State's owned companies' annual review revealed

2010/07/14

The Lithuanian state is the largest owner of commercial assets in Lithuania. The portfolio of state-owned commercial assets has an estimated value of more than €5bn which is comparable to around 20 per cent of GDP. The portfolio represents substantial economic value for the nation especially within the energy, forest, real estate and transport sectors.

The management of these assets has a fundamental impact not only on these important sectors but on the Lithuanian economy as a whole.

Furthermore, these assets are ultimately the common property of all Lithuanian taxpayers. The state therefore has a considerable responsibility to be an active and professional owner in order to generate maximum value from these assets.

The Government has ownership in more than 300 companies (including holding companies) that are considered of commercial nature, more than 30 companies are under bankruptcy, liquidation, restructuring or reorganisation. These commercial assets represent not only substantial values but these companies are also large employers. 2009 the aggregated net turnover for the state-owned companies amounted to € 2.4 billion and the net loss amounted to € 0.4 billion. The dividend received from the state-owned commercial assets for the financial year 2009 amounted to just over € 13 million. The total number of employees working in those companies in 2009 amounted to more than 45 thousand.

The Government´s main objective with these assets is that they should create value for the ultimate owner, the taxpayers. It is important that the state manages its ownership role in a professional way responsible way. As long as these companies are owned by the state, they shall continue to be actively managed with the creation of value as the main objective. State control must also be clear and well-focused. Part of being an active and responsible owner is to divest companies when there is no longer a reason for continued ownership. The government will undertake a review of the portfolio and focus its ownership efforts on a core group of assets.

The government will also issue a more detailed Ownership Policy in order to display in a clear and transparent way how it intends to manage its ownership of these assets in a professional way. Good corporate governance means not the least a clear delegation of responsibility and accountability.

Like other commercial companies in a competitive market place, the state-owned commercial assets work under market conditions and a rapidly changing business environment. The Government´s ownership administration shall therefore be clear and open and continuously adapted to the increased and changing demands made. For this purpose the government has decided to improve the transparency of the portfolio as is described in detail in the new Transparency Policy of 2010 issued July 14th this year. As this policy describes the government will not only publishing a complete Annual Report of the portfolio each year, but also a set of Quarterly Reports to enable the continuous monitoring of progress.

Reports

  • Annual Review 2009 in full (ENG, LT)
  • Transparency Policy (ENG, LT)
  • List of Companies (ENG, LT)

Press releases

International coverage