Company briefs - 2013-07-11

  • 2013-07-10

Regardless of a fall in the number of passengers, Riga International Airport posted 30.2 million lats (43.1 million euros) in turnover in 2012, which is 7 million lats more than in 2011; the airport also increased its profit to 1.3 million lats last year, according to Firmas.lv data. The airport’s profit in 2011 amounted to 410,000 lats, whereas in 2010, the airport posted a loss of 2.7 million lats. The airport’s management report says that 2012 was the beginning of a stabilization period, laying foundations for profitable business operations in the future. Last year the airport served 68,800 aircraft movements, 4.8 million passengers (down from 5.1 million passengers in 2011), and 33,000 tons of cargo. Runway surface renovation and other infrastructure development projects started at the Riga International Airport at the beginning of May, with the total cost of these projects at 81 million lats.

Chief Economist at Swedbank Estonia Tonu Mertsina estimated that sales turnover generated by construction enterprises might start falling this year and in 2014, mostly due to the exhaustion of the revenue from sales of pollution quotas, reports Aripaev Online. Mertsina explained that while previously the construction market was mostly affected by construction of infrastructure projects and repair and reconstruction work on buildings, in the first quarter new construction projects in Estonia contributed more. Currently, there are approximately 6,700 enterprises operating in the construction sector in Estonia. In order to guarantee efficiency of operations and competitiveness, some enterprises might need to merge or be acquired by others in near future.

In its overview of the electronics and electrical appliances sector, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications stated that after two years of fast growth, the sector was practically at a standstill in 2012, reports National Broadcasting. Production volumes in 2012 did not grow, while sales and exports only grew by four percent in the year-on-year comparison. In 2011, sales grew by nearly two times and exports grew by 2.1 times. The electronics and electrical appliances sector is strongly oriented to foreign markets and the majority of large enterprises operating in this sector are owned by foreign capital.