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How Scandinavian Tobacco Group consolidated payroll across 14 countries

Scandinavian Tobacco Group, the Nasdaq Copenhagen-listed cigar and pipe tobacco manufacturer, consolidated payroll for 2,613 employees across 14 countries onto a single managed platform: Mercans HR Blizz. Mercans delivered the program with Deloitte as transformation partner, integrated payroll with SAP SuccessFactors, and built native statutory compliance into every market.

One governance model · one data flow · Mercans, STG and Deloitte

SCANDINAVIAN TOBACCO GROUP
••• HR Blizz
14Markets
2,613Employees
14/14Live
Denmark flagDenmark
Sweden flagSweden
Belgium flagBelgium
Germany flagGermany
Spain flagSpain
France flagFrance
United Kingdom flagUnited Kingdom
Italy flagItaly
Netherlands flagNetherlands
Portugal flagPortugal
Australia flagAustralia
Canada flagCanada
United States flagUnited States
and more

Who is Scandinavian Tobacco Group?

Scandinavian Tobacco Group is one of the world’s largest makers of cigars and traditional pipe tobacco. It is headquartered in Denmark, listed on Nasdaq Copenhagen under the ticker STG, and sells in more than 100 markets.

That footprint carries the payroll complexity of a manufacturer rather than an office business: blue- and white-collar populations side by side, multiple collective agreements, and a different statutory regime in every country of operation.

Client

Scandinavian Tobacco Group, cigars and pipe tobacco, Nasdaq Copenhagen: STG

Scope

Managed payroll, 14 countries, 2,613 employees, all live

Platform

Mercans HR Blizz, managed payroll and SaaS

HCM

SAP SuccessFactors: integrations, SSO, global time and attendance, Employee Self-Service

The Challenge

Consolidate the region without compromising on compliance

STG set out to replace a fragmented, country-by-country payroll landscape with one platform and one governance model — rolled out in waves, and fed from a single SuccessFactors HCM. Each country brings its own statutory regime, banking rails, benefits landscape and blue- and white-collar populations. The goal: consolidate the region without compromising on compliance in any market.

01 One platform and one process across 14 countries

Not 14 ways of working.

02 Native statutory compliance in every jurisdiction

Swedish employer reporting, Danish benefits and pension, UK HMRC Real Time Information, and each further market in turn.

03 Bank disbursement on each country’s rails

Domestic and international payment files, automated and validated.

04 A single integrated data flow from SuccessFactors

With SSO, a global time-and-attendance interface and Employee Self-Service.

05 A benefits landscape STG can run itself

Pension, free choice and car benefits maintainable in-house.

Solution Architecture

One data flow, from SuccessFactors to every authority, bank and pension provider

SAP SuccessFactors stays STG’s system of record. Master data, time and Employee Self-Service feed HR Blizz, which runs gross-to-net on a native statutory engine per country, checks every submission in a dedicated validation layer and resolves the benefits modules, then files to each authority, bank and pension provider on STG’s own credentials. Nothing is re-keyed between systems.

INPUTS OUTPUTS ADMINISTRATORS MANAGERS EMPLOYEES SAP SuccessFactors System of record · master data · SSO HR Blizz Payroll admin console Employee self-service Global time & attendance One interface, no re-keying GROSS-TO-NET BANKINGISO 20022 STATUTORYFILING VALIDATIONLAYER BENEFITSMODULES REPORTING HR Blizz Authorities Skatteverket · Försäkringskassan eIndkomst · ATP · Danmarks Statistik HMRC RTI · shadow payroll Banks Custom ISO 20022 files · host-to-host Pension providers Multi-provider · statutory + voluntary
Inputs
Administrators · Managers Employees
SAP SuccessFactors

System of record · master data · SSO

HRBlizz

Payroll admin console · Employee self-service

Global time & attendance

One interface, no re-keying

Mercans HR Blizz · one platform
GROSS-TO-NET BANKINGISO 20022 STATUTORYFILING VALIDATIONLAYER BENEFITSMODULES REPORTING HR Blizz
Outputs
Authorities

Skatteverket · Försäkringskassan · eIndkomst · ATP · Danmarks Statistik · HMRC RTI · shadow payroll

Banks

Custom ISO 20022 files · host-to-host

Pension providers

Multi-provider · statutory + voluntary

The Solution

One platform with native compliance in every market

Mercans runs STG’s payroll across all 14 countries on HR Blizz, wrapped in a country-specific statutory, benefits and integration layer, with Deloitte as joint delivery partner on a single governance model.

