OREANDA-NEWS. April 09, 2014. SEB clients that are farms in Estonia stand out in terms of their interest in investment and innovation, “Business Barometer 2014”, a survey conducted by SEB among Estonian business clients confirms.

Investments in excess of EUR 30,000 are planned this year by 51 per cent of the farms surveyed, whereas this figure is 41 per cent for companies overall.  A total of 51 per cent of farms are planning to make changes in their daily operations, with 30 per cent aiming for product or service innovation.

“Similarly to the survey about the previous financial year, we were struck by farms’ boldness in investing and their innovation readiness, testifying to the faith that companies in this sector have in the good fortunes of agriculture going forward. Clearly, they are working with a long-term plan, as it were, and expect no great leaps in terms of turnover or exports, as has been revealed also by our survey,” said Eerika Vaikmae-Koit, Head of SEB Retail Banking and Technology Area.

Indeed, the agricultural sector is more cautious when it comes to turnover prospects, since significant revenue increases – over 15 per cent – are being foreseen by only 16 per cent, whereas the figure is 25 per cent for the corporate respondents overall. Four per cent of farms thought that their turnovers would decline in 2014.

Export-based volume growth – either by expanding existing export or tapping new markets – is planned by 12 per cent of farms, or by 31 per cent of companies overall.

New hires, resulting in 31 additional jobs, are planned by 12 per cent of farms, and 12 per cent of companies are planning to invest in training or developing their staff.

Last autumn, SEB conducted its second counselling programme across Estonia, in the framework of which representatives from the bank visited 901 Estonian small and medium-sized enterprises in 15 counties to help them to prepare a financial analysis for next year.

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

Indeed, enterprises in the agricultural sector were the most numerous in the survey, with their share reaching 20 per cent.