Estonian state owned companies to lose hundreds of millions kroons

The new state budget draft act tightens state companies chubby dividends and the state isn t ashamed to take dividends even form companies in loss. According to the draft act, all state companies have to pay dividends. Estonian State Forest Management Centre RMK has to pay the largest dividends. «RMK earns a profit which undistributed part can be taken out, EEK 680 mln of that money is planned in 2009 state budget,» press representative of Estonian Ministry of Environmental Affairs said, Postimees writes. Also the postal company Eesti Post has to give the state EEK 10 mln next year even despite the fact that the company has been in loss for the last years. Chairman of the supervisory board, Meelis Atonen, said that such plan came for him as a surprise.

Loan losses will grow

Erkki Raasuke, CEO of Swedbank Group in Baltics, said today at Business Plan 2009 conference that loan losses will grow fast in 2009 and volume of loan portfolios will remain at the same level with 2008 or is lower, writes Äripäev. «Profitability will be lower compared to 2007. In hindsight it s possible to say there was some over employing back in 2007, although it was known sales volumes reduce. But recruiting went on from old inertia, said Raasuke. According to Raasuke they tell foreign investors that in next 18 months there will be only unpleasant news about quality of credit. «Today we may surely say that business of home loans was priced wrong, primarily on Latvian market, in Estonia little less. When we look at overdue loans today, we may think that there are more weak loans than business scheme would have allowed.»

Estonia overdue loans rise to 6.6 pct in Aug

It said outstanding loan stock plus owed interest increased to 17.16 billion kroons ( 1.61 billion) from 15.9 billion kroons a month earlier. A rise in bad debt has been widely expected as the economy slows sharply, moving into recession in the second quarter. The central bank said loans overdue without interest remained stable at 1.2 percent of the loan portfolio in August, the same as for the last three months. The total loan portfolio increased to 261.1 billion kroons in August from 258.3 billion kroons in July. Loans overdue for more than 60 days rose to 5.3 billion kroons in August from 4.3 billion in July. Overdue housing loans rose to 5.76 billion kroons in August from 5.1 billion in the previous month.

Tallinn Airport to open the new terminal officially today

Tallinn Airport will officially open its new terminal today, writes Postimees. Mati Sillak, head of the new terminal, says that the new facility will greatly increase passenger convenience. «We have 27 check-in counters and the objective is to bring all aircraft to the terminal so that we don t have to use buses to transport passengers to the terminal any more,» said Sillak. Among others, the new terminal even has a praying room. The renovation project cost EEK 1.2 billion. Construction works started in February 2008. Last week the government decided to name Tallinn Airport after former President Lennart Meri. It took two years for the state to negotiate the issue and reach an agreement with the relatives of Lennart Meri. Next year Estonia s first president Lennart Meri would have turned 80. He was Estonia s first post-Soviet president and died in March 2006 at age 76 after a long illness.

Bourse: Free fall on Tallinn Stock Exchange

Share prices on Tallinn Stock Exchange went into free fall today, prices of five listed companies shares dropped by more than 10 pct, Äripäev analyst Tõnis Oja writes in his overview. Tallinna Kaubamaja shares were traded the most and had the biggest turnover. Its share fell 10.3 pct to EEK 75.10. The turnover totaled EEK 4.5 mln. Harju Elekter dropped the most: 14.8 pct. Also the shares of Eesti Ehitus went through a 15 pct fall. However, the closing price of the share was EEK 52.09 which makes the fall percentage of 10.3 pct. Also Arco Vara and Baltika can be named as important fallers. The prices of shares fell 8.33 pct and 6.88 pct respectively. Tõnis Oja wrote in today s Äripäev that Estonian businessman Toomas Tool s influence in Arco Vara is likely to grow sharply as his holding has increased over 15 pct and probably will increase even more.

Estonia s addiction to gambling brings cash and death

There are more than 90 casinos in Tallinn, where the population of 400,000 people has now been boosted by gamblers from across Europe who are spreading an addiction to the poker tables and fruit machines to the locals. Some addicts have committed suicide after losing their money. Last year one man drowning in gambling debts killed his wife and children before hanging himself. The trend has grown so much that a new anti-casino movement is demanding a monument in the city to commemorate gambling victims. But for the moment Tallinn is profiting to the full from gambling. Forget trips to outlandish casinos in Miami and Vegas, it s all about playing your poker in Tallinn, Estonia, says the European poker players magazine Bluff Europe. The magazine calls Tallinn the third hottest poker destination in Europe after London and Dublin, but ahead of Monte Carlo.

Swedbank - The New Name of Hansabank

The re-branding is an important and natural step of the integration of Swedbank Group. The change of name into Swedbank is a proof that we are here on a long term basis. The core of the Swedbank brand is service leadership, and the main aim is to provide the best service on the markets where we are present, says Jan Lid é n, President and CEO of Swedbank. The first step of the re-branding is the visual brand change in approximately 30 branches, among them the main offices in Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius. The legal name of the bank will change in spring 2009 and the process of changing brand will be finished during the autumn 2009. By the end of next year the Swebank Group will operate under one brand in all markets.

Businessmen: Estonian government facilitates the fall

Most businessmen interviewed by Äripäev say that the decision to increase gas excise duties may be the stupidest thing that this government has done. Enn Veskimägi, owner of furniture maker Standard, said that any raise in taxes and excise duties must be opposed. «The government must balance its costs with its capacities. We should not pay for the government stupidity.» Tiit Vähi, ex-PM who is chairman of the council of Employers Confederation and an outspoken critic of Prime Minister Andrus Ansip s government, said that that the government s mathematical abilities are at the elementary school level. «Where is the essential analysis of processes?» asked Vähi. According to Veskimägi, the biggest mistake was to make an overoptimistic budget for this year for which taxpayers are not being punished. «The fact is that the state has not cut public sector costs enough.»

Bosnia Avenge Estonia Sevenfold

Bosnia-Herzegovina 7-0 Estonia Last time the sides met the Baltic side pulled off a 1-0 win in Tallinn. This time, in Zenica, there was to be no repeat performance as BiH ran out 7-0 winners thanks to a masterful performance... A barnstorming performance saw Bosnia climb back into contention against a sorry-looking Estonia side. Zvjezdan was the star of the show as he raced to a hat-trick, opening the scoring 25 minutes in after a neat one-two with Dzeko. The Wolfsburg ace added his second soon afterwards from the penalty spot, and though he had to wait until after the break to do so, he netted a third with a long-ranger that visiting keeper Pavel Londak could only spill over the line. Three goals followed in quick succession: first PAOK forward Zlatan Muslimovic added to his superb international record, and then another Wolfsburg player, Edin Dzeko, netted twice with two fierce efforts.

Baltic economies continue freefall

TALLINN - The latest economic data from the Baltic stateshas revealed that the countries are continuing their fall into stagflation. Estoniahas so far been hit the hardest as it became the first country in Eastern Europe to dip into a recession following years of high growth driven by credit. The country registered negative GDP alongside a double digit inflation rate. The decrease in the GDP was mostly influenced by the weak domestic demand and at the same time by the decrease in exports of goods and services, the national Estonian statistics service said in a report on the country s GDP growth. Estonia s inflation rate remained in the double digits in August at 11 percent. The statistics agency said a 17.1 percent increase in food prices was a main contributor to the still high inflation rate.