Merko Ehitus becoming one of Baltics' most profitable companies

  • 2005-11-16
  • From wire reports
TALLINN - Third-quarter earnings of Merko Ehitus rocketed 97 percent year-on-year to 154.4 million kroons (9.9 million euros), making the Estonian builder one of the Baltics' biggest corporations in terms of profit.


Revenues for the three months soared 39 percent to 1 billion kroons (64 million euros) thanks to improved sales in Latvia and Lithuania.

For the nine months to the end of September, sales totaled 2.4 billion kroons, up 10.9 percent against the same period in 2004, while earnings amounted to 302.8 million kroons.

Broken down by category, 249 million kroons of earnings came from construction and development, 28 million from property sales and 25.8 million from cash investments and interest.

Still, the company stated that market trends could take the wind out of its sails.

"Despite good demand and a stable economic environment, the current insufficient supply of labor and building materials, and the accompanying rise in prices, could significantly inhibit development of the construction market in the near future," the company said.

The firm's sales have been particularly robust in Latvia. In the first nine months of the year, Merks, the Latvian subsidiary, posted turnover of 20.4 million lats (29 million euros), a 50 percent rise from the same period last year.

Merks spokesman Arnis Lapins said that figure does not include the hockey arena being built for next year's World Ice-Hockey Championship. He said that only sites built under contracts were included in the sales figure, and the hockey arena was regarded as an investment project.