SATO puts special focus on sustainable business by

SATO Corporation, Press Release, 3rd January 2017 at 12:45 pm

SATO aims at long-term profitable business based on an ethical and sustainable approach to matters relating to the economy, people, society and the environment. The company is determined to place an even stronger focus on sustainability and has updated its Code of Conduct to support this aim.

- Sustainability is more than a trend. It must be a natural part of business, says SATO President and CEO Saku Sipola . - We've updated our Code of Conduct together with our personnel, which already is an indicator of our commitment to sustainability.

- Compliance with legislation and a sustainable and ethical approach are among the cornerstones of our business and success, Sipola continues.

The updates to the Code of Conduct also involved updates to SATO's policies regarding issues such as reasonable hospitality. From now on the company and its employees will not receive gifts for anniversaries, Christmas or any other occasion.

- We'll continue to donate our holiday season greetings funds to charity in the future too. At the end of 2016 we made a donation to the homeless organisation Vailla vakinaista asuntoa ry, says Sipola.

Together with the SATO values and management culture, the Code of Conduct forms the framework for the way things are done by SATO. The Code of Conduct contains policies including those on reporting, competition, stakeholder relations, the environment, privacy, and compliance with SATO's Customer-first principle.

Openness facilitated by the Whistleblowing channel

- We value openness and honesty, says Sipola. - We want to know if there are any areas in our operations that are not in line with our Code of Conduct. For this purpose we've opened a Whistleblowing channel.

Available at sato.fi, the channel provides SATO's stakeholders and employees with the opportunity to report anonymously on issues that in their opinion are not in compliance with SATO's values, Code of Conduct or practices.

The Code of Conduct and the Whistleblowing channel can be found at sato.fi: www.sato.fi/codeofconduct

For more information please contact:

SATO Corporation Saku Sipola, President and CEO, phone +358 201 34 4001 or +358 40 551 5953

www.sato.fi/en    SATO is one of Finland's leading rental housing providers. SATO's aim is to offer comprehensive alternatives in rental housing and an excellent customer experience. SATO holds roughly 25,700 rental apartments in Finland's largest growth centres and in St Petersburg.

In our operations, we promote sustainable development and initiative-taking, and work in open interaction with our stakeholders to create added value. We operate profitably and with a long-term view. We increase the value of our housing property through investments, divestments and repair work.

SATO Group's net sales in 2015 were €323.4 million, operating profit €196.5 million and profit before taxes €159.4 million. SATO's investment properties have a value of roughly 3.3 billion (Q3/2016).