Company briefs - 2004-04-29

  • 2004-04-29
Oil producer Geonafta has begun looking at foreign oil production projects and vowed to move its business abroad if the Lithuanian government failed to call new tenders on licensed oil areas.

Current oilfields operated by the company will be exhausted in several years, company officials said. The company has been concerned about the general decline in oil production that started several years ago, said Rimandas Stonys, Geonafta deputy chairman. Lithuania's oil production declined by 12 percent last year and slumped by 16.6 percent in the first quarter of 2004.

Norway's Linstow AS has become the sole owner of Latvia's real estate development company Linstow Varner, which purchased company shares from ICA/Ahold and Varner Gruppen. Linstow AS owned 50 percent of Linstow Varner's shares, while ICA/Ahold and Varner Gruppen had 25 percent each. Linstow Varner is currently developing shopping space in a total area of 224,000 square meters and considering launching operations in Lithuania. Consolidated sales last year were 10.3 million lats (15.7 million euros), up 49 percent on 2002, and its profit increased by 98 percent to 4.4 million lats. The consolidated company will be renamed Linstow.

The Dutch-owned real estate developer Middle Europe Investments Baltija unveiled plans to invest 59 million litas (17 million euros) to transform a former Vilnius hotel into a shopping and business center. The developer intends to invest a total of 345 million litas in Lithuania within the next two years. Algimantas Nasvytis, the architect of the project, said that the six-story building, with a total area of 13,000 square meters, would be ready by summer 2005 and contain stores, offices, apartments and underground parking for 66 cars.

The council of the Estonian Business School elected Enn Pant (photo), chairman of Tallink Group, as business leader of the year due to his company's rapid development. In the financial year ending August 2003, Tallink Group earned profits of 381 million kroons (24.4 million euros) on sales of 2.9 billion kroons. The company's return on equity is double that of its closest competitors, Viking Line and Silja Line.

Giedrius Barysas replaced Romualdas Raudonis as managing director of Snaige, Lithuania's refrigerator manufacturer. Barysas, a current owner of the investment group Hermis Fondu Valdymas, was also appointed chairman of the management board. "There is common agreement that we will look for a new managing director for the company, since both Raudonis and I are Snaige's shareholders," Barysas said. Raudonis, who holds a 6.46 percent stake in Snaige, is likely to become an adviser to the managing director. Both men have contributed to the development of the company's expansion plans.