OREANDA-NEWS. November 27, 2013. The survey “Polva County Business Barometer 2014”, conducted among SEB’s Polva County business clients, indicates that the agricultural and industrial sectors are have the most optimistic outlook for 2014 in the county.

“If according to data from 2011, most investments in Polva County were made in equipment and machinery, then according to SEB’s survey it will be the same again in 2014: industrial and agricultural sectors are the biggest investors contributing to the county’s economy. Enterprises of both sectors are also more optimistic about export growth,” commented Erki Pugal, Member of the Management Board and Head of Credits at SEB Pank.

Fifty-seven per cent of the industrial and agricultural sector enterprises out of the 21 enterprises surveyed in Polva County are planning investments of over EUR 30,000, whereas in a survey a year ago this number was merely 25 per cent.

In 2014, two thirds of enterprises are planning to increase their turnover, although there were no so-called optimists among the surveyed enterprises in the county who would estimate the turnover increasing by at least 15 per cent. In the survey conducted last autumn, 13 per cent planned a significantly higher turnover in Polva County.

Twenty-four per cent of the enterprises in Polva County are planning on entering new export markets or expanding their activities on existing export markets – again, some agricultural and industrial sector enterprises stand out.

Fourteen per cent of enterprises surveyed in Polva County are planning on creating new jobs, while several enterprises are planning to decrease the number of employees, meaning that the balance becomes negative according to the estimates.

Two thirds of enterprises in Polva County are planning innovation activities next year, such as developing a product or service, training employees, reviewing their 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.