Baltic railway operators plan to expand their Amber Train intermodal freight train service, which has recently transported its second commercial shipment from Estonia to Lithuania, into Poland and Finland, Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai (Lithuanian Railways) said on Thursday.

The number of persons employed increased by 0.4% in both the euro area (EA19) and the EU28 in the second quarter of 2018 compared with the previous quarter, according to national accounts estimates published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

The Lithuanian seaport of Klaipeda plans to invest 407 mln euros in infrastructure in the next three years, including 94 mln euros in EU funds.

The Lithuanian solar energy industry forecasts that prices for the installation of solar modules and plants will decline after the European Union earlier this week ended its five-year-old restrictions on solar panel imports from China.

UAB Merko bustas, a company of the listed AS Merko Ehitus group, has started work on the Vilneles slenis residential development project on the outskirts of the Old Town of Vilnius, at the address Pakrascio st. 20, Merko told the stock exchange.

Maxima Grupe (Maxima Group), the largest retail group in the Baltics, on Thursday successfully placed its first 300-million-euro bond issue in international markets.

Orlen's chief executive said on Wednesday that the Polish oil group intends to invest in its Lithuanian crude oil refinery, noting an improvement in relations with Lithuania's authorities.

Latvian-owned Lithuanian bank Citadele posted a net profit of 1.6 mln euros for the first half of 2018, up 63.3% from 980,000 euros in the same period last year.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which came to Lithuania more than a quarter of a century ago to reinforce the local capital market, remains a significant anchor investor that helps kick-start investment initiatives.

Klaipedos Smelte, one of the Klaipeda port's largest operators, is investing 50 million euros in expansion and expects to take delivery of new Finnish-made cranes in late 2019 as it aims to boost its TEU handling volumes to around 1 million tons in 2022 to 2023, more than a five-hold increase from 2017.