Jun 28 2010, no 298
28.06.2010, 18:35
Highlights from this issue:
TOP STORIES
- In a move that caught almost everybody by a huge surprise, Latvian corruption watchdog has arrested the top management of state-owned power utility company Latvenergo. The agency is now pressing charges for large-scale money laundering and says it has enough proof to make its case (page 10).
- After a year in the making, Saeima has finally passed a new insolvency law. It promises faster, cheaper and less damaging insolvency for companies, which could now simply change hands and continue working. However, it also makes insolvency cheaper for private individuals, drawing the ire of Latvian banking lobby - and ultimately, requests for changes from State President (page 3).
- Less than two years after it started its Latvian manufacturing operations, Dutch-owned Brabantia Latvia is doubling its facilities (page 2).
MANUFACTURING
- Food and industrial gas manufacturer AGA is building a new EUR 8,3m filling station in Riga
FINANCE
- Credit insurance provider Euler Hermes will cover its Latvian operations from Poland; the only problem is, it has no Latvian operations left
- The year's first five months have brought more losses to the Latvian banking sector - but, for the first time in more than a year, its credit portfolio has grown
- Parex prepares itself for the big split into the good and bad bank
FOOD & AGRICULTURE
- Charlie and the ice-cream factory: Latvian dairy producer makes nothing but all-dairy ice-cream - and teaches its customers why that matters
- Jelgavas Cukurs, the last surviving Latvian sugar mill, may be gone, but its brand lives on with Dansukker
PROPERTY & CONSTRUCTION
- Turns out that a fancy hotel in the very heart of Riga is a very hard thing to sell
RETAIL & SERVICE
- Italian Miroglio Fashion, women's fashion producer and retailer, drops its Baltic franchises and decides to launch its own brand stores
IT & MEDIA
- Norwegian-Latvian printer United Press takes over a failed Norwegian periodicals printer and moves its operations to Latvia
- Cable and Internet provider Baltkom takes over a low-cost cable company
- IT market research company IDC reviews the Baltic PC sales
TRANSPORT & LOGISTICS
- Latvian national carrier airBaltic launches a bike rental service
- Ryanair greets its four-millionth passenger from Riga - with a one-way ticket to Tampere
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
- Latvian state forests lose their sustainable forestry certificate
- Norway's Statoil plans a fuel distribution centre in Riga
ECONOMY & POLITICS
- The pre-election mating season now enters the next phase: adding new partners to existing couplings
- Four months after the service has been launched, somebody decides to use Register of Enterprise's online registration
EVENTS (Riga)
- CanCham Canada Day, 1 July
- AmCham Outlook Forum, 2 July
- AmCham US Independence Day Celebration, 3 July
- AmCham Luncheon, 7 July
- BCCL Seminar, 8 July
- Joint Regional Visit (Cesis), 8 July
- BCCL Annual Curry Cook-off, 13 July
- BCCL Concert and Afterparty, 23 July
- SCCL Crayfish Party, 26 August
- DCCL Visit to Saeima, 26 August
KEY FIGURES
- Wages, real earnings, foreign trade, money supply, lending, inflation, interest rates, consumer price index, currency, stock exchange, prices of key commodities, retail trade, industrial output, producer prices, GDP, current account, foreign direct investment and key economic data forecast 2010-11.