VILNIUS - The Lithuanian news agency ELTA has announced its intention to team up with the Latvian news agency LETA to establish a joint venture in Estonia.
ELTA, which is majority owned by MG Baltic, wrote in its 2004 performance reports that it plans to launch business in Estonia this year. ELTA also said that, together with LETA, it intends to offer a Baltic business news package to business consumers.
Baltic News Service, which is owned by Alma Media, a Finnish media group, is currently the only news agency operating in all three Baltic countries. It bought the brand name of ETA, the Estonian news agency that went bankrupt, in March 2003.
ELTA posted a loss of 300,000 litas (87,000 euros) on sales of 2.4 million litas in 2004. It hopes to boost sales by 6.3 percent to 2.6 million litas and end the year in the black.
The agency, which employs 51 people, leases part of its building on Gedimino Avenue, Vilnius' central avenue, to MG Baltic Investment. Income from this operation reached 373,310 litas, or almost 15 percent of total revenue, last year.
MG Baltic holds a 50.86 percent stake in ELTA through MG Baltic Investment, its subsidiary. The group also controls LNK, one of the most popular TV channels in Lithuania.
The Achema Group, another group with major holdings in the media industry, owns a 6.75 percent stake in ELTA.
Both MG Baltic and the Achema Group have said they intend to bid for the state's remaining 39.51 percent stake in ELTA. The shares will be put up for public auction on July 12 at a starting price of 2 million litas.
