Earnings of the listed and to-be-listed companies

  • 1999-08-19
Estonia

> The Compensation Fund earned an operating profit of 72.6 million kroons ($4.97 million) in the first half of this year. The fund posted a loss of 184.4 million kroons for the first six months of 1998. Income from interest was 75.9 million kroons, half of which came from investments in debt securities. Margus Uudam, head of the fund's financial division, told the Baltic News Service the high profitability of investment was due to long-term investments in Scandinavian bonds. A drop in interest income can be expected in the second half of the year, since the general interest level has fallen, Uudam noted.

> Reval Hotel Group's pre-audit consolidated net profit in the first half of this year was 7.8 million kroons on a turnover of 93.2 million kroons. Compared to the same six months a year ago, the profit was down by 12.3 percent and the turnover by 6.6 percent. The director of finances, Katrin Rasmann, said the half-year profit was big enough to enable the group to finish the year with a profit of 25 million to 28 million kroons, as planned.

Latvia

> The audited loss of Gutta in 1998 was 3.19 million lats ($5.4 million), the company told BNS Aug. 12. The provisional profit of the company in 1998 was 2.2 million lats. In 1997 the Latvian juice producer reported an audited profit of 2.6 million lats on a net turnover of 16 million lats. Gutta's President Nikolay Lovtsov told BNS that the concern incurred this loss last year following the adjustment made to its own capital account, made necessary due to intangible damage done by the Russian ruble's devaluation. The result of the company's performance in 1998 was audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Last year Gutta achieved a net turnover of 17.33 million lats, an 8 percent increase over 1997, and a gross profit of over 5.34 million lats, a 16 percent increase over 1997.

> According to the balance sheet of Latvijas Unibanka, in July this year the bank earned a profit of 776,000 lats. In the first seven months of 1999 the bank reported a profit of 6.9 million lats. Latvijas Unibanka's assets increased by almost 2.05 million lats to 315.22 million lats by the end of July.

> In the first seven months of this year, fiberglass manufacturer Valmieras Stikla Skied-ra has sold products worth more than 7.75 million lats, Imants Saulitis, the company's financial director, told BNS. "This year's plan has been fulfilled by 60 percent, which is slightly better than expected," he said. The company posted a 1.5 percent rise in sales volumes in year-on-year terms. Valmiera Stikla Skiedra is planning to earn 750,000 lats in 1999 and the target for net turnover is 12.7 million lats.

Lithuania

> Lietuvos Zemes Ukio Bankas, the Lithuanian agriculture bank, over the first seven months of this year earned 8.31 million litas ($2.07 million) in net profit, or 59.9 percent of projected profits for the year 1999. Last year over the same seven months Lietuvos Zemes Ukio Bankas made a 16.31 million litas net profit.

> Birzu Pienas' turnover in the first seven months of this year hit 83 million litas, up from 66.4 million litas in the same period last year. The company, along with companies it controls, generated 130 million litas in revenue over the seven months. General Director of Birzu Pienas, Vladas Songaila said this group of companies processed about 19 percent of all raw milk bought in Lithuania. The company controls Kauno Surine dairy, a 70 percent stake of Vilniaus Pienas and a controlling package of shares in Panevezio Pienas.

> Hermio Bankas earned a 16.7 million litas net profit in the first seven months of this year. In July alone it earned 3 million litas. Hermis Bank made a 13.6 million litas unaudited net profit in the first half of the year. Hermis has reached only 45.3 percent of its planned net profits for the year in the first seven months.

> Utenos Trikotazas, one of Lithuania's largest knitwear manufacturers, increased its turnover with a 27 percent increase in exports to Western countries, exports which now make up 86 percent of the total turnover. Over January-July of this year, Utenos Trikotazas sold products and services worth 61 million litas, or 5.1 million litas more than during the same period last year. So far this year the company's volume of trade has grown 9.2 percent. Even so, the knitwear maker, which sells about a third of its production for euros, was affected by the fall in the exchange rate for the euro. Due to this, revenues show a year-on-year drop of 1.5 million litas over the first seven months of 1999.

> Vilniaus Bankas showed 40.47 million litas in net unaudited profit for the first seven months of this year, equal to 56.3 percent of its total planned annual profits for 1999. This year profits at the country's largest private bank are 4.3 percent higher than last year over the same period, when the bank made over 38.77 million litas in profit. The bank's profits for July were 5.5 million litas. Bank equity at the end of July was 3.04 billion litas, 39.3 percent larger, or up by 858.9 million litas, than one year ago and 10.4 percent or 287.5 million litas larger than at the beginning of this year.