Blic grew strongly

2016 was a significant year for Blic in many ways. We made several recruitments during the year and gained significant new clients. The most important customer sectors were trade, transport, energy and food.

Changes in the lobbying environment are increasingly critical for business. We see the need for strategic and planned lobbying only increasing in the coming years. Increasingly, Blic's mandates are built on in-depth and long-term social advocacy partnerships with its clients. In 2016, the lobbying sector continued to grow overall, as reflected in the financial statements of the sector's players.

Blic's financial figures developed well. Our turnover grew by more than a third and exceeded the one million euro mark. Last year, we succeeded in expanding our service concepts into new areas and significantly deepened existing customer relationships. At the same time, the company's profit more than doubled to just over EUR 135 000. This was only Blic's second full financial year, so we are very pleased with the results of our work.

In 2017, we expect growth to continue at an even stronger pace than before. The first quarter of the year has got off to a very good start. In January, we strengthened our Brussels operations with two EU expert recruitments, and at the same time we recruited our first Brainee intern in our Helsinki office. Today, including our business partners, Blic employs a total of 15 experts, whose areas of expertise cover a wide range of Finnish and EU policy-making fields.

Niilo Mustonen