BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

Estonian inflation jumps to 10-year high in April

TALLINN - Consumer price inflation jumped to a 10-year high in April of 11.4 %, the national statistics office said on Thursday.

Compared with March, prices in the Baltic state increased 1.0 percent, it said.

Inflation in April was driven primarily by increases in costs of food, notably dairy, cereal and meat products, as well as heating energy and transport.

Estonia, which regained its independence from the crumbling Soviet Union in 1991, has enjoyed robust economic growth for more than a decade, notably since joining the European Union in 2004.

But inflation has been climbing progressively in recent months, despite a slight dip in pace in March.

In December, the 12-month rate was 9.6 percent, in January 11 percent, in February 11.3 percent and in March 10.9 percent.

The latest figures are the highest recorded since April 1998, when 12-month inflation was 12.6 percent, according to statistics office data.

tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomsonreuters.com

Eesti Ehitus profit up 43 % in Q1

Sandra Taimre

The second-biggest publicly traded Baltic construction company AS Eesti Ehitus profit increased 43 pct y-o-y, amounting EEK 44.9 mln (EUR 2.9 mln.)

Consolidated revenue for the Q1 of 2008 boostetd 38 pct and amounted EEK 773.5 mln (EUR 49.4 mln), the company announced.

The residential and non-residential segment formed EEK 648.2 mln (EUR 41.4 mln) and the civil engineering segment EEK 116.7 mln (EUR 7.5 mln) of total construction contract revenue. The corresponding figures for the Q1 of 2007 were EEK 307.4 mln and EEK 248 mln (EUR 19.6 mln and EUR 15.8 mln) respectively.

The Group's personnel expenses for the first quarter of 2008 totalled EEK 105.4 million (EUR 6.7 million), a 42 per cent increase compared to the first quarter of last year.

The beginning of 2008 was customary for the civil engineering segment and more comparable with 2006 because the number of large projects was small and operating volumes therefore less significant.                                                               

The Group's order backlog in Q1 was EEK 3,369 mln (EUR 215 mln), which improved slightly comparing to the previous year. However, it is a strong result considering the changes in the construction market and the economic environment in the second half of 2007 and the first quarter of 2008.   

Eesti Ehitus believes that the deceleration in economic growth in construction sector will trigger the following trends : construction sector will become more dependent on public procurement tenders and on the number and pricing of infrastructure, environment and other projects launched with the support of European Union funds.
                              
However, the importance of infrastructure projects will increase.

Real estate prices fell in April

Sandra Taimre

According to Estonian Land Board, Tallinn apartments' average transaction price declined to EEK 23,000 a square meter in April. However, the volume of transactions grew.

In March, apartments in Tallinn cost on average EEK 23,070 a square meter and in March 2007, the price amounted EEK 26,000 a square meter, aripaev.ee writes.

The fastest decline has been among apartments in Lasnamäe district : if in March, the apartments’ average price per square meter was EEK 19,000, then in April it dropped to EEK 18,000.

According to the Estonian Land Board 5,199 transactions with appartments were made in April. In March there were 4,378 transactions. The value of the real estate transactions was EEK 4,735 bln and EEK EEK 3.479 bln, respectively.

April 2008 : ESTONIAN ECONOMIC POLICY

According to Finance Minister Ivari Padar, of the total budget revision in the amount of 3.1 billion kroons (EUR 198 Million), 2.1 billion kroons will be reduced expenses and about one billion kroons extra revenue.

Of the latter, the sale of properties of the state real estate management company RKAS would contribute more than 300 million kroons. More than 660 million kroons of extra money is forecast to be received as fines, state dues, dividends and proceeds from the sale of land. The biggest contributors will be property sale and the dividend of the listed telecommunications company Eesti Telekom.

Even though the scope of the different sections is clear by now, the specific amounts in each case and the objects to be affected will become clear in the near future. The ministry is on track to submit the draft of the negative supplementary budget to the government for endorsement by May 15.

According to information released earlier, the list of properties to be sold includes the historic interior building in Pagari Street 1 in Tallinn, a property in Paslepa on Estonia's northwestern coast formerly used as the president's summer residence, the compound of the former Pärnu prison, and some other properties.

Following the cut by 3.1 billion kroons the state budget for 2008 will set out 88.2 billion kroons for expenditures, 10.8 billion kroons more than last year.

