Two companies of the Ventspils nafta (VN) Group have obtained Baltic Market Awards for the most progress in improvement of investor relations. JSC Latvian Shipping Company (LSC) won the first place and award in the category “The best improvement of investor relations in the Baltic States in the course of the year”, in turn Ventspils nafta won the second place in this category.

 “All public parts of the VN Group have obtained the Stock Exchange’s awards. We are truly happy because that reflects the huge improvement in investor relations made in Ventspils nafta and Latvian Shipping Company since “the dark days of 2010”. Management of all companies of the VN Group has been radically improved and higher transparency of activity has been achieved since the events of 2010. Special praise is earned by Latvian Shipping Company, as it has demonstrated tremendous changes in the company’s management, for example, by making ship chartering rates public,” emphasises Simon Boddy – the Chairman of the VN Management Board and Chairman of the LSC Supervisory Council.

In the NASDAQ OMX stock exchange group’s project “Baltic Market Awards”, each company was evaluated by more than 120 criteria, and according to this evaluation, investor relations of JSC Latvian Shipping Company have improved by 34% during the past year. Second place went to JSC Ventspils nafta (NASDAQ OMX RIGA: VNF1R), which is the largest shareholder of Latvian Shipping Company.

About JSC Ventspils nafta
JSC Ventspils nafta is one of the largest groups of companies in Latvia and works in the petroleum product transport, transhipment, storage and shipping sector. JSC Ventspils nafta is the Group’s parent company, which manages investments in subsidiary companies, by promoting the Group’s joint values and growth in value of each individual company.
Joint stock company Ventspils nafta owns 51% in Ventspils nafta termināls Ltd, which is the largest crude oil and petroleum product terminal in the Baltics; 66% in LatRosTrans Ltd, which is the largest Latvian-Russian joint venture in the Baltics; 49.94% in JSC Latvijas kuģniecība, which is among the largest ship owners in the world in the medium-sized and handy tankers category.
Shares of JSC Ventspils nafta (NASDAQ OMX RIGA: VNF1R) are quoted in the Baltic Official List of the stock exchange NASDAQ OMX Riga since October 20, 1998.

Ilze Nagla
Public Relations Manager
Ventspils nafta Group
Tel.: 29267454, 67715914
E-mail: ilze.nagla@vnafta.lv