Swedish bank Swedbank is looking to sell the more than 2,000 vehicles it has taken over as collateral against overdue loans in the Baltic region, says chief risk officer Goran Bronner, reports news agency LETA. He says there is plenty of interest, including among Swedes wanting to buy inexpensive cars. In its latest interim report, Swedbank estimated the value of these vehicles at 700 million Swedish krona (70.4 million euros). The bank, working with local car retailers, expects to sell all the vehicles within two years. If the buyer pays five percent of the purchase price in cash and passes the credit checks, a loan will be offered for the sale. In addition to cars, Swedbank has also taken over trucks and construction vehicles, as well as properties valued at 150 - 200 million krona, due to the credit crisis.
Fruit and vegetable processor Pure Foods posted revenue of 5.5 million lats (7.8 million euros) for the first six months this year, reports news agency LETA. The company exports 70 percent of its products, 25-28 percent of exports going to Russia. The company's council chairman, Aivars Zimants, says that "Now is the most active part of the year, because in summer we buy berries and fruit." European Union funds helped with construction of a new freezer warehouse with capacity of over 1,000 tons of berries, allowing operations to continue year round. The company earned 283,776 lats for the six month period. Full year turnover for 2008 reached 10.5 million lats, which was up 6.8 percent increase on 2007.
Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai (Lithuanian Railways) signed a contract with private company Kelprojektas to start design work on the section of the Rail Baltica line to connect the Polish border with Marijampole, reports news agency ELTA. This will include work on drafting of the plan and an environmental impact assessment. The first contract is valued at 450,000 litas (130,425 euros). Kelprojektas is to submit the draft plan within 13 months. Construction of the line will start after the plan and environmental impact assessment are drafted and approved, and the necessary land is acquired. The Rail Baltica project is to build a high speed rail corridor, with passenger trains traveling at speeds of 160 kilometers per hour on the route from Warsaw to Helsinki, and freight trains moving at up to 120 kilometers per hour.