Extension of Muuga container terminal to cost EUR 55 Million

The supervisory board of the state-owned port company Tallinna Sadam (Port of Tallinn) approved plans to build an extension of the container terminal at the Muuga port just outside Tallinn at a cost of 55 million euros.
The tender to perform the works has been won by a consortium made up of KMG Insenerehituse AS and two Danish companies.
The extension would be able to handle 500,000 containers annually.
The consortium is to build 400 meters of new quay line and lay out port terminal grounds on 27 hectares in the course of two years.

The first phase of the extension of the eastern part of the Muuga port is meant mainly for handling north-south cargo flows of the Baltic Sea region, Seli explained.
As regards servicing the more large scale west-east trade flows, there are still problems that need to be solved, he said.
Port of Tallinn has signed an agreement with Chinese partners and is now continuing talks with them as regards the operation of the expanded container terminal.

Elcoteq starting partial pay and personnel reduction

HELSINKI  - Elcoteq said it will start personnel reduction, partial pay and compulsory holiday procedures with its Tallinn-based staff in Estonia, with some 330 people seen affected, to increase the efficiency of its Tallinn operations.

"The exact number of persons involved will be settled after consultation with (Labour) Inspectorate officials," the company added. azer.sawiris@thomsonreuters.com

Levira starts DVB-H trial

By Chris Dziadul

The Estonian national transmission company Levira has begun a DVB-H pilot in the capital, Tallinn.

The service, which is offering seven channels free of charge, with more to be added shortly, can be received with Nokia 77 sets that retail for around €500 and will last until the end of the year.

Levira, which is 49% owned by France’s TDF and has partnered up in the trial with EMT, hopes the necessary legislation will be put in place for it to launch a full DVB-H service next year.

Metro Baltic Horizon 15 mths pretax profit 6.35 mln euros

LONDON - Metro Baltic Horizons Plc. posted a pretax profit of 6.35 million euros for the period from Sept. 18, 2006 to Dec. 31, 2007 and said net asset value per share before deferred tax liabilities jumped 61 percent to 151 pence since admission on Dec. 11, 2006.

Chairman Robin James said: 'Despite more challenging economic and property market conditions, we remain confident that the company's investment portfolio will generate an average internal rate of return in excess of our targeted 25 percent.'

He added the group looks forward to another successful year with strong planning progress at the company's assets at Krasta 99, Riga, Latvia and Bolshaya Pushkarskaya 10, St Petersburg, Russia.

The property investment company also expects preliminary planning approval for its assets at Pirita Road, Tallinn, Estonia in August and said it anticipates that the company's investment portfolio may become increasingly biased towards St Petersburg over time.

TFN.newsdesk@thomsonreuters.com

Estonia's Elion selects Amdocs to meet customer demand for IP services

Provider to deploy Amdocs Operations Support Systems (OSS) to speed time-to-market and reduce operation costs

ST. LOUIS - Amdocs (NYSE: DOX - News), the leading provider of customer experience systems, today announced that Elion, the largest telecommunications and IT provider in Estonia, has selected Amdocs OSS to streamline its network operations and resource management. Amdocs will provide a network inventory system for the provider's fast growing portfolio of Internet Protocol (IP)-based services, such as new triple play offerings including video, voice and cable. As a result, Elion will improve its operational efficiency, reduce support costs and decrease time-to-market for new services, enabling it to enhance its customer experience.

Tallinn - The Baltic nation of Estonia inked an agreement with Jordan Wednesday to build Jordan's first oil-shale fuelled power plant. Estonia's Eesti Energia, the government of Jordan and National Electric Power Company agreed to build the power plant ca

Tallinn - The Baltic nation of Estonia inked an agreement with Jordan Wednesday to build Jordan's first oil-shale fuelled power plant. Estonia's Eesti Energia, the government of Jordan and National Electric Power Company agreed to build the power plant capable of producing up to 900 megawatts of electricity from oil shale, a fine- grained sedimentary rock, Estonian energy officials said.

"The power plant to be built in Jordan would be the first considerable oil shale-fuelled power plant operating outside Estonia, Eesti Energia board chairman Sandor Liive was quoted by the Baltic News Service (BNS) as saying.

"We will have the wonderful opportunity of applying the knowledge and skills accumulated in Estonia in the valuation of oil shale and getting energy out of that mineral resource."

One of the smallest countries in the European Union, Estonia produces 90 per cent of its power from the sedimentary rock. Estonia accounts for 70 per cent of the world's processed oil shale. Large deposits are also found in the United States, Australia, Brazil and Jordan.

By building an electric power plant based on oil shale, Jordan hopes to reduce its dependence on imported energy, Jordanian minister for energy and mineral resources Khaldoun Qteishat was quoted by BNS as saying.