Earnings of the listed and to be listed companies

Estonia Hansapank's unconsolidated net profit in the first six months of 1998 was 171 million kroons ($11.8 million), down by 16.4 million kroons from the same period last year. Hansapank's unconsolidated profit in June was 6.1 million kroons.
‰ Tallinna Farmaatsiatehas (Tallinn Pharmaceutical Factory), which posted a loss for the first four months of the year, announced July 17 it expects to be in the black again some time in the second half of the year. "The second half is decisive for us," chairman of the board Jaak Hion told BNS. "I believe we will finish the year with a profit." Farmaatsiatehas posted a loss of 1.7 million kroons for the first four months of the year on net sales of 36.5 million kroons.
‰ Tallinna Pank finished the first half of 1998 with a loss of 35.3 million kroons. The loss in June was 24.7 million kroons. The June loss was mainly due to the costs of the bank's ongoing merger with Uhispank and a drop on the Estonian and neighboring stock markets, the bank said. Financial losses in June amounted to 18 million kroons, of this 23.4 million came in unrealized loss, which was mainly due to the re-evaluation of shares that the bank holds in the insurance company Leks, the bank said. Tallinna Pank finished the first half of 1997 with a profit of 32.6 million kroons.
‰ The board of the AS Viru Rand fish processing company has set its profit estimate for the second half of 1998 at 7.5 million kroons. The estimate takes into account the synergy created in Viru Rand's merger with AS Laatsa, another North Estonian fish cannery, marketing chief Lilian Niitsoo told BNS. Niitsoo said the estimate for the July-December period counted in the changes that had taken place in the economic climate, and a five percent drop of prices on the CIS market.

Latvia
‰ Latvijas Krajbanka (Savings Bank) earned a profit of 557,000 lats ($891,200) in the first six months of the year, president Arnolds Laksa said. Its budget plan for 1998 sets a profit target of 400,000 lats. The bank's profit might reach 1.5 million lats in 1998, Laksa said. In the first six months in 1997, the bank earned 415,000 lats.
‰ Rigas Kugu Buvetava (Riga Shipyard) might earn 10 to 15 percent more profit than in 1997, a staff member at the company, Arturs Mucenieks, told BNS. He said the company hopes to earn higher profits because the shipyard is working to full capacity.
‰ Rigas Raugs (RR, Riga Yeast) company's profit was 46,000 lats after taxes in the first six months of 1998 on a turnover of 714,000 lats, commercial director Janis Sics told BNS. He said the company adjusted downward its profit target for 1998 from 167,000 lats to 100,000 lats after relations between Latvia and Russia soured.
‰ Valmiera Glass Fiber company's net profit was 584,000 lats in the first six months of 1998, finance director Imants Saulitis told BNS. The company's profit target for 1998 is 850,000 lats.

