VILNIUS - Television manufacturer Siauliu Tauro Televizoriai, which launched production of liquid crystal display TV sets in June, said it would offer consumers digital television sets early next year.
STT, the only TV producer in the Baltics, said it was currently occupied with preparations for manufacturing television sets capable of receiving and processing the digitally formatted signal, CEO Rimantas Zukauskas said.
"These projects are extremely promising," he said, adding that the market showed strong demand for LCD TV sets.
STT, the largest company in Siauliai, expects annual output of such sets to reach 60,000 - 150,000 units this year.
Last year the company elaborated the design and finalized preparations for manufacturing the LCD sets, which will have 15" and 21" flat screens. In the fall the product line will be expanded to include 29" flat-screen sets.
What's more, this year the company launched production of 17," 20" and 30" television sets with integrated DVD players.
STT is projecting an output of 1.4 million units this year, a twofold rise from 2003.
In the first half of 2004 output soared 2.1 times to 579,400 units, up from 277,400 in the first six months of last year.
Company revenues surged 2.2-fold in the January-to-June period to 162.7 million litas (47.17 million euros), from 74.6 million litas in the first half of 2003.
Previously STT revealed that it was projecting full year profits of 8.5 million litas on turnover of 456 million litas for 2004. Last year the company netted 3.5 million litas on sales of 215.7 million litas.
The company's products are marketed in Germany, France, the U.K., Sweden, Portugal, Italy, Austria, Greece, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania.
STT, which has a workforce of about 750, is controlled by three shareholders, including the Panevezys-based color picture tube producer Ekranas with an approximately 19 percent holding.
