OFF THE WIRE

PILING ON PRESSURE: The Swedish telecom firm Telia is interested in acquiring controlling stakes in the Baltic and Russian telecommunications firms in which it is currently a minority shareholder alongside Sonera of Finland, the Swedish business daily Dagens Industri reported Oct. 1. Telia boss Marianne Nivert was keen to increase Telia's holdings, she indicated in a meeting with investors and analysts in September, the newspaper wrote. "The Baltic and Russian markets are indispensable for us, and we see a great growth potential in them," the paper quoted Nivert as saying. Telia has been represented in the Baltic market since 1993, and now the management intends to grow faster. To consolidate its holdings in the Baltic states and Russia, Telia intends to increase its stakes in six holding companies to 51 percent, Dagens Industri said.Kenneth Karlberg, manager of Telia Mobile highlighted the growth potential of the Baltic and Russian markets, saying Telia was ready to increase its stakes in those countries' mobile phone operators at the earliest opportunity. For Telia to become a majority owner of the Baltic states' telecom operators, either Sonera or the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian governments would have to sell their stakes.

NO PAIN, NO GAIN: The Pan-Baltic information technology concern MicroLink has posted for the business year ending June a loss of 76 million kroons ($4.43 million) on a sales turnover of 983 million kroons. One-off payouts and depreciation of good will accounted for 45 million kroons of the total loss, MicroLink reported. The concern's consolidated turnover was up by 35 percent on the previous business year and gross profit, at 273 million kroons, grew 57 percent. In the previous business year, Microlink's net loss was 43 million kroons on a turnover of roughly 730 million kroons. Kristjan Kalda, chairman of the supervisory council, said the result was as expected in view of previous years' aggressive expansion and investments. Most of the loss was noncash and arose from previous years' investments being entered under expenses.

STRESS-TESTED AND SAFE: The international rating agency Standard & Poor's announced that the countries which are candidates for European Union membership were among the emerging market economies which would be least affected by the repercussions of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. The Baltic states could weather the consequences best. While saying that economic growth in the candidate countries next year might not exceed 3.5 percent the agency noted though that in some countries, including the Baltic states, growth could be higher. The Baltic states, which were stress-tested by the severe repercussions of the 1998 Russian crisis, are expected to weather the global slowdown relatively well. Weakness in external demand from Western trading partners is likely to be balanced by the continued robust performance of the Russian oil economy, Standard & Poor's said. Standard & Poor's has assigned Latvia a rating of BBB, Estonia BBB+ and Lithuania BBB-.

RESURRECTION: Latvia's insolvent Paritate bank wants to restart operations in November. "We have agreed internally, as soon as the new investors are ready to restart work, part of the payments to creditors will be paid and the bank will open," said the bank's administrator, Lauris Liepa. Liepa added that Paritate had sold the U.S. securities it owned this week, as required by the new investors. Paritate was given the go-ahead for its recovery plans on Aug. 31 and given three months - a period which can be extended to up to two years - to carry them out. The new investors in the bank are expected to be three private entities, two Russian citizens and one Ukrainian. The first two have been given permission to acquire a significant part of the bank, while the latter intends to take a stake of less than 10 percent in the bank. Paritate was declared insolvent on July 17 this year, after its liabilities exceeded its assets. Its losses on June 22 amounted to 5.78 million lats ($9.32 million), while its liabilities exceeded its assets by 2.84 million lats.

INVESTORS WELCOME: Lithuania is planning to privatize 294 companies in November, of which 215 entities are state owned and 79 municipally owned. The privatization commission approved the privatization programs for November on Sept. 28, a spokeswoman at the State Property Fund reported. The state will sell its 10.6 percent stake in the clothing manufacturer Dainava, based in the southern Lithuanian town of Alytus and a 100 percent stake in the roadwork company Silutes Automobiliu Keliai at public auctions. At closed auctions, the fund will sell stakes in 157 entities, including the gas equipment supplier Dujiniai Irengimai, Klaipeda Hotel, grain processor Kretingos Grudai and Versme sanitarium, based in the resort town of Birstonas. In the first seven months of this year, around 465 state and municipal entities worth 412.6 million litas were sold.

GRENADE MAKER: Stigma, a Lithuanian producer of spare parts for cars, also produces plastic shell containers for SAAB, the Swedish manufacturer of military aircraft, tanks and weapons, the daily newspaper Lietuvos Rytas reported on Sept. 28. Stigma is one of the few Lithuanian companies making products with military application. The company, based in the central Lithuanian town of Panevezys, produces over 20,000 shell containers per year. It recently began producing AT-4 anti-tank grenade launcher sights and has plans to start producing other military products. Other Lithuanian companies supplying the military hardware industry include Elsis and Helisota. Elsis repairs U.S.-made Harris mobile radio stations, while Helisota repairs Mi-8 and Mi-17 helicopters.SAAB signed a contract with Stigma in 1999 and has invested 7 million litas ($1.75 million) in the production of containers for grenade launchers. The Swedish project created 16 new jobs in Lithuania. Shell containers account for 18 percent of Stigma's total output. The company also supplies plastic conveyor parts to the Russian car maker Gaz. Stigma has an annual turnover of around 8 million litas.