01Native statutory engines in every jurisdiction
Sweden · Skatteverket
Denmark · eIndkomst
United Kingdom · HMRC RTI
Validated Before Filing

Each country runs on its own compliance logic rather than a shared template. Swedish payroll reports to Skatteverket and Försäkringskassan. Danish payroll files eIndkomst and Danmarks Statistik returns. UK payroll submits HMRC Real Time Information. Filings run on STG’s own authority credentials, and a validation layer built specifically for this program checks every submission before it is filed, so errors surface internally instead of at a tax authority.

SkatteverketeIndkomstHMRC RTI
02Benefits engineering beyond the standard build
Pension × N
Fritvalgskonto
Car Benefit
Auto
Routed

Denmark alone required a dynamic pension module spanning multiple statutory and voluntary providers, the Free Choice scheme (Fritvalgskonto) and a Car Benefit module. Each was built so the system resolves provider, contribution basis and routing on its own, and each was future-proofed ahead of a later SuccessFactors migration.

Multi-provider pensionFritvalgskontoCar Benefit
03Banking automation on local rails
Payroll ISO 20022 Bank
Host-to-host · No Manual Upload
Validated Before Funds Move

Mercans built custom ISO 20022 payment files to each bank’s specification, plus host-to-host connectivity that removes recurring manual uploads. Domestic and international disbursement is automated and validated before funds move.

ISO 20022Host-to-hostPre-payment validation
04One connected HCM ecosystem
SAP SF
SSO
TIME & ATT
ESS
HR BLIZZ
ONE FLOW

SuccessFactors master-data and time integrations, single sign-on, a global time-and-attendance interface and Employee Self-Service run as one data flow across all 14 countries. Nothing is re-keyed between systems.

SAP SuccessFactorsSSOGlobal T&AESS
05Built for client autonomy
Maintained By STG
Benefit Rates
Pension Routing
Car Benefit Inputs
No Change Requests

Benefit rates, pension routing and car-benefit inputs are maintainable by STG’s own team. Routine changes no longer require a change request to Mercans, which removes a dependency that usually outlives an implementation.

Self-maintained ratesNo change requests
Delivery

How Mercans delivered the program

The rollout ran on Mercans’ structured implementation methodology, applied country after country, with joint governance across Mercans, STG and Deloitte carrying lessons from each go-live into the next.

Discovery

Country requirements, statutory and benefits design.

Beyond the contracted scope, the program delivered Report Builder enablement, processor-tooling training and the bespoke statutory validation engine now running across every market.

Engagement at a glance

Client
Scandinavian Tobacco Group, cigars and pipe tobacco, Nasdaq Copenhagen: STG
Scope
Managed payroll, 14 countries, 2,613 employees, all live
Platform
Mercans HR Blizz, managed payroll and SaaS
HCM
SAP SuccessFactors: integrations, SSO, global time and attendance, Employee Self-Service
Delivery partner
Deloitte
Statutory
Sweden: Skatteverket, Försäkringskassan. Denmark: eIndkomst, ATP, FerieKonto, Danmarks Statistik. United Kingdom: HMRC RTI, shadow payroll
Banking
Custom ISO 20022 files, host-to-host connectivity
Benefits (Denmark)
Multi-provider pension, Free Choice (Fritvalgskonto), Car Benefit
Support model
Mercans WeCare managed service, Tier 1 client
Countries
Denmark Sweden Belgium Germany Spain France United Kingdom Italy Netherlands Portugal Australia Canada United States and more

Consolidate your global payroll

Mercans runs payroll for 400+ multinationals in 160+ countries on a single platform, combining native in-country statutory expertise with one global technology backbone. If your payroll is spread across vendors and systems, we can show you what consolidation looks like in your markets.