Earnings of the listed and to be listed companies

‰ Pennu Computer Technology made a pre-audit consolidated profit of 4.2 million kroons ($322,000) in the financial year that ended in June. The consolidated net turnover totaled 181.43 million kroons. According to unconsolidated data, the firm's turnover was up by 4.58 million kroons from the previous financial year, amounting to 169.54 million kroons. The unconsolidated profit at the same time decreased by 2.06 million kroons to 4.29 million kroons.

‰ The firm's assets totaled 163.96 million kroons at the end of June. Pennu reported a nine-month profit of 7.2 million kroons in April, thus it must have had a 3 million kroon loss in the April-June period. The company's profit forms 30 percent of the original profit forecast of 14 million kroons and 53 percent of a new, downsized prognosis of 8 million kroons announced after the end of the financial year.

‰ The real estate developer Pro Kapital ended the first half of the year with a loss of 11.2 million kroons, according to unconsolidated and unaudited results. The firm's result will be totally different after consolidation of subsidiaries' results, Pro Kapital said in a release to the stock exchange. An overall increase in working expenses and labor costs was due to active expansion of operations, the firm said. The unconsolidated net turnover in the January to June period was 6.2 million kroons as compared with a consolidated turnover of 67.6 million kroons. Pro Kapital's investments in subsidiaries have grown from 59.8 million kroons in the first half of last year to 114.8 million kroons. Investments in land and buildings in terms of acquisition cost have increased from 19.9 million kroons to 33.2 million kroons. The consolidated results for the January-September period will be released within three months after the end of the period.

‰ The board of the Tallinna Kaubamaja department store on Oct. 2 decided to reduce the firm's profit forecast for 1998 from 38.3 million to 20.1 million kroons. The cut is due to a decision made in July to close the store in Helsinki. It is also related to the slow beginning for the Ravala parking house project, which has taken longer to get off the ground than expected, board member Urmo Vallner said. The actual loss of Tallinna Kaubamaja in Helsinki will be bigger than originally planned by 10.1 million kroons owing to an underpricing of stock and a write-off of the expenditures capitalized when the Helsinki store was established, Vallner said. The prognosis of net profit from retail business in Estonia will be cut because of the last few months' increasingly strained economic and financial situation. "The original forecasts counted on the populace's growing purchasing power and stabilization of the financial situation. But an analysis of the past few months' developments shows the growth of purchasing power to have slowed down and the financial situation to have become more tense," Vallner stated.

Latvia

‰ The management of the Gutta juice producer believes there is no immediate need to revise the company's profit forecast for 1998 because the profit volume of the first eight months of the year already ensures the planned annual profit. The company told BNS that from the actual net profit earned in 1998, the company is creating special reserves for unexpected losses. "Of course, in the event the crisis in Russia gets worse, Gutta will have to revise its 1998 profit forecast slightly," the company noted. Gutta's volume of sale has declined in the wake of the Russian crisis, but this is not the only reason behind the decline, as other factors also must be taken into consideration, the company's management said. The company will be able to assess the real impact of the crisis by October's, November's and December's indicators when, according to the forecast, the sales volume must expand. The pace of growth will allow to judge about the consequences of the financial crisis, Gutta explained.

‰ The Kaija fish cannery suffered a loss of more than 100,000 lats ($172,400) in the first eight months of this year, Chairwoman of the Board Taiga Treimane said. The loss was incurred deliberately as the company formed provisions for risky debtors' obligations in view of the unpaid accounts by Russian partners, Treimane told reporters Friday. Kaija turned over 10,496,850 lats in the period, which was 12 percent more than in the first eight months of 1997. Starting in August Kaija began to curtail deliveries to Russian partners. The company's management decided in August to halve the output of canned fish products and focus on prepared fish products, whose sales on the Baltic market have gone up considerably. In August Kaija reported sales of 472,000 lats, up by 64 percent over August 1997. The company is continuing its effort to expand its share on the Baltic market and to acquire new markets in Central and Eastern European countries. Treimane noted that the Russian crisis has put to a halt the formation of a joint sales network for products of Kaija and Salacgriva '95, the two fish processors of the Ave Lat Grupa food concern.

‰ The Salacgriva '95 fish cannery earned zero profit in the first eight months of this year, its official Taiga Treimane said Friday. She explained the failure to earn a profit with changes in the market situation that determined a steady price decline so far this year. Treimane told reporters the company had a small loss in September and followed the budget plan precisely in the first seven months of this year. The market situation changed sharply in August due to the Russian financial crisis, she added.The company did not cut its output volume in August and fulfilled the action plan for the period while the sales plan was met by only 59 percent of the target and accounted for 248,000 lats. The eight-month sales volume falls two percent behind the budget plan. The result was achieved because sales were larger than expected in the first half of this year. In August export made up 54 percent of the total sales volume. The management of Salacgriva '95 has prepared plans for further economic activity, including options to try to keep up with the budget plan or to lower the targets. Another possibility is to halt production for a preventive check of equipment in November or December. The company's board will meet in early October to decide on future actions in order to overcome effects of the unfavorable market situation with a minimum loss.

Lithuania

‰ The Kedainiai-based Lifosa fertilizer plant sold production worth 261.2 million litas ($65.3 million) over the first eight months of this year, earning 23.8 million litas in after-tax profits. Lifosa Finance Director Juozas Baniota reported this to BNS. Last year, the company's profits amounted to 6.1 million litas. Lifosa sells only 1.5-2 percent of its fertilizers in Lithuania. All remaining production is exported to Western Europe. This year, especially large orders were received from Turkey. Last year, its turnover came to 306.4 million litas, and an increase of 16-20 percent is hoped for this year. Lifosa is the owner of a new phosphate and potassium fertilizer factory, founded together with one of the largest fertilizer manufacturers in Europe — Kemira Agro OY. Lifosa owns 49 percent of the Kemira factory, with 51 percent of the plant in the hands of Finnish investors.

‰ In the first half of this year Ukio Bankas (Economy Bank) earned 733,000 litas in audited profit, or 160,000 litas more than the unaudited results of the bank's activities, which indicated 573,000 litas profit. The audit of Ukio Bankas was performed by Deloitte & Touche. In the first half of 1997, profits of the bank reached 1.65 million litas. Profits increased as a result of the audit because auditors reduced expenditures for special provisions, a spokesman of the bank announced. Liutauras Varanavicius, chairman of the bank's board, told BNS that after the audit, provisions decreased by 160,000 litas, and since the beginning of the year, provisions have been reduced by 2.58 million litas to 16.31 million litas. As a result of the audit, the bank's assets also increased, going up from 195.86 million to 196.02 million litas. The audited capital adequacy index of the bank is 17.17 percent. At the beginning of the year, the bank expected a 25 million litas net profit, but in August the plan was revised, and now the bank expects to earn a 2.2 million litas profit. Last year, the bank incurred 27.84 million litas in losses.