OREANDA-NEWS. September 08, 2010. Net sales, costs and total profit of the Estonian business sector increased in the second quarter of this year compared to the previous quarter as well as to the same quarter of 2009, Statistics Estonia said.

The increase in the net sales of the business sector continued for the second quarter in a row. According to seasonally adjusted data, the net sales of enterprises increased 5 percent in the second quarter of 2010 compared to the first quarter. The rate of increase in the first quarter of this year compared to the preceding quarter was 4 percent.

Measured in current prices, enterprises sold goods and services for 138 billion kroons (EUR 8.9 b) in the second quarter, which is 7 percent more than in the same period a year ago. Net sales increased in most economic activities.

Wholesale and retail trade enterprises, which have the biggest share in gross net sales of the business sector, have managed to increase their net sales on a year-on-year basis for the first time since the third quarter of 2008. The growth was mainly the result of increased wholesale activity. Net sales of construction enterprises decreased the most.

Compared to the second quarter of 2009, enterprises' total costs increased 6 percent. Personnel expenses decreased 8 percent, like did the number of persons employed and the number of hours worked. Hour productivity, or total productivity divided by the number of hours worked, increased 11 percent. At the same time, average hourly labor costs stayed on the level of the second quarter of the previous year.

Total profit of enterprises in the three-month period amounted to 7.4 billion kroons, 38 percent more than in the second quarter of the previous year and an increase by more than half compared with the first quarter.

Investment activity continued to be low. Enterprises invested 5.3 billion kroons, which is one-third less than in the second quarter of 2009. Investments were mainly made in other equipment and machinery and in the construction and alteration of buildings. The major investors were manufacturing, transportation and storage and energy enterprises with about a half of the total investments of enterprises. Compared to the second quarter of the previous year, investments increased only in the catgory of other equipment and machinery.