Company briefs - 2004-02-26

The Saaremaa Shipping Company may continue serving the Kuivastu-Virtsu line on a commercial basis after the expiration of its contract with the state.

Supervisory council member Avar Jogi said the company does not rule out the possibility of running ferries between Kuivastu and Virtsu from spring until autumn. "There's hardly a person today who can say exactly what will happen in the ferry traffic between west Estonian islands and the mainland on Oct. 1. There are too many unanswered questions," Jogi told the Baltic News Service.

The Estonian construction concern Merko Ehitus could become an investor in the proposed ice hockey arena in Riga. Merko Ehitus officials held talks with Riga City Council members on Feb. 20 "to find out the City Council's position as regards possible co-financier," according to a Riga City Council development official. Mayor Gundars Bojars said that "the City Council had no objections" to Estonians' participation in the project. Multihalle, the company responsible for implementation of the arena project, confirmed that they also had had talks with Merko Ehitus.

The Latvian Privatization Agency's council gave its consent to the capitalization of the 1.6 million lat (2.3 million euro) World Bank loan granted to Grindex Pharmaceuticals. The LPA council decided that the sale price per Grindex share for capitalization should be the average price on the stock exchange during the preceding month but not lower than the par value (1 lat).

The Saku Olletehas brewery, which is controlled by Denmark's Carlsberg, is planning to present Carlsberg's future plans for the Estonian market. According to unofficial information, production of Carlsberg beer could be one of the topics. Saku official Kristina Seimann declined to give further information, though she hinted the Feb. 27 announcement would represent a significant step for the Danish brewer.

Lithuania's Novaturas, the biggest tour operator in the Baltic countries, set up a subsidiary company, Novaturs, in Estonia, and will target annual revenues of 3 million euros this year. Rytis Sumakaris, deputy managing director of Novaturas, said that the operator expected some 6,000 Estonian customers already this year.

Juhani Seilenthal, former chairman of Nordea Bank in Estonia, has been placed in charge of managing the high-profile merger of Estonian Television and Estonian Radio. The workgroup that will prepare the merger met this week, and on the basis of its proposals the Estonian National Broadcasting Corporation will be established. Prime Minister Juhan Parts had reportedly approved of the merger of the two broadcasters.