SEB earns 49 MEUR profit in Estonia

The Estonian units of the Scandinavian financial group SEB ended the year 2010 with a profit of 49.1 million euros compared to a loss of 80 million euros a year earlier. The operating income of SEB Eesti decreased to 124.2 million euros from 133.8 million euros in the previous year. Operating costs shrank from 101.2 million euros in 2009 to 66.2 million euros, the bank said.

Loan loss provisions totalled 9.1 million euros. A year earlier the figure was 112.5 million euros.

“The year 2010 was for SEB the breakthrough year in Estonia. Many decisions made in hard times paid off and SEB was well prepared for the economic revival. SEB’s support for customers experiencing payment difficulties yielded results as witnessed by the substantially below the market average proportion of loan losses which in 2010 made up only 0.22% of the loan portfolio,” SEB Pank CEO Riho Unt said in a comment on the results.

The strong performance of SEB’s Estonian units can in Unt’s words be attributed to efficient cost control on the one hand, and a significant rise in customer activity on the other. “Starting from the second half of the year, loan projects worth more than 200 million euros have been constantly under work in corporate banking,” he observed.

The volume of new housing loans issued by SEB surged 24.7% in 2010. Corporate and private deposits increased as well, by respectively 12 and 8% compared to 2009, Unt said.

Source: Estonian Review

Eesti Energia made 119 MEUR profit in 2010

The net profit of the state-owned Estonian energy group Eesti Energia in the financial year 2010, excluding discontinued operations, was 119 million euros, marking an increase of 34% over the previous financial year.

Consolidated revenues of Eesti Energia grew 20% year on year to 796 million euros and operating profit was 151 million euros, 47% bigger than in 2009.

Electricity sales amounted to 10.7 terawatt-hours (TWh), up 12.3% year on year, of which electricity sold at regulated prices totalled 6.1 TWh, down 14% from a year ago.

The CEO of Eesti Energia, Sandor Liive, said there was continued reason to be glad about the results of Eesti Energia, as the profit was earned on open markets under conditions of competition. This is proven by plain numbers: two-thirds of operating profit came from open markets. Electricity sales to open markets in the Baltic and Nordic countries grew nearly 88% year on year and sales revenue doubled. Profit grew on increased sales of electricity and liquid fuels, Liive said.

The CEO described 2010 as record year for Eesti Energia. “We produced and sold a record amount of electricity since 1992, and did it with an almost three times smaller number of employees. We achieved the biggest output volume of liquid fuels since the oil refinery was launched 30 years ago, the production of oil shale was biggest since 1992,” said Liive.

The CFO, Margus Kaasik, pointed out that good performance results permitted the company to also boost the volume of investments. During the past financial year almost double the
amount of money earned as net profit was spend for investment.
Eesti Energia invested 219 million euros in Estonian electricity networks, production of electricity, heat and oil during the financial year 2010.

Total capital expenditure by the retail division amounted to 63 million euros, including 60 million euros spent on new network connections and improvement of the network’s reliability. The company also invested a total of 85 million euros in the electricity and heat generation division, including 46 million euros in desulphurization equipment in Narva power plants, 10 million euros in Iru waste-to-energy plant and 9 million euros in the Aulepa wind park.

Electricity sales amounted to 10.7 TWh, the biggest amount sold by the company since 1992. Electricity sold at regulated prices totalled 6.1 TWh, marking a drop of 14% from 2009.

In Estonia, Eesti Energia’s share in the open electricity market was 87% as at the end of 2010. In Latvia and Lithuania the market share was around 13% at the end of the year.

Eesti Energia paid the state a gross dividend of 138 million euros.

Source: Estonian Review