Grindex, Latvia's largest drugmaker, said it planned to complete construction of its new production facility by the end of the year. Grindex said that the new plant, which will have the capacity to make 2 billion tablets and capsules per year, will at least double the company's output potential and enable it to expand sales to markets such as Asia. Contracts on marketing several products in China and Turkey were reached last year. The new plant will cost 7.5 million lats (10.6 million euros).
A regional water utility in Estonia, Elveso, filed a lawsuit against Kalev, a confectionery, in order to claim 21.8 million kroons (1.4 million euros) in unpaid over-pollution charges and fines. Charges for additional pollution not paid by Kalev over 2005 - 2007 add up to 15.9 million kroons, while the rest is made up of fines, said Elveso. The Supreme Court in a judgment last fall gave Elveso the right to claim an extra charge for the treatment of waste water coming from the Kalev plant. "In conformity with the Supreme Court's decision, we now wish that the court would compel the owners of Kalev to pay their debt and the fine," Elveso CEO Toomas Heinaru said.
The Tallink shipper is laying off workers as part of a reorganization of its Finnish operations, the Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat reported. Keijo Mehtonen, manager of Tallink's Finnish operations, said that the layoffs, which will hit Espoo and Turku, will affect mainly accounting and IT jobs 's 30 people in all. "It's all largely about streamlining the structure of the organization. We're still halfway through integration, and the Finnish side of the transformation is from a shipping company into more of a sales department," Mehtonen said. The new sales department, which is expected to start its work at the beginning of June, could be opened in Turku. Approximately 50 people will be hired, some of them part-time. "The goal is to be more active in our sales work in the future," Mehtonen said.
