In Brief - 2003-08-14

Retailer bailing out of Latvia
Scandinavia's real estate and construction company Skanska has sold all its assets in Latvia — the Valdemara Centrs office building and two residential buildings — according to an announcement made by Skanska.
The value of all three properties had been estimated at around 157 million Swedish kronor (16.9 million euros), signifying that Skanska will have also gained a slight profit from its investments in Latvia. Skanska reported that 107 million SEK were received for the new Valdemara Centrs office block it built just two years ago and 50 million SEK for the two residential buildings containing a total of 48 apartments.
Skanska reported that the move away from Latvia is part of its long-term strategy, "but development will continue in Prague, Budapest and Warsaw."
Skanska Project Development Europe reported that the company has planned to focus only on some markets in which it can gain leading positions.
The six-story Valdemara Centrs office block was sold to the Netherlands-based Marr Estates BV in July this year. (Baltic News Service)

Cheaper havens for beer production
The Olvi group, which controls Tartu Olletehas (Tartu Brewery) in Estonia, Cesu Alus in Latvia and Ragutis in Lithuania, is studying the possibility of taking more of its beermaking operations to the Baltic states, Finland's Turun Sanomat daily reported.

An insufficient reduction of Finland's alcohol excise tax may lead to a loss of jobs as companies transfer more of their production to the Baltics, the newspaper reported, adding that Olvi, for instance, has weighed such alternative.
"Up to 10,000 people in the entire chain – from the barley field to restaurants and stores – may lose their jobs," Olvi manager Markku Ronkko said.
Finland's planned reduction of the alcohol tax by an average one-third doesn't satisfy producers who are calling for more radical cuts ahead of Estonia's EU membership. Finnish alcohol producers find that the excise tax rates should be cut by 50-70 percent for beer, by 70 percent for strong alcohol and by 30 percent for wine. They claim that if cuts are smaller imports of cheap alcohol from Estonia will double or triple in the near future. (BNS)