Baltic Morning News
A-Selver appoints new head for Latvian operations. Selver SIA, the Latvian subsidiary of A-Selver, fully owned by Tallinna Kaubamaja, appointed Uldis Priekulis as a Managing Director. Uldis Priekulis has previously worked in several positions at RIMI/KESKO in Latvia. The first stores in Latvia can be expected in 2008. By the end of 2009, the company plans to open at least 15 supermarkets in Latvia.
Estonia's construction prices up 10% in 2006. According to Estonian Statistical Office, construction prices increased 13.7% y-o-y in Q4. The rise in construction prices was mainly influenced by the increase in labour cost (+25.2% y-o-y), while the increase in the prices of building machines and materials was somewhat lower at +9.2% and +8.1% y-o-y, respectively. Clearly, labour shortage is pushing up wages, and construction workers are likely to be one of the first to reach wage parity. For the full year 2006, construction prices grew by 10.3%.
Kalev keeps on building media empire. According to BBN, the Estonia's largest candy maker Kalev has signed a contract that enables it to acquire two printing houses. Under the contract signed in January, Kalev will acquire an option to a holding in Uniprint and Unipress. If the option is exercised, Kalev would take over a 20% holding in Uniprint and 50% holding in Unipress. Previously, Kalev has taken over several other media companies, such as Inreko Press, Just, and Põhjarannik.
Luxury flats in Lithuania more expensive than in Denmark. According to Global Property Guide, a luxury flat in Lithuania costs more than in Copenhagen, Helsinki, Munich, Berlin, or Stockholm. In the study, it was said that a luxury flat in Vilnius cost EUR 3,792 per square meter. This makes the Lithuanian capital the 16th most expensive European City in terms of real-estate prices.
Decline of population slowing down. According to Statistics Estonia, by preliminary estimation the number of population in Estonia on Jan 1 2007 was 1,342,000. Due to the negative natural increase the number of population decreased by 0.2% in 2006. The total number of births registered during 2006 was 14,819 while the number of deaths was 17,435 - i.e. natural increase was negative 2,616. However, although still negative, the situation has improved over the last years. For example, natural increase was ca -6,000 in 2001.