Salary of executives in large state-owned companies has risen during the Covid crisis
The salaries paid by the state to the managers of large state-owned companies are much more generous than to the officials of the state. Last year, President Egils Levits received about 70 thousand euros in salary for his position, but the heads of large state-owned companies - from 57 thousand euros to almost a million euros, if the severance pay is included in this amount.
Gauss temporarily refused his salary
Martin Gauss, CEO and President of airBaltic, also received higher pay last year than in 2019, although he announced publicly last spring that during the Covid-19 crisis, he would give up his salary altogether from April last year to support the company's efforts to overcome the emergency. "Until we can resume scheduled flights again, I will give up my salary. The members and chairmen of the council and the board, as well as the managers, have already voluntarily agreed to reduce their remuneration by 20%,” said M. Gauss last year. However, M. Gauss did not have to go without a salary for long, because already on May 18 airBaltic resumed direct flights from Tallinn to Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Oslo, and from May 25 - to Vilnius.
Last year, M. Gauss received 686,701 euros in salary from airBaltic, and in 2019 - 559,962 euros, according to the declarations submitted by the public official.
Last year, the airBaltic Group worked with a loss of 264.6 million euros, which was 29 times bigger than in 2019, according to the company's published information. The Group's normalized EBITDA, or loss from operating activities before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, amounted to 152.3 million euros, compared to the profit in 2019. Among other things, the turnover of the parent company JSC Air Baltic Corporation was 137.915 million euros, which is 73% less than in 2019, and the losses have increased 35 times - to 278.267 million euros.
Last year, airBaltic served 1.34 million passengers, which is 73% less than in 2019. The number of flights decreased by 64%. The number of employees of the company group also decreased by 30% last year.
"Due to the crisis, we significantly reduced our expenses and adjusted the Destination 2025 CLEAN business plan. We decided to phase out the Q400 and B737 aircraft and become a carrier with only one type of aircraft - Airbus A220-300, two years earlier than originally planned,” Gauss commented on the financial results for 2020.
Last year, airBaltic received state aid to increase its share capital by 250 million euros. In March this year, Gauss admitted that if the situation with travel restrictions and the overall spread of Covid-19 continued to have a serious impact on the company's operations throughout the year, airBaltic's funds could only last until the end of the year.
New management in some companies
Last year, several state-owned companies underwent reorganization. Last January, Rinalds Muciņš was confirmed as the Chairman of the Board at the meeting of the members of Pauls Stradiņš Clinical University Hospital (PSKUS). He scored the highest number of points in the nomination committee's evaluation. A total of 11 applications were submitted for the position of the Chairman of the Board of PSKUS in an open competition. R. Muciņš started his work on February 10.
In mid-April, Ilona Līce, the then Chairman of the Board of SJSC Riga International Airport, announced her resignation due to ill health. "In April, the first stage of overcoming the crisis has been completed and everything necessary for the “wintering” of the company and ensuring its future development has been completed. It has required a great deal of emotional and physical resources from all airport staff, including me. Therefore, aware of the challenges that await the company in the future, I have made a decision and I resign as Chairman of the Board from 15 April, for health reasons. At a time when the crisis is over and the aviation industry is starting to recover, a huge amount of work will need to be done to hold and maintain the leading positions that Riga Airport has won so far,” said I. Līce. The Council of Riga International Airport has appointed Laila Odiņa, a member of the Council of Riga Airport, as the new Chairman of the Board, who should have fulfilled this duty until a new Chairman of the Airport Board is elected through a competition. 11 applicants had applied for the competition, which ended in April this year, among them L. Odiņa. L. Odiņa won the competition, and thus continues to hold the position of the Chairman of the Board.
Last September, the change of the Chairman of the Board took place in the state joint-stock company Latvijas autoceļu uzturētājs - Raitis Nešpors was replaced by the former Deputy Chairman of the Liepāja City Council Vilnis Vitkovskis. R. Nešpors had decided to leave the position to accept new professional challenges. In April of this year, he started to perform the duties of a member of the Board of JSC Pasažieru vilciens in the field of financial management.
Āris Žīgurs resigned from the position of the Chairman of the Management Board of Latvenergo in October last year, after the Supervisory Board of Latvenergo had performed an inspection of the actions and events of the group's officials in 2015 to assess whether Latvenergo had been unduly favorable to certain entrepreneurs and verify the compliance of the group's procurements and other transactions made in previous years with the requirements of internal and external regulations. "The examination carried out did not reveal any additional facts which would require a further criminal assessment. At the same time, the information previously published on public television and other media, as well as the information obtained during the inspection, is a sufficient reason for the Supervisory Board, as a supervisory body, to take a principled position against violations of corporate ethics in the management of the group and situations suspected of violating such norms,” representatives of Latvenergo expressed, at the same time emphasizing that the Board has expressed gratitude to Ā. Žīgurs for his work in the management of the group, as well as appreciated the ability to take responsibility.
After the resignation of Ā. Žīgurs, the Supervisory Board of Latvenergo appointed Guntars Baļčūns, a member of the Management Board and Chief Financial Officer of Latvenergo, as the Acting Chairman of the Management Board of the company as of October 31 last year. In February of this year, a competition was announced, which took place in five rounds. The committee has nominated three candidates for the position of the Chairman of the Board. A total of 20 applications were received for this post.
How to get a salary of almost a million euros
December 4, 2020, was the last working day of Juris Gulbis, the long-term Chairman of the Board of SIA Tet. The members of the telecommunications company SIA Tet decided to remove him from office. The meeting of participants had assessed the situation in connection with the accusations presented by the prosecutor's office on J. Gulbis and four other persons. At the suggestion of Telia Company's representatives, the Tet Board previously unanimously supported the involvement of an independent multinational company to investigate the employee's behavior in a 12-year-old tender for the introduction of above-ground television broadcasting and subsequent contracting with infrastructure providers.
The international independent investigation company has concluded that no evidence has been found that Tet's current or former employees and officials have acted abusively or against the company's commercial interests. Following a pre-determined set of questions by the company's council, the conclusions are based on the analyzed materials and interviews.
As emphasized by the company's representatives, despite the fact that no violations were found in the actions of J. Gulbis,
Tet's board and members' representatives are aware that the very fact of the accusation casts a shadow over the company's good reputation and poses long-term reputational risks to the company and the company's future value. Consequently, the representatives of the Tet members decided to remove J. Gulbis from the position of the Chairman of the Board.
The statement submitted by J. Gulbis shows that he received 965,626 euros in salary from the company last year, part of which could be compensation for leaving the position.
Currently, the Chairman of the Board of Tet is Uldis Tatarčuks.
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