Month: June 2023

According to its unaudited financial statements, Eco Baltia, the largest environmental management and recycling group of companies in the Baltics, closed the first quarter of 2023 with consolidated net turnover of EUR 56.4 million, representing 21% over the indicator of the first three months of last year. The increase is mainly due to new business acquisitions, as well as a solid performance in the environmental management sector, productivity, efficiency facilitation and process automation. The company’s consolidated EBITDA increased to EUR 8.3 million in the first reporting period of this year (Q1 2022: EUR 7 million).

Māris Simanovičs, Chairman of the Board at Eco Baltia: “Despite the difficult situation on the international market, which has been significantly affected since last year by various economic factors and fluctuations in energy prices, we continue moving towards our strategic development goals. The main focus is on increasing the market share of the Group’s companies in both the environmental management and recycling sectors, thus strengthening Eco Baltia’s position in the Baltics and across Europe. Investing in process automation and digitalisation is also one of the development priorities, thereby reducing the impact of various external economic factors, including labour shortages, on business growth.” 

In 2023, Eco Baltia continued active work on the management of the Group’s businesses and contributed to the expansion of both business segments – PET and plastics recycling and environmental management – both through organic growth and acquisitions. Eco Baltia closed the first three months of this year with a profit of EUR 2.77 million (three-month result of 2022: profit of 2.74 million euro).

During the reporting period, work on capacity increase projects continued in the Eco Baltia’s PET bottle and plastic packaging recycling sector. Nordic Plast completed the testing of its new plastics sorting and recycling line, which was built last year with an investment of more than 2.8 million euro, ensuring stable operation and a gradual increase in production capacity. Whereas, PET Baltija, the recycler of PET bottles, continues working on the development of its new production facility in Olaine. It is planned to gradually start production at the facility during this year, more than tripling food-grade rPET production capacity.

In the first quarter of 2023, the PET and plastics recycling segment companies invested 0.7 million euro in development, while investments of the environmental management sector companies reached 2 million euro.

During this reporting period, Eco Baltia vide and Ecoservice group of companies, two largest subsidiaries of Eco Baltia, continued working on development of a number of projects, including the establishment and expansion of specialised sites for sorting construction waste and promotion of the sorting of household waste, textiles and other materials. At the same time, the “Tocha” brand and its service are being further promoted in the Latvian market, strengthening the market position while maintaining a consistently high quality bar. Environmental sector companies have also submitted proposals to a number of public tenders for waste management services, road maintenance and other services.

Continuing further development of Eco Baltia group, its main objectives in 2023, in line with its strategic goals, are to improve working conditions, support employees, ensure the highest level of occupational safety and improve ESG and sustainability. Investments in the recycling, waste and environmental management sectors will continue in the coming months this year to support further growth, efficiency and competitiveness of the Eco Baltia companies.

In 2023, Eco Baltia will continue fostering synergies between the Group’s companies to maximise the benefits of the full-cycle waste management process, involving all companies, thus strengthening its position as a major market player in the Baltics and Northern Europe.

The largest environmental management and recycling group of companies in the Baltics “Eco Baltia” has closed 2022 with its historically highest consolidated turnover of EUR 210 million, representing a 75% increase compared to 2021. Eco Baltia’s total combined sales revenue (pro-forma) in 2022 amounted to 240.5 million euro, while EBITDA for the reporting period amounted to 25.4 million euro (19.7 million euro in 2021). These are the historically best Eco Baltia business results, demonstrating strategic and focused international growth.

In 2022, the group’s businesses continued dynamic grow in line with its long-term strategy. In terms of business areas, Eco Baltia’s PET and plastic packaging recycling segment reached a turnover of EUR 100 million in 2022, while the environmental management segment – EUR 110 million.The overall increase in turnover was promoted by the acquisition of the company Ecoservice in 2021 and “TESIL Fibres” in September 2022. At the same time, total profit indicators of Eco Baltia have decreased by 9.5% to EUR 8.4 million last year, which can be explained due to a EUR 3.3 million revaluation of PET Baltija inventories.

Māris Simanovičs, Chairman of the Board at Eco Baltia, describes the last year: “Despite the challenges of fluctuating energy prices and the geopolitical situation, which had a significant impact on the international market, we have managed to further strengthen our positions at Latvian and global scale. The achieved results serve as proof that, even when adopting strategic decisions, conditions of nationwide crisis may also serve as a good basis for business growth. For example, the acquisitions of Ecoservice, the Lithuanian environmental management company, and TESIL Fibres, the leading Czech fibre producer, have enabled us to expand the group’s overall range of services. We have also made a number of investments in automation of various processes, which allowed us to both increase production capacity and address the situation in the area of related labour shortage, which is complicated in Latvia at the moment.”

In mid-September 2022, Eco Baltia’s largest subsidiary PET Baltija, one of the largest PET recyclers in Northern Europe, completed the acquisition of 100% shares in TESIL Fibres, the leading Czech polyester fibre producer. This transaction puts PET Baltija on the regional map as a key player in the PET recycling sector. Whereas, in the middle of the year, construction of a new PET recycling plant in Olaine was commenced, with the planned investments of Eco Baltia exceeding 10 million. The total amount of planned investments for the plant, including those made by the developer, is expected to be around 35 million euro, and it will be one of the largest under-the-roof production facilities in Latvia. Last year, Eco Baltia’s plastic packaging recycling company Nordic Plast, investing EUR 2.8 million, launched a sorting line modernisation project, gradually increasing production capacity by up to 30%.

