Lithuanian companies' cumulative direct investment abroad totaled 3.7 bn euros in late 2018, up 19% compared with a year ago, based on provisional data.

The number of transactions worth over 100,000 euros in Lithuania's mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market rose by 16% last year compared with 2017 to reach a four-year high of 102.

Achemos Grupe, the owner of the fertilizer manufacturer Achema, Lithuania's single largest gas consumer, says it currently cannot take on a long-term commitment to purchase up to 1 billion cubic meters of gas via the Klaipeda liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal annually, thus reducing its share of the terminal's costs.

Cargo traffic at the Lithuanian seaport of Klaipeda increased by almost 9% in the first two months of 2019 and by 15 % in February alone, with growth recorded in all cargo groups except oil products and chemical fertilizers.

Lithuania's Ministry of Energy, US company NET Power and energy innovation company 8 Rivers Capital signed in the middle of March a memorandum of understanding on a feasibility study for a zero-emissions power generation project.

Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai (Lithuanian Railways) saw its revenue for January through February rose by 14.2% y-o-y to 81.9 mln euros, based on preliminary figures.

Maxima Grupe (Maxima Group), the largest retail group in the Baltics, has handed over the management of the Spanish Supersol chain, having 196 shops in Spain, to the Luxembourg-based Carson Sarl which is indirectly owned by Nerijus Numavicius, the owner of Lithuania's Vilniaus Prekyba, and other related persons.

Supersol CEO in Spain Vygintas Sapokas told the daily Maxima Grupe and Supersol reached a mutual agreement to end their cooperation as the group plans to focus on the expansion in Poland where it operated the Stokrotka chain.

According to Sapokas, Supersol's activity is still unprofitable.

www.baltic-course.com

Austria's budget carrier Laudamotion is set to launch regular flights between Vilnius and Vienna next October, Lietuvos Oro Uostai (Lithuanian Airports, or LOU) said.

Electricity market prices fell across the Baltic region last week, to 41.88 euros per megawatt-hour (MWh) in both Lithuania and Latvia, down by 1% and 2%, respectively, and to 42.01 euros in Estonia, down by 1%.

The Board of the Bank of Lithuania has issued a payment institution licence to Earthport Payment Services, UAB, informed Bank of Lithuania.