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EKE INVEST AS The Most Competitive Business Service and Real Estate Enterprise 2009 Ready at the start line EKE Invest is a very interesting enterprise. For instance, the building of an Estonian village on Crete Island was started a few years ago and quite a few of our fellow Estonians have bought summer houses on the island by now. There are the beginnings of several projects in the new Europe as well – in Romania and Moldova. In addition to real estate and production projects, EKE Invest has holdings in three local health centres. The director of the enterprise Rein Tiik says that it is now time to reflect. This does not, however, mean that investments are stopped – quite the contrary, EKE Invest has not set any restrictions on investing money. All this promises interesting projects. “We make plans, think about things and see what else we could do and set ourselves ready at the start line,” says Tiik. How did EKE Invest do last year? We are currently not launching many new projects, but 2007 as well as 2008 were both relatively good years. The year 2007 was actually even better because a number of projects that were grandly started in economically good years reached their natural end and were completed. In good times, both development and business projects were started in our subsidiaries and the realisation thereof was focused in 2007 and 2008. Which project were you most satisfied with? There have been quite a few. One of the big and beautiful projects we participated in was the construction of the Ehituse ABC retail chain. This came about through our subsidiary and in turn, through a joint company created by the latter – the logistic chain often extends far but this was a really big and good project that was well played out. We ourselves have been more involved in completing the double tower for the people in Tallinn. The smallest project was located on Magasini Street – the restoration of a hospital building as a residential home designed by architect H. Johanson in 1926. This is located in an area of cultural and residential value, in a beautiful park environment and is protected by heritage conservation. The house almost had to be broken down to pieces and then restored in previous form as closely as possible. That was a large and specific project, for which little gratitude is expressed after the completion of the building. In addition, it is not cost effective but sometimes some things need to be done based on a sense of obligation. If we talk a little about history, what have been your most interesting endeavours in the construction field? During a good period at the end of the good times, when all the enterprises who had any resources looked outside Estonia, so did we and we launched two projects – one in the new Europe and the other in the old Europe. In 2006, we started to build an Estonian village on Crete. By now, two thirds of the Estonian village has been completed and Estonians are living there. Five houses are currently still on sale in the village. We are not building there at the moment but we have gained our experience. It is also interesting to observe that the downturn has not only affected us – Crete used to be very popular among the English, whose share has now decreased – the Greek banks will no longer grant them loans to buy houses. We financed the Crete project ourselves from own funds and purchasers’ advance payments. Why are you attracted to investments in health centres? We have contributed our energy to three Estonian health centres – Tervis, Tervise Paradiis and Värska. If an enterprise is old, some projects within the enterprise are old and long-term. During the whole independence era, they have been developed and contributed to. We have no restrictions regarding where we invest; we put 58
Photo: Toomas Tuul REIN TIIK money where it makes sense at the moment. It is now time to reflect – we do not have to think about eagerly investing in the next building or warehouse. You can also think that the next investment might even be in manufacturing electronics or anything else we do not want or cannot think of today, but which is something new with seeming potential at some point in the future. Why set restrictions on oneself? In the years that we invested in health centres, it was done because it gave a good business result. If we look around in Estonia now, it is no longer very original. In the 2000s, they sprang up like mushrooms after the rain. Currently, many investments tend to struggle because there are not enough customers for this amount. We try to connect old and new projects. In developing new projects, our role is to decide whether to implement it ourselves or try to gather several enterprises behind one. Is there a way to derive a profit on a declining market? This offers many possibilities for brainstorming. If you are good at it, you can definitely use the potential hidden in here. You must not be a stupid optimist but at the same time, it would be healthier to be an optimist. A certain upturn occurred at the end of the summer and we now ask what is going to happen in autumn and at the beginning of winter. If no brakes are pulled again, we might hope that the process will more permanently take a turn upwards. I want to believe that the worst is over. • EKE INVEST AS 2008: Sales (th EEK) 286,713 Change in sales 128 % Net profit (th EEK) 303,625 Change in net profit 186.4 % Number of employees 225 Investments (th EEK) 64,547 Return on equity 43.3 % HISTORY OF EKE: EKE was already founded in the 1960s. When Estonia regained independence, EKE’s structure attained an economically and formally proper structure, i.e. the previous member organisations of EKE became the shareholders of the current central organisation pursuant to their contribution. EKE Invest was founded in 1993 to draw long-term financial investments together in one administrative enterprise. Several enter - prises with a foreign holding have also been founded through EKE, thereby opening the way to domestic and neighbouring markets. Photo: Toomas Tuul 59
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TOP ESTONIAN ENTERPRISES 2009 ENTRE
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In 2008 almost 45 000 companies whi
Page 7 and 8: ENTREPRENEUR- SHIP AWARD 2009 Entre
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Page 16 and 17: What is Narva Museum? We are the ci
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Page 20 and 21: Photo: Toomas Tuul Nominees for the
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Page 24 and 25: ABB AS Foreign Investor 2009 Bo Hen
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Page 41 and 42: RIVERSIDE OÜ The Most Competitive
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Page 47 and 48: BLRT GRUPP AS The Most Competitive
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Page 77 and 78: Photo: Toomas Tuul KRISTINA ÕLLEK,
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