Earnings of the listed and to-be-listed companies

ä Insurer ASA Kindlustus had a loss of 12 million kroons ($880,400) from January through September, including 4.8 million kroons in the third quarter. The firm reported a profit of 13 million kroons for the same period last year. The company's loss from insurance operations was 8.4 million kroons, including 1 million in the third quarter. ASA Kindlustus is Estonia's third largest insurance company in terms of premiums.

ä The Forekspank Group ended the January-September period with a loss of 98.8 million kroons, the bank informed the stock exchange. The bank made a profit of 88.5 million kroons in the first nine months of 1997. The group's profit before losses from stock investments and Russia-related investments stood at 13.4 million kroons. Among its major subsidiaries, AS Foreks Liising made a profit of 6.6 million kroons and AS Foreksi Varahaldus 75.600 kroons. The group's balance sheet bottom line at the end of September was 1.98 billion kroons.

ä The Hansapank Group ended the first nine months of 1998 with a net profit of 168.7 million kroons, Hansapank informed the stock exchange. Compared to last year's January-September period, the result was down by 62.2 percent. Hansapank's profit for the nine months was 129.6 million kroons and Hansa Capital's 164.6 million kroons.

ä The Leks Group insurance concern ended the first nine months of the year with a loss of 33.9 million kroons, which may grow to 38 million kroons by the end of the year. The growth of losses slowed down in the third quarter to less than seven million kroons, Leks Group said. The group's losses from damage insurance operations in January through September totaled 26 million kroons, whereas life insurance produced a profit of 1.93 million kroons. Insurer Leks Kindlustus has 76.1 million kroons in stock capital and 59.7 million kroons in equity.

Latvia

ä Shareholders of the pharmaceutical manufacturer Grindex noted results for the first nine months of the year and approved changes in basic target indicators set for the year. The company's shareholders approved the planned losses for 1998 at 300,000 lats ($517,240). The net turnover target was approved at 8.9 million lats or 2.3 percent more than in 1997.

ä The shipyard Rigas Kugu Buvetava is planning to generate a 15 million lat turnover in 1998, the company's staff member Arturs Mucenieks told BNS. He said Riga shipyard earned over 250,000 lats in the first nine months of the year and hopes to earn some 100,000 lats to 200,000 lats in the last quarter.

Lithuania

ä Mazeikiu Nafta, the only oil refinery in the Baltics, said falling oil and oil product prices had brought its profits down and it could hardly cover the expenses. If oil product prices continue to drop in December, the plant may fall short of its planned profit of 9 million to 10 million litas ($2.25 million to $2.5 million), Mazeikiai Oil's Economic and Finance Director Vita Petrosiene told the Lietuvos Rytas daily.

ä Snaige, manufacturer of refrigerators, has resumed exports to the CIS markets, but they are still below their previous levels. "In November, we sold two thousand refrigerators to Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan," Irena Stockute, head of the Snaige's economic office, told BNS. Snaige's eleven-month sales totaled 162 million litas, up by 3.2 percent year on year. The company, based in Alytus, southern Lithuania, anticipates 10.8 million litas in eleven-month total profits, with the November figure standing at around 500,000 litas.

ä Lithuania's second largest brewery, Klaipeda-based Svyturys, said it had boosted its sales by 38.2 percent this year. Svyturys' eleven-month sales amounted to 59.3 million litas, up from 42.9 million litas last year. In November, it sold 4.18 million litas worth of beer, up by 5.5 percent compared to last year's figure of 3.96 million litas. The company's turnover was pushed up by an increased market demand for beer, Svyturys' chief accountant Rima Gabsiene said. The Klaipeda-based brewery earned 16.6 million litas over nine months and anticipates some 18 million litas in total net profits this year. Svyturys brewed and sold 3.26 million decaliters of beer, 28 percent more than in the same 1997 period. In November, it sold 225,900 dal. of beer (215,900 last year).

ä Vilniaus Bankas anticipates over 50 million litas in 1998 year-end profits. The bank had planned to have 73.6 million litas in net profits, but it is likely to earn no more than 60 million litas in real terms. "We earned 48.8 million litas over 10 months, and it will be difficult to add another 15 [million litas] in two months," Raimondas Kutra, deputy chairman of the bank's board, told BNS on Monday. "But if we earn 51 million or 59 million litas, I will consider it a good result. Our nine-month profit figure is the best among the Baltic banks, Kutra said. He said the bank had failed to meet its profit target because of the Russian crisis.