Severstaltrans, a Russian transport concern, expressed interest in acquiring a stake in Estonia's Pakterminal, an oil terminal. As Severstaltrans director Andrei Filatov told the Eesti Paevaleht daily, "We have already invested approximately 5 billion kroons (319.5 million euros) in Estonia and are interested in acquiring a stake in Pakterminal." He said Pakterminal was attractive since in the future it may add value to its operations by mixing oil products before sale. At the beginning of this year the influential oil transit businessman Endel Siff foiled his long-time partner Aadu Luukas' plan to sell his holding in Pakterminal to Severstaltrans. Luukas' fellow shareholders exercised their pre-emptive right, leaving the Russians with empty hands.
Lithuania's SBA Furniture Group reported consolidated sales of 52.3 million litas (15.1 million euros) for the first two months of 2006, a rise of 31.1 percent year-on-year. In February alone, the sales of the group soared by 34.8 percent. "This year should be even better for our companies. Now we are confirming the orders for the second half of the year. Some agreements are long-term, which will secure the successful operations of our companies for several years to come," CEO Ricardas Kiaurakis said. The group is scheduled to produce furniture worth over 500 million litas for Sweden's IKEA in a four-year period.
Latvian national airline airBaltic carried 167,953 passengers in January and February this year, a 63 percent rise from the first two months in 2005. This January-February the airline made 3,607 flights, up by 27 percent year-on-year. The load factor for airBaltic airplanes in February this year was 59 percent, up by 11 percentage points from February last year. In the first two months of this year airBaltic served 36 percent of all passengers at Riga Airport in the Latvian capital. Last year, airBaltic carried 1,037,925 passengers, a 76 percent rise from 2004.
