http://www.investinestonia.com/ Thu, 09 Sep 2010 06:54:16 GMT FeedCreator 1.8.0-dev (info@mypapit.net) /images/M_images/feed-icon.png http://www.investinestonia.com/ http://www.investinestonia.com/en/news/estonian-economy-more-balanced-now-than-before-the-crisis-president BNS - Speaking at the Krynica Economic Forum in Poland on Wednesday, Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said that the Estonian economy is more balanced now than before the crisis and the only critical aspect is high unemployment.

The president spoke about Estonia's experiences in accession to the euro area despite the economic crisis, pointing out, among other things, that in a certain sense the crisis meant an opportunity to get rid of the imbalances that had mounted during the boom. For new economic growth several prerequisites are needed, and one of them is accession to the euro area, the president said according to spokespeople.

Estonia has exited the economic decline and is expecting 2 percent growth in 2010, Ilves said, adding that save for high unemployment the Estonian economy was more balanced than before the crisis.

The president pointed out that in 2009 Estonia was one of the first countries in the European Union to start making cuts in its budget.

He said that Europe's success hinges on being able to boost its competitiveness in comparison with the United States and rising Asia, to coordinate economic policies between the EU member states more than so far, and overall to be more flexible in the world that is changing with ever increasing speed.

Ilves addressed the audience alongside Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek, former Finnish prime minister and vice president of Nokia Esko Aho, and Germany's Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere as part of a plenary session entitled "Europe After the Lisbon Treaty: Strategies for the Future."]]> marju.mihkelsoo@eas.ee (Marju Mihkelsoo) Thu, 09 Sep 2010 06:14:58 GMT http://www.investinestonia.com/en/news/estonian-economy-more-balanced-now-than-before-the-crisis-president http://www.investinestonia.com/en/news/estonian-air-to-start-flying-on-vilnius-stockholm-route BNS - The national carrier Estonian Air that already is flying between Vilnius and Amsterdam will on Oct. 31 launch the Vilnius-Stockholm service.

"Stockholm is at the moment the destination with the biggest potential that is not covered by direct flights out of Vilnius," Estonian Air president and CEO Andrus Aljas said. The airline's expansion in Lithuania will take place in cooperation with partner SAS, he added.

Estonian Air will operate the Vilnius-Stockholm service on a code-share basis with SAS with six weekly flights on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. The flights will depart from Vilnius at 6:40 p.m. and from Stockholm at 7:45 p.m.]]> marju.mihkelsoo@eas.ee (Marju Mihkelsoo) Thu, 09 Sep 2010 06:12:37 GMT http://www.investinestonia.com/en/news/estonian-air-to-start-flying-on-vilnius-stockholm-route http://www.investinestonia.com/en/news/estonia-attracts-eur-3195-mln-direct-investment-in-q2 BNS - In the second quarter of this year direct investments in the amount of five billion kroons (EUR 319.5 mln) flowed into Estonia.

Estonian residents' direct investments abroad at the same time totaled 0.6 billion kroons, meaning the inflow of direct investment exceeded the outflow by 4.4 billion kroons.

Foreign investors reduced direct investment in equity capital, significantly increased loans to the companies in which they had direct investment, and reinvested earnings almost tripled, the Bank of Estonia said.

Reinvested earnings made up almost all of residents' direct investment abroad.

The outflow of portfolio investment exceeded the inflow by 4.6 billion kroons. Assets decreased by 2.8 billion kroons and liabilities by 1.8 billion kroons. The inflow and outflow of derivatives was practically in balance.

(EUR 1 = EEK 15.65)]]> marju.mihkelsoo@eas.ee (Marju Mihkelsoo) Thu, 09 Sep 2010 06:11:10 GMT http://www.investinestonia.com/en/news/estonia-attracts-eur-3195-mln-direct-investment-in-q2 http://www.investinestonia.com/en/news/estonia-productivity-grows-nearly-28-pct-on-year-in-q2 BNS - Productivity based on industrial output reached 333,000 kroons (EUR 21,300) in Estonia in the second quarter of this year, up by 27.7 percent at constant prices compared to the year-earlier figure, data of the national statistics office show.

In the first half of 2009 a productivity decline of around 20 percent was recorded. The trend was reversed in the final quarter when growth of close to 4 percent was registered. In the first quarter of this year productivity growth accelerated to 19 percent.

In manufacturing the year-on-year growth in productivity at constant prices was 28.9 percent in the second quarter. In the energy sector growth of 41.4 percent and in mining, 2.1 percent was recorded.

The rise in productivity was due to an increase in output combined with a decrease in the number of workers, Statistics Estonia said.

