May 3 2010, no 294
03.05.2010, 21:11
Highlights from this issue:
TOP STORIES
- Brussels-based Rezidor Hotel Group will take over the management of Norwegian Linstow's Reval Hotels chain in the Baltics and Russia, thus becoming the largest hotel chain in the region. At the same time, Norway's Choice chain allies with Cakste family to add 9 more hotels to the chain's existing two in the Baltics, further consolidating the sector (pages 5-7).
- With less than six months remaining until the October general elections, Latvian politicians are attempting increasingly bizarre couplings in a desperate attempt to catch up with the rating leaders. The latest attempt unites former opponents and notorious mini-oligarchs Andris Skele and Ainars Slesers (page 13).
- Three Latvian businessmen have joined forces to bring upscale real estate agency Sotheby's International Realty to the Baltics, starting with Latvia. They believe that the luxury real estate market is far from dead, and Sotheby's is well poised to become its leader (page 4).
MANUFACTURING
- Heat insulation plant burns down in Valmiera
- Latvian pharmaceutical company Grindeks buys a Slovak plant from Lithuanians
FINANCE
- Latvian banks still in red, while their mother banks already return to profits
FOOD & AGRICULTURE
- Estonian-owned Liviko launches Latvian national vodka — just in time for 4 May, Latvian Independence Restoration Day
PROPERTY & CONSTRUCTION
- With its hotel business now managed by Rezidor, Norwegian Linstow says that it will focus on real estate and retail management
RETAIL & SERVICE
- After a small dip in February, retail turnover is up again in March, leading to guesses that the Latvian recession may be over
- Latvian hotels now enjoy a reduced 10% VAT
- Finnish Prisma reports record-high losses in Latvia but says that it can wait for the market to recover
IT & MEDIA
- Government gets sour about a business database monopoly and refuses to extend its contract
TRANSPORT & LOGISTICS
- Icelandic volcano brings Riga airport to a complete halt, but airBaltic claims that it may even win from the forced break
- North Hub Service, a Latvian ground service company, comes to Helsinki airport — for good
- Finnish Transpoint concentrates its Baltic management
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
- After being threatened with businesses leaving the country, Latvian government adds important exemptions to the new gas excise tax
- Angry drivers turn to a flash mob to protest high fuel prices
ECONOMY & POLITICS
- State Revenue Service reports that Q1 tax revenue has gone just as planned
- Flashy Latvian Minister of Finance Einars Repse announces that he will not run in the October elections
- Latvia's former ambassador to Turkey and the United States becomes its new Foreign Minister
EVENTS (Riga)
- DBHK Presentation, 5 May
- DCC Seminar, 6 May
- AmCham Arrythmia Day, 7 May
- SCC Conference, 7 May (Parnu, Estonia)
- Norwegian Workshop, 11 May
- AmCham Outlook Seminar, 12 May
- BCCL Regional Visit, 13-14 May (Liepaja)
- DBHK Members Lunch, 13 May
- Norwegian Board Meeting, 18 May
- SSE Executive Education, 17-28 May
- DBHK Conference and Business Meetings, 24-28 May (Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius)
- SCC General Meeting, 26 May
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