Soviet-era battery factory gets second chance

The Baltic states' only battery plant, Naujasis Sirijus, which halted operations more than a year ago amid bankruptcy claims, has restarted production in Klaipeda.

The Soviet-era plant has been resurrected by one of the youngest management teams in Klaipeda.

Last October the assets of the company, which has been in liquidation proceedings since 1998, were purchased by Baltijos Finansu Vystymo Grupe for 2 million litas ($500,000).

Baltijos Finansu Vystymo Grupe is an investment firm that concentrates on companies in Klaipeda, according to Finance Director Jonas Bielinis.

Naujasis Sirijus is the company's first project.

"We started production in February and plan on a profit this year," said Bielinis.

He said Naujasis Sirijus should post a turnover this year of 4 million to 5 million litas on the production of about 7 million batteries.

In addition to the production equipment, Baltijos Finansu Vystymo Grupe bought the plant's 23,000 square meters in building space.

Naujasis Sirijus owes more than 20 million litas to the State Tax Inspection and Vakaru Bank, which itself is bankrupt.

Sirijus first faced bankruptcy claims in 1996 and has been undergoing liquidation since 1998.

But the company is already looking beyond the borders of Lithuania.

"We plan to open up a subsidiary in Moscow and take back the Russian market," said Bielinis. "We are going to sell most of our products in Lithuania, however, in the future our production will depend on the Russian market, which was the main consumer of Sirijus batteries during the Soviet era."

Lina Skiudulaite, 25, one of the youngest head managers in Klaipeda, also plans to export to Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine.

"In the near future we are going to change the design, lower the price, improve quality and implement ISO quality standards in order to compete with foreign batteries sold in Lithuania," she said.

Naujasis Sirijus imports raw materials from China, Indonesia, Germany and England.

At production start-up the plant will employ 60 employees from the plant's previous staff. Skiudulaite plans to hire 20 more workers when the factory reaches full production.