Company briefs - 2010-03-10

Construction company YIT Ehitus, the Estonian subsidiary of Scandinavian YIT, signed a 40 million euro contract in Latvia to build two 120-meter-high circular buildings - the Z-Towers - for Towers Construction Management, reports BBN. The complex consists of two circular towers of 29 and 31 floors, with total floor space of approximately 100,000 square meters. The hotel tower will be operated by Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. under the brand name Sheraton. Under the agreement, YIT Ehitus will construct the frame and facades. The project originally started in 2008. The owner of the complex is Luxemburg-based real estate developer SPI Real Estate Holdings.

“I would have to be really desperate before I would get involved in politics,” said Kolonna beauty care company shareholder Ieva Plaude-Relingere in an interview on the morning news show 900 Seconds, reports Nozare.lv. “I really hope that we have enough politicians already who are thinking about the next generation, and not only about the next elections,” she said. She pointed out that businesses were concerned about the constant changes in taxation, and that “we are tired of insecurity and confusion. It is necessary to form a clear direction and clear objectives,” stressed Plaude-Relingere.

Latvian national airline airBaltic carried 186,512 passengers on its flights this past February, or 27 percent more passengers than in February 2009, reports Nozare.lv. During the first two months of 2010, airBaltic transported a total of 385,597 passengers, or 19 percent more than during the same period in 2009. The airline’s load factor, which represents the number of passengers as a proportion of the number of available seats, in February was at a level of 61 percent, or 1 percent less than in February 2009. During the first two months of 2009, the airline’s load factor was at a level of 59 percent.