Company briefs - 2007-02-14

  • 2007-02-14
Svenska Spel, a Swedish state-run lottery and gambling operator, said it would invest over 15 million euros over the next five years in setting up Internet-based lotteries in the Baltics. Winloto, a lottery company set up by Svenska Spel and Lithuanian partners, will offer the first ten Internet lotteries as early as March. "According to our projections, Svenska Spel will kick off trade in traditional lottery tickets in Lithuania by the end of the year," CEO Jesper Karrbrink said. The Swedish company will also eventually enter Latvia and Estonia over the next three years.

Germany's Douglas Holding, the largest cosmetics and fragrance retailer in Europe, announced plans to enter the Baltic market. Douglas said that it would open some 50 new stores across Europe this year and that preparations are under way to enter the Baltic countries. The group has earmarked 90 million euros for the expansion. "The goal is to transform the powerful German brand Douglas into a powerful pan-European brand," the company said in a statement.
Plans to build a 50 million euro bioethanol plant in northern Estonia were announced last week. It will take approximately 18 months and 50 million euros to build the plant, the exact location of which will soon be decided, Arvo Antropov, director of Viru Destiller Lic, was quoted as saying. He said the firm already has a contract with a foreign partner who is prepared to buy at least half of the output. "But sale of smaller quantities to Estonian fuel vendors is also possible," he added. All the equipment of the facility will be made in France. At full capacity the plant will be producing a million dekaliters of bioethanol a month or 320,000 liters daily.