97 employees of the Sports Goods Division and 16 employees of the Maintenance Unit were given notice today due to the restructuring of the Sports Goods Division of Viisnurk AS. This includes 30 employees who were proposed to take up a job in other production units of Viisnurk as the latter expand their operations.

The restructuring process will result in optimisation of the fixed costs of the Sports Goods Division and termination of production of less profitable ski types. At the net sales of 42.5 mil. kroons, the Sports Goods Division of Viisnurk AS made a loss of 2 mil. kroons in nine months of 2002.

The total cost of redundancies will be approximately 2 mil. kroons; the company has applied to Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund for partial reimbursement thereof. In addition to that, the Sports Goods Division will recognise the materials, semi-finished and finished goods and non-current assets amounting to 6 mil. kroons, which will not be used in the following periods, as a cost in 2002.

Reverting the operations of the Sports Goods Division of Viisnurk to profit making within the year 2003 is the main goal of the restructuring process.

Andrus Aljas
CFO
+372 44 78 355