(EUR 1 = EEK 15.65)]]> marju.mihkelsoo@eas.ee (Marju Mihkelsoo) Wed, 08 Sep 2010 06:24:53 GMT http://www.investinestonia.com/en/news/estonia-productivity-grows-nearly-28-pct-on-year-in-q2 http://www.investinestonia.com/en/news/estonia-baltic-workboats-to-get-new-premises-for-building-big-ships BNS - AS Baltic Workboats, a shipbuilding company operating at Nasva on Estonia's Saaremaa Island, will complete new premises of 2,200 square meters by the end of the month; land was gained from the sea to put up the new building, the newspaper Meie Maa reported.

It will be possible to fully complete the ships in the new hall. The height of the previous building did not permit conclusive assembly of bigger ships.

"We are now building ships of up to 27 meters long but in the new hall we can also build ships of up to 35 meters long, if such ships are ordered from us. Until now no so long boats have been ordered," Margus Vanaselja, CEO of Baltic Workboats, told the paper.

The company has signed all its contracts for the next two years, and if there are 82 people working for the company now then it will provide jobs to a hundred people after the completion of the new building.

"We will employ more people not so much in connection with the completion of the new workshop as in connection with the development of the company. Our annual turnover is already more than 150 million kroons (EUR 9.6 mln)," Vanaselja said.

95 percent of the Baltic Workboats output output are ships with aluminum hulls.

The  new premises were built by AS Maru Ehitus. A 150-ton crane now replaces the former slip.]]> marju.mihkelsoo@eas.ee (Marju Mihkelsoo) Tue, 07 Sep 2010 05:56:24 GMT http://www.investinestonia.com/en/news/estonia-baltic-workboats-to-get-new-premises-for-building-big-ships http://www.investinestonia.com/en/news/estonian-business-support-orgs-help-finance-trips-of-it-entrepreneurs-to-silicon-valley BNS - The Tehnopol science and technology park and the Enterprise Estonia foundation have launched a measure allowing them to help cover the expenses of trips by Estonia's IT executives to Silicon Valley for up to six months.

The two bodies have so far been arranging trips of up to two weeks for businesspeople to Silicon Valley.

"Nobody can achieve serious business contacts during a one week trip," Tehnopol board member Pirko Konsa told Eesti Paevaleht. She said the new and longer program was meant primarily for companies that already had a product or a service ready and wanted to go on the international market with it.

"The company must be able to show us that it has a concrete action plan. When it has, we can support them through covering a part of the costs of their travel and stay there," said Konsa.

The maximum size of the support has not been established yet, but presumably it will be below 50 percent of total costs.

The first such trip is expected to take place at the end of November and up to eight companies are due to take part.]]> marju.mihkelsoo@eas.ee (Marju Mihkelsoo) Mon, 06 Sep 2010 06:42:06 GMT http://www.investinestonia.com/en/news/estonian-business-support-orgs-help-finance-trips-of-it-entrepreneurs-to-silicon-valley http://www.investinestonia.com/en/news/situation-in-estonias-business-sector-kept-improving-in-q2 BNS - Net sales, costs and total profit of the Estonian business sector increased in the second quarter of this year compared to the previous quarter as well as to the same quarter of 2009, Statistics Estonia said on Friday.

The increase in the net sales of the business sector continued for the second quarter in a row. According to seasonally adjusted data, the net sales of enterprises increased 5 percent in the second quarter of 2010 compared to the first quarter. The rate of increase in the first quarter of this year compared to the preceding quarter was 4 percent.

Measured in current prices, enterprises sold goods and services for 138 billion kroons (EUR 8.9 b) in the second quarter, which is 7 percent more than in the same period a year ago. Net sales increased in most economic activities.

Wholesale and retail trade enterprises, which have the biggest share in gross net sales of the business sector, have managed to increase their net sales on a year-on-year basis for the first time since the third quarter of 2008. The growth was mainly the result of increased wholesale activity. Net sales of construction enterprises decreased the most.

Compared to the second quarter of 2009, enterprises' total costs increased 6 percent. Personnel expenses decreased 8 percent, like did the number of persons employed and the number of hours worked. Hour productivity, or total productivity divided by the number of hours worked, increased 11 percent. At the same time, average hourly labor costs stayed on the level of the second quarter of the previous year.

Total profit of enterprises in the three-month period amounted to 7.4 billion kroons, 38 percent more than in the second quarter of the previous year and an increase by more than half compared with the first quarter.

Investment activity continued to be low. Enterprises invested 5.3 billion kroons, which is one-third less than in the second quarter of 2009. Investments were mainly made in other equipment and machinery and in the construction and alteration of buildings. The major investors were manufacturing, transportation and storage and energy enterprises with about a half of the total investments of enterprises. Compared to the second quarter of the previous year, investments increased only in the catgory of other equipment and machinery.]]> marju.mihkelsoo@eas.ee (Marju Mihkelsoo) Mon, 06 Sep 2010 06:41:15 GMT http://www.investinestonia.com/en/news/situation-in-estonias-business-sector-kept-improving-in-q2 http://www.investinestonia.com/en/news/enterprise-estonia-gives-eur-083-mln-to-logistics-cluster-project BNS - Enterprise Estonia decided on Wednesday to support with 13 million kroons (EUR 0.83 mln) a logistics cluster project bringing together ports, terminals, railway companies, the airport and forwarders.

