They know where we are going and why are we doing that one. From leadership point of view, I'd like to empower people. I strongly believe that the closer to the customers and closer to the operations you make the decisions, the better quality and faster they are. Obviously, with that empowerment comes also the accountability and responsibility.
Thank you. Would we have any questions from the line now, please?
Yes, indeed, ma'am. We'll now move to our first question over the phone. Please go ahead, caller.
Hi. Good morning. It's Aurelio from Morgan Stanley. Thank you very much for taking my questions. I've got two, if I may, please. The first one is around your portfolio priorities. Congratulations, Mika, obviously on your appointment. You touch on your strong position for organic growth. You also touch on the financial power you will have for inorganic growth. I wonder, obviously the merger is not closed. If you see any low-hanging fruit in terms of portfolio that you can clean up.
Thank you for the congratulations, first of all. I think it's too early to speculate yet on that one. I think I'm looking forward to working with the Future board as well to sort of define the portfolio strategy. I think there are great opportunities for, as I said, with the financial horsepower and what we can do and shape the business and shape for the growth as well.
Okay, thanks. My second question is on obviously the EU Commission is in Phase II now. I think their deadline has been suspended at your request and Konecranes' request as well. I wonder if you can share anything on your latest thoughts on antitrust and if we should read anything on the announcement on, let's say maybe that you're more confident on antitrust as you were maybe a couple of months ago. Is there anything to read into the announcement or not really?
No, I don't think these two things are actually linked to each other. As Christoph was saying, this was a question of the board process that came to the end at this particular moment, at the moment. We are continuing the active dialogue and work together with the competitive authorities. As I said, that process is going on. We did have a small stop that was done in cooperation with the competitive authorities to enable people to take summer holidays on both ends and prepare for some of the material required that one. The timeline is, as we have already said, that we expect to be able to close this at the end of the first half.
Okay. That's all from me. Thank you very much, and congratulations again.
Just to confirm, there are no further questions queued over the phone.
Thank you. We have a question through chat. It's about the broader leadership team. When will that be announced?
What we will be doing next is to actually start discussions together with the boards of the companies about the operational mode and structure of the new company. Once that's been defined, so we actually know what positions we will be filling, we will then start the selection process for the next level that will follow the same rigorous process and will be open and transparent for all the potential candidates. We will announce the next layer of management in due course.
Thank you.
If I may add on that point, the boards have also agreed that there will be a dynamic and transparent selection process in order to choose the next level of leadership. There is remarkable talent in both companies, and I think topics around diversity, inclusion, competence are going to be very important when selecting the future management.
We also have another question through the chat. It's also on the top management. This is from Inderes Erkki Vesola. Congrats to you, Mika. Is the CEO appointment the only one regarding the top management to be announced prior to the actual merger?
I think we will actually select at least one potential part of the next layer as well, according to our current plan. Obviously for the proper and good quality integration planning and process, it's good to have the ownership on the different streams. We do expect to actually announce a number of executive positions before the closing of the deal.
Thank you. Do we have any further questions from the line, please?
No, ma'am, the queue is still clear.
Thank you. I think it's then now time to conclude our today's conference. Thank you for the participation. I wish you all a great rest of the summer and weekend, of course. Thank you.