Company briefs - 2011-09-22

From 2005 to 2009, the number of companies connected with offshore financial centers grew 88.6 percent, according to information from the Central Statistical Bureau, reports Nozare.lv. In 2005, 97 companies in Latvia were connected with offshore financial centers; in 2009 - 183. The largest increase was registered in 2009, when their number increased by 33 percent, or 45 companies. In 2008, 138 enterprises in Latvia were connected with offshore financial centers; in 2007 – 132; in 2006 - 126. In 2005, such companies had 4,021 employees; in 2009 - 4,440. The companies’ turnover increased by 148 percent - from 162.6 million lats (231.4 million euros) in 2005 to 282.6 million lats in 2009.

In the second quarter of 2011, financial enterprises earned a total of 7.8 million euros in profits in Estonia, reports Postimees Online. This is by 45 percent less than during the same period last year, reported the Statistics Board. The last time second-quarter profits were lower than in 2011 was in 2005, when they amounted to 6.7 million euros. In 2003, profits amounted to 50.6 million euros.

A Lithuanian-Russian consortium that did not have the winning bid for Estonian Railways’ locomotives procurement announced that it would turn to the courts, reports Aripaev Online. The UAB TMHB and UAB VLRD consortium stated that they have serious suspicions that the locomotives procurement process has violated the terms of the international tender, as well as the Public Procurements Act. Sworn Advocate Raivo Laus, who represents the consortium, stated that they felt that the announced public tender might have been fictitious, where the winner had been decided in advance. There are also suspicions that the commissioning authority has already made concessions to the company selling the Chinese locomotives during the course of the conclusion of the contract - at least in terms of supply deadlines.