Most companies in Latvia expect turnover growth for 2018: survey

Riga, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Most companies in Latvia expect their turnover to grow next year, a SEB survey of Baltic companies' CFOs reveals.

The Baltic-wide survey shows that turnover growth in 2018 is anticipated by 67 percent of large companies in Latvia as compared to 70 percent in Estonia and 59 percent in Lithuania.

The results of survey suggest that business optimism has now reached its highest point since 2014.

At the same time, entrepreneurs' pessimism has hit the lowest point, with just 5 percent of CFOs in Latvia expecting their companies' turnover to decline next year. A similar forecast was made by 10 percent of respondents in Lithuania and 11 percent in Estonia.

Ints Krasts, a management board member at Latvia's SEB Banka, said: "The large companies are feeling confident and their outlook on next year's business opportunities are upbeat. The Baltic states' economic growth has accelerated to the fastest pace in six years, and all indications suggest that the positive trends will continue also next year."

Despite the expectation for turnover growth, most of the large companies say they are not planning to employ more people.

"This suggests that the companies see possibilities to improve their productivity, for instance, by automating some of their operations," the SEB Banka representative said.

SEB conducts the CFO Survey in the Baltic countries once in a year, inquiring companies' chief financial officers about their outlook on the business environment, key challenges, employment plans and other issues.

The latest survey was carried out in September 2017 polling CFOs at 190 companies generating over 20 million euros in annual turnover. Enditem