The Estonian transport and logistics companies that have gathered into the logistics cluster will together market the geographical location of Estonia in foreign markets and are hoping to boost their export turnover by almost one-third in five years, executives with the project said.

The 2.5-year-old logistics cluster project managed by the Logistics and Transit Association is the biggest cluster cooperation project in Estonia in terms of the number of companies involved, monetary volume and planned duration alike.

In all 19 companies of the logistics sector have joined the cluster. The manager of the cluster, Urmas Koiv, said the geographical range of cooperation extended from the CIS to China, Japan, India, North and South America.

He said the plans include launching a program of master's studies in supply chain.

The managing director of the Estonian Ports Association, Viktor Palmet, said that acting alone individual companies were not capable of achieving a breakthrough on foreign markets. "There's a shortage of possibilities, know-how and money alike," said Palmet.]]> marju.mihkelsoo@eas.ee (Marju Mihkelsoo) Fri, 03 Sep 2010 05:35:10 GMT http://www.investinestonia.com/en/news/enterprise-estonia-gives-eur-083-mln-to-logistics-cluster-project http://www.investinestonia.com/en/news/estonia-vkgs-new-oil-refinery-out-of-test-phase BNS - The new shale oil refinery of Viru Keemia Grupp (Viru Chemical Group, VKG) that started operation in December has gone through the testing period and is gearing up production with a view to be working at full capacity next year.

Named Petroter, the refinery based near the northeastern city of Kohtla-Jarve processed about 50,000 tons of oil shale in August. In April and May the monthly amount processed was less than 20,000 tons, VKG's development director Jaanus Purga told BNS. He said the result for August was better than expected.

"What we can be glad about is that our people and operators have learned to run the plant," Purga said, adding that the periods between stoppages have become longer now as staff have become more experienced and the plant is not halted every time a red light lights up.

The plant consists 70 percent of non-standard equipment unique in the world and time is needed to fine-tune everything, the development director explained.

The refinery is projected to be able to process 750,000-800,000 tons of oil shale per year. With a monthly throughput of 70,000 tons it will process 700,000 tons in 10 months. Given that large plants like this require at least 1.5 months for service every year, operating half of the 11th month will bring it closet to 750,000 tons, said Purga.

The plant cost 1.1 billion kroons to build and it employs up to 100 personnel.

VKG is planning to set up a second similar plant of the same capacity soon. "The investment decision has not been made yet. We'll put this one to work properly first, so we'll be faced with less technological risk," Purga said.

VKG has been issued mining rights to 3.5 million tons of oil shale per year. "Our existing production facilities, the newly launched refinery and the new refinery will add up to 3.5 million," Purga added.

VKG exports 70 percent of its output.

(EUR 1 = EEK 15.65)]]> marju.mihkelsoo@eas.ee (Marju Mihkelsoo) Fri, 03 Sep 2010 05:34:25 GMT http://www.investinestonia.com/en/news/estonia-vkgs-new-oil-refinery-out-of-test-phase http://www.investinestonia.com/en/news/estonian-development-fund-to-invest-up-to-eur-192000-in-startup-companies BNS - The Estonian Development Fund will invest up to three million kroons (EUR 192,000) in startup information technology companies Sportlyzer and Inner Circle.

Sportlyzer and Inner Circle are seed-phase investments where the prototype or business model are still undergoing testing, head of the fund's investment division Heidi Kakko said.

Sportlyzer is developing for the international market a web environment to bring fitness enthusiasts together with training and motivation software. The company's aim is to link up training recommendations and feedback. Sportlyzer has passed the Development Fund's international business incubator where its business plan was polished. The company's leader is the founder of Vomax Tonis Saag and it has Juri Kaljundi, one of the founders of CV Online and Nagi, on board. Former manager of Playtech's Estonian unit Rein Lemberpuu has invested in it.

Inner Circle positions itself as a social network free from information noise. The company plans to create a private environment for groups to communicate and take it to foreign  markets. The technology entrepreneur Allan Martinson is one of its founders and the team is led by Andrus Raudsalu, former CEO of the Delfi portal. In addition to the Development Fund the founding team brought in Regio and Live Nature Eesti headed by Raivo Vare as private-sector investors.

(EUR 1 = EEK 15.65)]]> marju.mihkelsoo@eas.ee (Marju Mihkelsoo) Thu, 02 Sep 2010 05:42:46 GMT http://www.investinestonia.com/en/news/estonian-development-fund-to-invest-up-to-eur-192000-in-startup-companies