private industry textile rental service founded helsinki finland 1848 founder carl august lindstr m headquarters helsinki finland area served europe asia key people jukka roiha chairman juha laurio ceo revenue 301 million 2014 1 number of employees 3 000 2014 2 subsidiaries comforta oy website lindstromgroup.com lindstr m group is a finnish multinational b to b textile services provider . established in 1848 the company is one of the oldest existing companies in finland . lindstr m offers mat hygiene towel workwear restaurant textile personal protective equipment and corporate gift services . family owned lindstr m is headquartered in helsinki finland . in 2014 the company s revenue was 301 million euros . the same year the company employed on average 3000 people . lindstr m operates in 24 different countries in europe and in asia and it has over 200 000 customers . 2 contents 1 history 2 services 3 international operations 4 references 5 external links history edit lindstr m was founded by carl august lindstr m in 1848 in helsinki . the company was originally in the textile dye house and it was called c.a lindstr m & son . in 1891 carl august lindstr m handed the company over to his son w.e. lindstr m. in 1918 lindstr m oy was turned into a joint stock company and the name was changed to ab w.e. lindstr m oy . 3 in the 1920s the lindstr m family sold their shares to the roiha family who maintain ownership and control over the company today . 3 in the 1930s the company focused on the textile dye and laundry business . 1940s the company experienced major setbacks during and after the winter war and the continuation war . industrial laundry services experienced a drop in demand when the availability of textile products suffered . 3 in the 1950s the demand for industrial laundry services dropped which made lindstr m offer laundry services to consumers . the company also began investing in and focusing on the textile rental services business . 3 in the 1960s lindstr m started actively marketing its textile rental services to companies as it was seen as a source for potential future earnings . in 1974 lindstr m bought its biggest competitor in the textile industry market leader lainatekstiili oy from tampella oy . 3 in the beginning of the 1970s the demand for consumer laundry services plummeted as the popularity of home washing machines increased . in the mid 1970s lindstr m started offering more cleaning services . due to this shift in focus the company bought laite siivous oy in 1975 . 4 lindstr m began matt and mop rentals in 1971 . in 1976 the company closed its textile dye unit because the business had become unprofitable . through acquisitions lindstr m oy was evolving into a holding company . after mid 1970s lindstr m group decided to focus on the development of the lindstr m brand which is why it started marketing many of the businesses it owned jointly under the lindstr m name . 3 in the 1980s the company was involved in several mergers and acquisitions . in most cases lindstr m was the buyer although it also sold some companies it had bought earlier but which had since turned out unprofitable . 3 in the 1990s lindstr m gave up cleaning and waste management services as well as its laundry shops and directed its full attention to textile renting services . in the same decade the company began pursuing an aggressive international expansion strategy . 4 in the beginning of the 2000s lindstr m created comforta oy . it also began textile sales to its customers in addition to rentals . 4 in the beginning of 2002 lindstr m handed the ownership of lindstr m house over to lindstr m invest oy . in 2002 lindstr m s module laundry was patented . 4 in 2007 lindstr m signed a four year partnership agreement with unicef . in the agreement the company commits to supporting a hygiene and sanitation program in india . in practice the funds are donated to 250 schools in the indian state of bihar benefiting around 60 000 school children . in 2009 lindstr m s subsidiary vision design clothing oy merged with lindstr m. as a result a new design & brand management unit was created within the company . the unit concentrates on design and visual planning as well as the research and development of workwear and corporate gifts . 2 services edit lindstr m offers mat hygiene towel workwear restaurant textile personal protective equipment and corporate gift services . of all the services only workwear is available in every country the company operates in . 2 international operations edit lindtr m operates in 24 countries in europe and asia . lindstr m group is made of the parent company lindstr m oy operating in finland as well as its subsidiaries in belarus bulgaria china croatia czech republic estonia germany hungary india kazakhstan latvia lithuania poland romania russia serbia slovakia slovenia south korea sweden turkey ukraine and the united kingdom . in 2014 the share of foreign subsidiaries of revenue was 112 m or 37 1 percent . 2 lindstr m utilizes its patented module laundry solution especially in international markets as they allow gradual low cost market penetration . references edit lindstr m s turnover increased by 10 percent . compiler . march 2008 . retrieved 2010 10 20 . a b c d e sustainability report 2008 pdf . lindstr m group . march 2008 . retrieved 2010 10 22 . a b c d e f g kortelainen jukka 1988 . lindstr m 1848 1988 in finnish . helsinki lindstr m oy . a b c d from dyehouse to image builder . lindstr m group . retrieved 2010 10 22 . external links edit lindstromgroup.com retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title lindstr m company & oldid 715429164 categories companies based in helsinkihidden categories cs1 finnish language sources fi use dmy dates from july 2013 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured 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