Earnings of the listed and to-be-listed companies

ä The consolidated net profit of the AS Harju Elekter group during the first nine months of 1998 totaled 14.1 million kroons ($1.07 million), up 48 percent from the same period of a year ago. Harju Elekter's sales during the nine months amounted to 115.3 million kroons, an increase of 62 percent, the company announced on October 26. Harju Elekter's electrical equipment plant saw its nine-month turnover rise 69 percent to 46.4 million kroons.

ä The AS Fakto car dealer group reported a consolidated net profit of 4,264,000 kroons, or 71 percent of the year's profit target, for the period January-September. Year on year, Fakto's profit declined by 5.35 percent or 0.2 million kroons. In the nine-month period, Fakto's net sales turnover totaled 280.34 million kroons, the firm reported. The figure is 41.8 million kroons or 17.54 percent higher than for the same period last year.

ä The net profit of the Hansapank group was 168.7 million kroons in the first nine months, according to nonaudited figures. The group's assets stood at 26.91 billion kroons as of the end of September. In 1997, the nine-month net profit of the Hansapank group was 422.4 million kroons and of the Hoiupank group, 234.3 million kroons.

ä Companies in the Leks Group - Leks Kindlustus (Leks Insurance), Leks Elukindlustus (Leks Life Insurance), Saules Laiks and Ukio Draudimas - collected 233 million kroons of insurance premiums in the period from January through September. Leks Insurance Public Relations Director Rivo Saarna told the BNS agency that during the same period the companies have made claim payments to the tune of 111 million kroons.

Latvia

ä Management at the insurance company Balta believes the company will meet its annual profit target provided the crisis on the world's financial markets does not deepen, the company told BNS. Nevertheless Balta's investment losses totaled 522,000 lats ($915,800) in the third quarter of the year, caused by investment losses in Russian and former Soviet States' securities. For that reason Balta has formed reserves in amount of 499,000 lats to compensate for remaining investments in the Commonwealth of Independent States. Balta's total revenue from investments in the first nine months of 1998 was 707,000 lats and investment losses totaled 352,699 lats in the same period. Balta's profit in the first nine months of the year was 543,643 lats, according to information Balta submitted to the stock exchange. Balta's before-tax profit was 808,423 lats or 115,000 lats less than planned.

ä The Centrs department store suffered a loss of 28,228 lats in the first nine months of this year on a net turnover of 189,880 lats. The performance complies with forecasts as major resources were invested into the store's reconstruction, said Rems Razums, a public relations manager at Varner Hakon Invest, which co-owns Centrs. Centrs was 79,237 lats in the red in 1997, while its turnover was 136,200 lats.

ä Pharmaceuticals Grindex suffered a loss of 29,434 lats in the beginning nine months of this year, the Riga Stock Exchange reported. The company's net turnover for the period was 6,476,475 lats. Grindex had a net profit of 302,000 lats and a turnover of 4.6 million lats in the first half of this year. At the beginning of the year the company had hoped for a profit of 1.2 million lats in annual profits on a turnover of 11.4 million lats.

ä The fish cannery Kaija incurred a loss of 477,169 lats in the first nine months of this year, the RSE said. The company's net turnover was 10,940,648 lats in the period. The company has submitted its financial indicators to the Riga Stock Exchange with a comment that its "nine-month balance sheet does not include results of the market turmoil in Russia." This remark means that in about a month's time the company's management will precisely evaluate the situation and depending on the results, the financial indicators will be adjusted, said Ave Lat Grupa's Public Relations Manager Rita Voronkova. It does not mean, however, that the present losses amounting to 477,169 lats will increase significantly, she noted.

ä The distillery Latvijas Balzams earned a profit of 2,117,949 lats during the first nine months of 1998 on a net turnover of 17,195,969 lats, the Riga Stock Excahnge told BNS. During the first six months of the year LB produced a turnover of 12.9 million lats and a profit of1 million lats. During the first nine months of 1997 the company's profit was 1.9 million lats.

ä The company Lode earned a profit of 400,380 lats during the first nine months of 1998 on a net turnover of 2,102,550 lats, the Riga Stock Exchange told the BNS agency. During the first six months of the year Lode's profit was 224,000 lats on a turnover of 1.2 million lats. The brick manufacturer's profit during the first nine months in 1997 was 298,000 lats on a turnover of 1.7 million lats.

ä The pharmaceutical company Olainfarm incurred a loss of 188,757 lats in the period January-September 1998 on a net turnover of 5,313,749 lats, the RSE reported. In the first six months of this year the company earned a profit of 316,000 lats on a turnover of 3.9 million lats. Shareholders decided Oct. 24 to lower the year's forecast results to a loss of 900,000 lats on a turnover of eight million lats. By the end of 1998 the company had hoped to earn 3.5 million lats.

ä Rigas Komercbanka's earned profit during the first nine months of 1998 was 690,000 lats. During the first six months of the year, the bank's earned profit was approximately 2.12 million lats while during the first nine months of 1997 the bank's profit was close to 1.75 million lats. The bank's net revenue from interests and commissions during the first nine months of the year totaled more than 7.27 million lats and its pretax profit was 817,000 lats. The bank's assets shrunk by 35.1 percent, or 65.94 million lats, during the third quarter of 1998 to 121.9 million lats as of Sept. 30. On June 30 its assets were 187.84 million lats.

ä Riga Shipyard earned a net profit of 259,246 lats on a net turnover of 10,729,463 lats in the nine months of this year, according to the Riga Stock Exchange report. Riga Shipyard's shares are quoted on the official list of the RSE. In the first half of this year the company earned 144,000 lats and its turnover was 6.1 million lats. Its profit target for this year has been set at one million lats, while the forecast turnover is 15 million lats. In the nine months of last year it earned 856,000 lats on a turnover of 8.4 million lats.

ä The Salacgriva '95 fish cannery earned a net profit of 75 lats in the first nine months of this year, according to figures from the Riga Stock Exchange. The company's net turnover for the period was 4,713,851 lats. Salacgriva '95 has a share capital of 1.2 million lats and an equity capital of 2.9 million lats. In the first half of this year the company was 43,000 lats in the red on a turnover of 3.6 million lats. In the same nine months of last year the fish processor netted 171,000 lats on a turnover of 4.3 million lats.

Lithuania

ä The Alytus-based champagne-process wine company Alita has earned only half of the profits it did last year. Over the first nine months of this year, the company earned 6.5 million litas ($1.62 million) in net profits - 42.5 percent less than over the same period last year (11.3 million litas). However, according to Alita Marketing and Financial Director Arvydas Stankevicius, in the third quarter alone 4.2 million litas in net profits were posted.

ä The Kedainiai-based fertilizer factory Lifosa sold 293 million litas worth of products over the first nine months of this year, earning 27.1 million litas in net profits - almost eleven times more than last year. During the same period last year, the company posted net profits of 2.5 million litas, with annual profits amounting to 6.1 million litas. The company's turnover over the first three quarters of last year came to 249.4 million litas. Lifosa has not as yet felt the repercussions of the Russian economic crisis since it supplies almost no phosphorus and potassium fertilizers to the CIS market.

ä Over the first nine months of this year, Lietuvos Draudimas, the largest Lithuanian insurance group, netted 8.6 million litas in profits. Over the period, the main company of the group earned 8 million litas in net profits, which in the same period last year amounted to 6.8 million litas. "Profits for the group increased due to growing premiums," chief accountant Algimantas Rinkevicius told BNS. The insurance group Lietuvos Draudimas collected 176.9 million litas in premiums over the first three quarters of this year.