On 17 July 2015, Lithuanian bank Siauliu Bankas acquired 100% of the shares of the bank AB Bank Finasta and the financial brokerage firm AB FMI Finasta for the amount of EUR 6.19 million.

Statistics Lithuania has released an annual publication Bankruptcy of Enterprises 2014. The publication presents statistical information about the enterprises against which a bankruptcy process has been initiated in 2014 and 1993-2014 by economic activity, legal form, year of the institution and initiators of the bankruptcy process.

The first estimate for euro area exports of goods to the rest of the world in May 2015 was EUR 164.4 billion, an increase of 3% compared with May 2014 (EUR 160.2 bln). Imports from the rest of the world stood at EUR 145.6 bln, nearly stable compared with May 2014 (EUR 145.5 bln). As a result, the euro area recorded a EUR 18.8 bln surplus in trade in goods with the rest of the world in May 2015, compared with +EUR 14.7 bln in May 2014.

On 16 July 2015, the Board of TEO LT, AB approved unaudited TEO LT, AB Consolidated Interim Financial Statements, prepared according to International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the European Union, and Consolidated Interim Report for the six months period ended 30 June 2015, the company said in a statement.

In the first six months of the year 2015, Swedbank in Latvia operated with EUR 57 million in profit, the bank has informed. For Swedbank Lithuania profit for the first six months of 2015 amounted to EUR 36.2 million and Swedbank Estonia announced that its loss for the first six months of 2015 amounted to EUR 20.9 million.

Based on the data of Lithuania's Communications Regulatory Authority, in the first quarter of 2015 year-on-year, the total revenue for provision of postal services increased 11.4% – from EUR 25.1 to EUR 28 million.

Nearly all of the 2nd pillar pension funds operating in Lithuania recorded positive returns in the first half of 2015, while the average change in an investment unit was 4.70%. Since the beginning of the year the value of the net assets of 2nd pillar pension funds has increased by EUR 178.19 million and amounted to EUR 2.044 billion (LTL 7.057 billion).

Lithuania's National Audit Office completed the 2014 financial (regularity) audit at the Office of the Government.

The 2014 data of the set of financial statements and of the set of budget execution reports of the Office of the Government are, in all material respects, fairly presented. During the audit, the Office of the Government duly cooperated with auditors, corrected the identified errors and took the initiative to review the accounting data, to find and correct other accounting errors in order to submit a sound set of statements, the Audit Office reports.

Observations were issued to the Office of the Government on the use of premises and allocation of funds to the implementation of the Programme for Maintaining the Historical Memory. The Office recognised the identified deficiencies and corrected some of them during the audit; it also informed that in the short term necessary decisions will be made to remove the remaining discrepancies.

Recommendations on the elimination of other less material deficiencies and strengthening of internal control were given, and their implementation will be monitored.

www.baltic-course.com

The low-cost airline Ryanair has confirmed in a press release that it will be officially closing down its Copenhagen base and relocating to Kaunas, Lithuania.

Economy Minister Evaldas Gustas on July 8th 2015 met with representatives of the American-Lithuanian Business Council to discuss investment and trade cooperation between Lithuania and the United States.