Company briefs - 2010-08-26

Latvian national airline airBaltic will no longer offer pork dishes on its onboard menus, airline chief Bertold Flick has announced, reports Nozare.lv. “Our network of routes is really developing very rapidly, and airBaltic has begun intensive flights to and from Muslim countries. We also fly to Israel every day, and since business class passengers are offered one and the same meal, we have decided not to include pork on the menu,” explained Flick. He also reassured Latvian farmers that all food products used by the airline will continue to be purchased from Latvian producers. Consumption of pork is forbidden by both the Jewish and Muslim faiths.

A first-half decline in sales across the Baltics will lead to the probable closing of 24 unprofitable Lithuanian stores for Rimi, reports fruitnet.com. The fall in sales follows a trend across much of the Baltic States. This means that Rimi loses over a third of its store portfolio in Lithuania. Rimi’s parent, Swedish retailer Ahold ICA, said the decline in sales slowed through the second quarter of the year. ICA reported on a drop in net sales of 1.6 percent for the first half of the year across its Scandinavian store range, to 4.8 billion euros, with operating income at 180 million euros (up 40 percent) and net income at 5.8 million euros, a drop of 88 percent on 2009.

The Lithuanian branch of the non-life insurance company Gjensidige Baltic reached a pre-audited profit of 2.4 million litas (685,100 euros) over the first six months of this year, reports ELTA. Almost 180,000 insurance contracts were concluded; the premiums signed to the company totaled 34.7 million litas over the period. Presently, the company controls a 6.7-percent market share in Lithuania. Over the first half of 2010, the Lithuanian branch of Gjensidige Baltic covered damages of over 20.2 million litas.