Eco Baltia’s environmental management segment also showed solid growth in 2022, expanding its business portfolio and the companies’ services. Both in Latvia and Lithuania, environmental management companies continued to invest in sorting and managing construction waste. Ecoservice invested in the extension and improvement of the existing construction waste sorting site, while Eco Baltia vide commenced construction of a new site. Besides, investments in the modernisation and improvement of fleet and technical equipment were made last year to ensure uninterrupted operations and the highest quality services for our customers.

Last year, the total investments made by the group of companies in the development of the PET and plastic packaging recycling segment amounted to approximately 8.8 million euro, whereas, in the environmental management – 14.1 million euro.

Vytautas Plunksnis, Chairman of the Council at Eco Baltia: “Last year, Eco Baltia managed to achieve one of the highest growth rates in the company’s history. A well-developed long-term strategy is the basis for ensuring that development is possible also in the face of unpredictable external market conditions. Eco Baltia’s goal is to expand recycling options, and the concluded company acquisition deals will enable achievement of this goal, as well as promote interest from other market players, as we will be able to secure higher volumes of recycled materials and favourable terms of cooperation. From the moment of its foundation, Eco Baltia has proven its competitiveness at the Baltic and European level, and each new stage of its development is contributing thereto with gradually increasing rate.”

In 2023, Eco Baltia plans to continue investing in the recycling and environmental management sectors and to gradually start production at the new PET Baltija plant, more than tripling its food-grade rPET production capacity while reducing rising energy and labour costs. This year, the group will continue working on promoting business-to-business cooperation, borrowing and introducing new services and improving full-cycle waste circulation processes. Besides, targeted investments will be made in the improvement of the skills of employees, working environment, improvement of labour safety and well-being of workers, as well as in the introduction of corporate sustainability, social responsibility and governance policies.

The environmental management company Eco Baltia vide LTD (SIA) closed last year with a turnover of EUR 49.32 million, which is 44% more than in 2021. The increase in turnover was mainly driven by the development of new environmental management services and an increase in recycling sorting capacity. The company has invested heavily in expanding its range of services and improving its sorting and recycling infrastructure.

At the end of 2022, Eco Baltia vide LTD (SIA) provided municipal and sorted waste services in 17 regions of Latvia. As the company’s main activity is sorting and recycling of secondary raw materials, last year almost a third or more than 30% of the waste managed was reused or recycled. In line with the company’s development and sustainability strategy, this volume is increased every year. 

The company has also invested substantially in its development. EUR 1.8 million were invested in the renovation and extension of the fleet, while EUR 1.13 million were invested in the creation of a specialised construction waste sorting yard, where investments will continue later this year. At the end of last year, a decision was also taken to develop a new waste sorting plant in the Pierīga region, with a total investment of around EUR 11 million. More than half of these are for the purchase of equipment.

In 2022 the company’s Eco Baltia vide LTD (SIA) profit was down by 8%, to EUR 5.5 million, partly due to last year’s reorganisation, when several other subsidiaries of the Group, Eco Baltia JSC (AS), were merged into the company.

“Despite the extremely high inflation, last year we continued to implement our development strategy by developing availability of secondary raw materials, sorting infrastructure, and increasing our competence in management, sorting and recycling of secondary raw materials. We are committed to developing a wide range of environmental management services and investing in new ones. One of our most successful innovations in the market is the rental and servicing of portable toilets under the Tōcha brand, but we have also been actively working on developing a sorting infrastructure and launching new services,” says Jānis Aizbalts, Chairman of the Board of Eco Baltia vide LTD (SIA).

In 2022, Eco Baltia vide LTD (SIA) in cooperation with Latvijas Zaļais punkts LTD (SIA) expanded the infrastructure for separate collection of textiles, providing 170 containers in 30 municipalities in the first months of 2023. Given the relatively high costs of textile management and sorting, as well as the fact that Latvia still does not have a producer responsibility system (PRS) for textiles, in autumn 2022 a decision was taken to stop sorting textiles in the Tukums branch and to provide the entire sorting process in the sorting centre of the cooperation partners in Riga. This has made logistics more efficient and cost-effective, so that we can continue to invest in infrastructure development and access to the textile sorting service for citizens. Last year, a total of 1,568 tonnes of textiles were placed in the textile sorting containers provided and managed by the company, 98% of which were reused or recycled.  

Last year, cooperation was also developed with UAB Ecoservice, a subsidiary in Lithuania, which acquired UAB Mano Aplinka Plius, a liquid waste management company. It provides services such as oil and fuel tank cleaning, oil and other natural waste management and collection equipment maintenance, sewage disposal, pipeline flushing and emergency response to various liquid waste spills. With the acquisition of UAB Mano Aplinka plius, additional investments in sewage management, road cleaning and maintenance services, as well as recycling technologies are planned for this year in both Lithuania and Latvia.

The development of the construction waste sorting site is also continuing this year. Construction waste sorting will also be developed in the branch in Liepāja and in Lithuania, where the subsidiary UAB Ecoservice has set up a new line for sorting construction waste. The new waste sorting plant project will also be continued and the plant is expected to be operational in the first half of 2024, sorting waste from the Pierīga region managed by the company. 

Another priority for this year is the development of a Sustainability Strategy, including for subsidiaries in Latvia and Lithuania, taking into account the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

In 2023, the company will continue to boost productivity. The working environment and safety will remain a priority, and we plan to invest in both improving common areas and employee satisfaction.