Earnings of the listed and to-be-listed companies

ä Forekspank on November 16 reported a loss of 146.1 million kroons ($10.8 million) for October. The bank's loss for the first 10 months of the year reached 247 million kroons. Losses from investments into shares accounted for 31.9 million kroons of the total loss during October. The lion's share, 30 million kroons, was incurred when Forekspank sold its holding in the Estonian investment bank Investeerimispank.

ä Hansapank said on November 16 that it had suffered a loss of 19.3 million kroons in October. The bank's current profit for the first 10 months stands at 110.2 million kroons. Hansapank's total assets at the end of October stood at more than 19.64 billion kroons, compared with over 19.91 billion kroons at the end of September. The loan portfolio totaled 11.54 billion kroons and client deposits amounted to slightly over 11.86 billion kroons, compared with September's more than 11.52 billion and 12.05 billion kroons respectively.

ä Uhispank announced on November 16 that it had suffered a loss of 15.2 million kroons in October. The bank's loss during the first 10 months of this year amounted to 9.6 million kroons. The negative profit in October was caused by a U.S. dollar-Russian ruble deal concluded by the former Tallinna Pank in the first half of this year. The 30 million kroon deal by Tallinna Pank, which has since merged with Uhispank, was written off immediately after the merger.

Latvia

ä Latvia's Unibanka sees a major profit potential in the provisions created by the bank, its President Andris Berzins told reporters. He said "our provisions are so efficiently created that we believe they represent an enormous opportunity to earn a profit. When they start to come back, abnormally high profits will appear at once," he said. Unibanka has now fulfilled all requirements set by the Bank of Latvia regarding the creation of provisions to cover investments in Russia and transactions that may be affected by the Russian crisis.

Lithuania

ä The Panevezys-based Kalnapilis brewery has earned 25.74 million litas ($6.43 million) in net profits over the beginning 10 months of this year, according to preliminary data. Over the same period in 1997, the company's profits came to 28.4 million litas or 9.4 percent more than this year. In October, Kalnapilis posted 758,000 litas in net profits compared with 889,000 litas a year ago. "Last year, the company received a gain of 8.23 million litas from the sale of shares of a malt enterprise," a spokesman for Kalnapilis said.

ä Lithuania's largest savings bank, Lietuvos Taupomasis Bankas, has sustained 11.99 million litas in losses over the first 10 months of this year. In October, the bank earned a profit of 1.15 million litas and somewhat lowered its losses. The bank's nine-month loss amounted to 13.14 million litas. The state-owned bank planned to earn 11 million litas in profits this year, but it is now doubtful if the bank will succeed in its objective. Last year, LTB's audited profits amounted to 5.2 million litas.

ä The cheese maker Rokiskio Suris sold 170 million litas worth of its products over the first 10 months of 1998. Over the same period last year, 135.9 million litas worth of products were sold. The company is still calculating its profits. Over the first three quarters, 21 million litas in profits were recorded. Rokiskio Suris is planning to merge with another leader in the milk processing market, Zemaitijos Pienas.