TALLINN - A year after launching a new laser disc production plant in Tallinn, Baltic Disc announced that it has managed to triple output to some 700,000 discs per month. Sales during the first year of the plant's operations reached 36 million kroons (2.3 million euros) and should continue to climb this year, company managers said.
"Since the number of orders and new customers are constantly growing, we have big plans for this year," Aare Puur, marketing and sales director, told the Baltic News Service.
He said the plant in Tallinn, which was built at a cost of 34.4 million kroons, is only using 50 percent of its output capacity.
The company has more expansion plans and this year will be building an office building next to the plant that will bring together Finnish, Swedish and other multimedia companies working in the Baltic market.
The new business center will have a floor area of more than 6,000 square meters. Total investments will reach 102 million kroons, Puur said.
Baltic Disc is part of the German-Lithuanian joint venture UAB Baltic Optical Disc.
Baltic Optical Disc is the only producer of CDs in the Baltic states. In 2005 the company posted sales of 29 million litas (8.4 million euros), more than a two-fold increase year-on-year. Results for 2006 have yet to be released.
In February the company was slammed by a major lawsuit filed by some of the world's largest music labels, such as Sony, EMI and Virgin. According to the plaintiffs, Baltic Optical Disc manufactured over 200,000 music CDs of popular artists at its plant.
The Vilnius District Prosecutor's Office has asked the Vilnius Regional Court to fine the company some 1.7 million litas. Prosecutors said that they had discovered over 200,000 unlicensed CDs in a storehouse back in 2001. The CDs allegedly came from Belarus, according to reports.
Baltic Optical Disc executives were stunned by the accusations. "It's a real snub. Somebody has seized discs somewhere. How could one claim that the discs have been manufactured at our company?" CEO Vladas Sakalauskas was quoted as saying.
