One of the leading IT products wholesalers in Eastern Europe, the largest
Latvian company JSC ELKO Grupa during the first nine months of the year 2008
has worked with USD 860.3 million turnover. As compared to the same period in
2007, the growth has reached 33%, however, due to dramatic fall of US dollar,
the actual growth in Latvian Lats amounted to 18%. Profit of JSC ELKO Grupa
after taxes for this period was 13.1 million US dollars. The company
profitability for the first nine months of the year 2008 was 1.5 %.
„We also experienced worsening of the economic situation in this quarter, and
the figures of growth are not as high as we expected after the results of the
first quarter. However, considering significant decrease of growth in demand
and general economic situation, I believe that the achieved results are good,
and we have successfully managed to mitigate the affect of the crisis, thanks
to wide geography of the company's activities. Now we are ready for different
scenarios of economic development, and are looking at current situation
positively - decrease of sales will not be long, as IT technologies are
becoming a more and more considered investment in development of every
company,” such was the comment on financial figures for the first nine months
by Director of JSC ELKO Grupa Jānis Casno.
Financial figures of JSC ELKO Grupa for the first nine months of the year 2008
have also been affected by some significant events. From May this year the
company bonds for the amount of 6.5 million Euros are listed at Riga Stock
Exchange. In its turn, in June this year JSC ELKO Grupa became an official
wholesaler in the Baltic States of IT products of „Micro-Star International”
manufacturer and „TomTom” navigation tools manufacturer. In October this year
ELKO Grupa became the first official distributor in the Baltic States of
„Telsey” products, the world's leading developer and manufacturer of network
solutions and the leading smart cards supplier in Russia.
In 2008 JSC ELKO Grupa completed development of a common Baltic structure, as a
result the functions of logistics, product management, marketing activities and
warranty goods record-keeping have been centralized in Latvia. Such changes
brought to considerable improvement of efficiency of the company's work and
competitiveness in the Baltic market.
ELKO Group
JSC ELKO Grupa was established in 1993. ELKO Grupa is Latvia's largest
enterprise, with a turnover last year exceeding 1 billion US Dollars. The
company's main activity is the wholesale of computer equipment and electronics
in the Baltics, Central Europe and the CIS.
The company represents about 70 manufacturers and sells the goods to more than
6 300 retailers, local computer hardware manufacturers and system integrators.
The ELKO Grupa offers more than 7 000 product items from the world's famous
suppliers - "Acer", "Intel", "Seagate", "Samsung", "Sony", and "Western
Digital". At the moment, the company employs 330 people. JSC ELKO Grupa is
owned by several private persons, as well as by AS „IT Investīcijas”,
investment fund "Amber Trust", and investment funds related to "East Capital
Asset Management".
Further information:
Kristine Saulriete
ELKO Group JSC
Director of Marketing and Communications
Telephone: + 371 6709 3214
Fax: + 371 6709 3299
E-mail: kristine_saulriete@elkogroup.com
www.elkogroup.com
