OREANDA-NEWS. November 26, 2013. The survey “Voru County Business Barometer 2014”, conducted among SEB’s business clients in Voru County, showed that next year at least twenty-five jobs are expected to be added in the county.

“By looking at the turnover estimates of the enterprises in Voru County, it can be presumed that next year will bring turnover growth and enterprises directed at external markets will be added. The survey also showed that the enterprises surveyed in the county are planning to hire new employees,” commented Erki Pugal, Member of the Management Board and Head of Credits at SEB Pank.

About a quarter of surveyed enterprises in Voru County are planning to create new jobs, while a year ago about one half of the enterprises answered this question in the affirmative. In total, the 36 enterprises surveyed in Voru County are planning on adding 25 new jobs, which is the highest indicator in South-East Estonia.

In 2014, 19 per cent of the respondents, or the same number as last year, are planning to increase their turnover by at least 15 per cent, and only a few enterprises do not see their turnover increasing at all. Mainly, the turnover growth is in the agricultural, energy and industrial sectors.
Thirty-nine per cent of the county’s enterprises, mainly from the energy and industry sector, are planning on entering new export markets or expanding their activities on existing export markets.

Forty-two per cent of industrial and agricultural sector enterprises are planning investments of over EUR 30,000, whereas in a survey a year ago this number was 51 per cent.

Seventy-eight per cent of enterprises in Voru County are planning innovation activities next year: developing a product or service, training employees, reviewing business model, or other development activities.

This autumn, SEB conducted its second counselling programme across Estonia, in the framework of which representatives from the bank visited 900 Estonian small and medium-sized enterprises in 15 counties to help them prepare a financial analysis for next year.

As part of this counselling project SEB also compiled a survey, called the Business Barometer, which was to map out the entrepreneurs’ expectations for the year 2014. The entrepreneurs assessed future turnover developments, changes in the number of staff, export and innovation plans, and proposed investments in their companies in 2014.