Lithuania
‰ Alita sparkling wine manufacturer saw its production shrink by 25 percent in the first half of the year compared with the same period last year. In the first six months of the year, the company's sales of alcoholic beverages reached 36.65 million litas ($9.16 million), and this June, sales amounted to 7.59 million litas, down 1.55 million litas compared to last June. The company plans to receive 800,000 litas net profits for the first half of the year. Vytautas Junevicius, general director of Alita, told BNS that the major competitor of the company was Riga's Wines, which took over a large share of the Lithuanian market.
‰ Anyksciai Vynas (Anyksciu Wines) earned 4.9 million litas net profit and 12.8 million litas gross profit in the first half of the year. The winery expects to earn 15 million litas net profit. In 1997, the company earned nearly 13 million litas.
‰ This year, the wine-maker increased its turnover by 23 percent and sold products worth 39.7 million litas in the first six months of the year. According to the company's plans, its turnover should reach 85 million litas in 1998. Last year, the turnover amounted to 75.3 million litas.
‰ Sluggish sales in June left the Panevezys-based TV-tube manufacturer Ekranas with a 2.3 million loss, a company executive said. Due to seasonal changes and overproduction in West European and Asian markets, Ekranas' sales reached only 18 million litas, while the warehouses of the company were packed with TV-tubes worth 27 million litas in June. This year, Ekranas still plans to earn some 20 million litas in net profit. In 1997, the company's net profit amounted to 13.7 million litas.
‰ Klaipeda Stevedoring Company (KLASCO), currently being privatized, received 89.7 million litas income and earned 13.72 million litas gross profit in the first half of the year. Compared with the same period in 1997, KLASCO's turnover decreased by 9 percent and profit by 17.3 percent. The company plans to earn 30 million litas profit this year.
‰ Lietuvos Draudimas (Lithuanian Insurance) collected 88.67 million litas in consolidated premiums over the first half of the year, including 27.68 million litas from life assurance alone. The company's sales went up by 23.39 million litas or 35.8 percent compared with the same period last year. According to preliminary estimates, Lietuvos Draudimas earned a net profit of about 5 million litas in the first half (5.5 million during the first half last year). This accounts for 71 percent of the company's targeted 7 million litas annual profit this year.
‰ Lietuvos Dujos (Lithuanian Gas) company has reported a loss of 1.493 million litas for the first six months of the year. The company had earned a profit of 8.1 million litas in the first quarter, but it lost 9.6 million litas in the second. Lietuvos Dujos earned a net profit of 31.24 million litas in the first half of last year.
‰ Lietuvos Zemes Ukio Bankas (Agriculture Bank, or LZUB) has reported earning an unaudited net profit of 13.239 million litas in the first half of the year.
‰ This year the profit of the Panevezys-based linen textiles manufacturer Linas grew by 60 percent, while the company's turnover increased by 16.6 percent. In the first half of the year the company sales totaled 39.8 million litas, and it earned 2.1 million litas in net profit. In the same period last year, sales amounted to 29 million litas, netting1.3 million litas in profit.
‰ Litimpex bank earned a 532,000 litas profit in the first half of the year. In the same period of 1997, the bank incurred a 4.23 million litas loss, and finished the year with a net loss of 3.38 million litas. In June, the bank's shareholders revised down the bank's annual profit target to 4 million litas from 10.5 million litas.
‰ This year the turnover of the Lithuania's largest milk processor, Marijampoles Pieno Konservai (Marijampole Canned Milk), declined due to the unstable economic situation abroad. In the first half of the year, the company's sales totaled 80.1 million litas and its turnover declined by 14.7 percent compared with the same period last year. In 1997 the dairy sold products worth 193.8 million litas and earned 6.9 million litas in net profit.
‰ Mazeikiu Nafta (Mazeikiai Oil) refinery has reported a loss of 20.7 million litas for the first half of the year. The company earned a pre-tax profit of 18.2 million litas in the first half of last year and 39.1 million litas throughout the year. Mazeikiu Nafta sustained a 50.8 million litas loss in the first quarter of this year. The sales of the only refinery in the Baltic states went up by 38 percent to 1.44 million litas so far in the year.
‰ The Birzai-based oil pumping company Naftotiekis (Oil Pipeline), one of the most profitable Lithuanian companies, earned 19.48 million litas net profit on sales of 45.59 million litas in the first half of the year. This year, the company's net profit went up by 39.2 percent, while sales grew by 6.9 percent compared with the same period last year.
‰ Panevezio Pienas (Panevezys Milk) dairy earned a 5.85 million litas net profit in the first half of the year, and is planning to boost it to over 10 million litas by the end of the year. In the first six months of the year the company sold products worth 48.96 million litas, or 25 percent more compared to the same period last year.
‰ In the first half of the year the Kaunas-based brewery Ragutis earned 3.38 million litas net profit, or 44.6 percent more compared with the same period last year. This year, the brewery's sales amounted to 17.35 million litas, an increase of 39 percent. Lithuania's fourth largest brewery, Ragutis currently controls 11.9 percent of local beer market.
‰ Rokiskio Suris (Rokiskis Cheese) dairy has reported earning a net profit of 12.58 million litas in the first half of the year. This is 33 percent more than the figure for the same period last year. The growth was attributable to a 56.5 percent jump is sales, which reached 109.9 million litas over the six months, a company economist said.
‰ Sema distillery expects to eliminate losses incurred this year and to revive its shrinking turnover in the second half of the year. According to preliminary data, in the first half of the year, turnover of Panevezys-based distillery totaled only 16.65 million litas, and losses of the company may amount to 1.5 million litas. Last year, thriving sales brought turnover to 52.47 million litas and net profit of the distillery reached 3.67 million litas.
‰ Siauliu Bankas (Siauliai Bank) has posted a 336,000 litas net profit for the first six months in the year. The bank earned 1.01 million litas over the same period last year and finished 1997 with an audited net profit of 1.956 million litas.
‰ In the first half of the year Snoras Bank, which is working actively on the Russian and other CIS markets, incurred 4.1 million litas in losses, the bank reported. In the first six months last year, Snoras earned a 5.09 million litas audited net profit, while year-on-year profit of the bank reached 1.088 million litas in June. Raimondas Baranauskas, chairman of the board of directors, says that the losses were incurred due to large investments into savings outlets of the bank. In the first half of the year, the bank opened 81 new outlets.
‰ In the first half of the year, Klaipeda-based brewery Svyturys earned 10.02 million litas in net profit, or 76.7 percent more than in the same period last year. This year the brewery ,which controls 21 percent of beer market in Lithuania, plans to earn some 18 million litas in profits. The company's turnover grew by 46.6 percent and sales totaled 41.56 million litas this year.
‰ Taupomasis Bankas (Savings Bank, or LTB), the largest in the country, sustained a loss of 27.4 million litas in the first half of this year, the daily Respublika reported on July 16. The bank finished the first quarter with a loss of 8.8 million litas after earning an audited profit of 5.2 million litas last year. Despite its poor performance in the first half, LTB is planning on a profit of 11 million litas on sales of 271 million litas by the end of this year. The bank's board chairman, Romualdas Visokavicius, said the current loss came about after LTB was forced to allocate an additional provision of 12 million litas to cover the bad loans of the bankrupt Valstybinis Komercinis Bankas [State Commercial Bank], which LTB absorbed. Another 10 million litas in provisions was needed to cover the state-run LTB's own bad loans dating back to before 1997.
‰ Ukio Bankas (Economy Bank) earned a net profit of 573,000 litas in the first half of this year. The bank made a profit of 1.65 million litas during the same period last year and finished 1997 with a 27.8 million litas loss. Earlier Ukio Bankas planned to earn a profit of 25 million litas this year but is now postponing that target.
‰ Knitwear manufacturer Utenos trikotazas (Utena Knitwear) sold products worth 46.39 million litas in the first half of 1998, up 15 percent on the same period last year. Net profit of the company reached 5.2 million litas and was 2.5 times higher than the same period last year. In 1997, the company made a 5.1 million litas profit.
‰ Lithuania's largest private bank, Vilniaus Bankas, has reported earning an unaudited profit of 34.99 million litas in the first half of the year. This accounts for 47.6 percent of the bank's targeted 73.6 million litas annual profit this year. Vilniaus Bankas earned 21.67 million litas in profits in the January-June period last year.