Company briefs - 2012-05-31

Interfax cited Ms. Kristina Paukstyte-Brazdauskiene, company PR specialist, as saying that Minijos Nafta, one of Lithuania’s largest oil producers, has begun prospecting for shale gas with plans to invest 6.5 million litas (1.8 million euros) in drilling the first well, reports steelguru.com. She said “This is our licensed area. There is presumably shale gas there and possibly oil. Work will be underway in about two months.” Polish enterprise Poszukiwania Naftowe Diament was to start drilling the first well in the Silute zone in western Lithuania last Friday.

Latvijas Balzams, the largest producer of alcoholic beverages in the Baltic States, achieved 15.3 million lats (21.8 million euros) in unaudited turnover in the first quarter of 2012, which is 15 percent more than in the respective period of 2011, reports Nozare.lv. Turnover on the domestic market rose 20 percent, on the export markets by 12.5 percent. In the first quarter of 2012, sales in the European Union countries were at the same level as last year. Unaudited profit reached 313,000 lats in the first quarter of 2012, 3 percent less than in the first quarter of 2011. The company’s profit decreased due to growing prices of raw materials and the difference of total sales distribution between various product categories. This year, the company will focus on further control of production and logistics costs, optimization and improvement of production efficiency, increasing competitiveness, says board chairman Guntis Aboltins-Abolins.