Finland

Cracks are beginning to appear in the vaunted Nordic model. The four main Nordic countries – Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden – still grace the top of most global rankings for happiness, competitiveness, the best place to be a woman and even the best place to be born. That has won them a legion of admirers, from Bill Gates to Scottish nationalists and The Economist, the news magazine, who marvel at the Nordic region’s ability to sustain big welfare systems and competitive economies.

Finnish nickel company Talvivaara said a subsidiary that holds all of the group's mining assets will apply for bankruptcy protection after failing to raise financing, Reuters reported. Talvivaara last year halted operations at its sole mine in northern Finland and started a search for investors after a drop in nickel prices, repeated production disruptions and environmental damage. The parent company said on Thursday it would continue to process ore for now while it aimed to secure new financing to buy back mining subsidiary Talvivaara Sotkamo.

Finnair Group reported a net profit of €16.6 million for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, down 38.3% from €27 million for the same period last year, Air Transport World reported. Operating profit was down 40.7% for the period, to €23.6 million from €39.8 million in the year-ago period. The airline group attributed the disappointing performance to the strengthening of the euro against several revenue currencies, the ongoing weakness of the Finnish and eurozone economies, tumbling unit revenues, and declining cargo revenues.

Finnish nickel miner Talvivaara lacks the long-term financing it needs to avoid bankruptcy, it said on Tuesday after an administrator proposed an eight-year restructuring plan that includes slashing its debts by up to 99 percent, Reuters reported. Talvivaara listed to great fanfare in London in 2007 when nickel peaked at around $51,000 per tonne. But nickel prices have more than halved, and hurt by repeated production disruptions and environmental damage, the company last year suspended its mining operations and started a court-led debt restructuring process to avoid bankruptcy.

Finland's budget deficit will be so large in 2015 that it will violate the European Union's budget-balance rules designed to fix the euro zone's rickety public finances, the highest-ranking civil servant at Finland's Ministry of Finance said Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported. A breach of these binding rules would mark a humiliation for Finland which only a few years ago was classified as a fiscally responsible euro area member and thus a natural ally of Germany, Europe's economic and political powerhouse.

Finnish Finance Minister Jutta Urpilainen was ousted as Social Democratic leader yesterday as her party turned to a trade union leader advocating more stimulus to promote growth in the northernmost euro member, Bloomberg News reported. Antti Rinne, head of the trade union Pro, won the backing of 257 party members against Urpilainen’s 243 at a congress yesterday in Seinaejoki, northwest of Helsinki. Urpilainen said she will step down as finance minister and leave the government. “Social democrats in Finland and in Europe must again target full employment,” Rinne, 51, said in a speech today.

Data from Statistics Finland tell a grim tale of hard times for many Finnish residents in 2013, Yle reported. The numbers show some 3,800 filings for personal debt restructuring, 3,100 bankruptcies, and nearly 600 business restructuring applications – all representing an increase over the previous year. Altogether 15,600 employees were affected by companies going out of business – the highest number in a decade. The same record applied to business restructurings, the numbers show.

Talvivaara won court approval to restructure the entire company's debt, allowing the nickel miner to continue production and helping it fend off bankruptcy, Reuters reported. Talvivaara, hurt by falling nickel prices and chronic production problems, was waiting for court approval to include the debt of a subsidiary, Talvivaara Sotkamo, in its reorganisation plans.

Indebted Finnish miner Talvivaara said on Tuesday its biggest creditor, zinc producer Nyrstar, has withdrawn support for its court application for a corporate restructuring, prompting the court to ask for more information, Reuters reported. Talvivaara, hit by falling nickel prices and chronic production problems, earlier this month halted operations and petitioned the Espoo District Court near Helsinki for a court-supervised reorganisation and warned it might face bankruptcy if the process failed.

Finnish miner Talvivaara edged closer to bankruptcy on Thursday after saying unnamed stakeholders had baulked at providing additional funds to help restructure debt of more than 300 million euros ($404 million), Reuters reported. Talvivaara, hurt by falling nickel prices and production problems, said it was assessing other funding options and could use its own cash to help it through the overhaul process. It said it had enough cash to last through the first quarter of 2014, but admitted bankruptcy was a possibility.