Harju Elekter post results as expected

During the reporting period the Group sold its products and services 27.4% less, totally 40.4 million euros. The core business of the Group is the production and sales of electrical distribution systems and control panels as well as other supportive side-activities, which was traditionally the largest share of sales revenues -approx. 90%. Real estate and income from other commercial activities together formed 10% of the consolidated sales revenue. Of the Group's products and services, 36.8% (37.2%) were sold on the Estonian, 42.7% (44.8%) on the Finnish and 10.5% (11.3%) on the Lithuanian markets; to the other European markets - Latvia, Germany, Denmark and Portugal - a total of 3.7% (5.4%) were sold, which is approximately 1.5 million euro less than in the year before. In 2008, an order in the amount of 1.1 million euros to Poland was executed. In 2009, sales to the Polish market accounted to 75,000 euros. The drop in demand on domestic markets has forced a search for new markets. Outside the European Union - in Russia, Belarus and Norway - a total of 6.3% (1.3%) of products were sold. Sales by the Group outside the European Union increased by 1.8 million euros, compensating for the drop in the volumes of sales into other European Union countries. Primarily due to a decline on both the Estonian and Finnish markets the sales volume of the Estonian segment this year has declined by 23.9% and in Q4 the decline was smaller - 18.4%. The companies in the Lithuanian segment produced a strong Q4, in which the sales volume increased by as much as 11.7% compared to the comparable quarter. The sale of products and services to the Lithuanian market in Q4 was also 8.3% higher than in the same period of the previous year. A sale by Lithuanian companies to clients outside of the Group in 2009 was 106.5 million kroons (6.8 million euros), which was 16.8% less than in 2008. At the same time, during the accounting year the sales volume to the Lithuanian market declined by one-third, which is compensated by the increasing of sales volumes to foreign markets. Recession reached Finland somewhat later than the Baltic States. The sales volume of the Finnish segment in the Q1 remained at the Q1 2008 level; however, in Q2, a decline in sales volume began to decrease, which deepened further in Q4 due to a decline in domestic demand in the Finnish market. Sale to the Finnish market fell by 40% in the accounting quarter and by 31% over 12 months.