Prime Investment, one of the leading investment banking companies in the Baltics, based in Lithuania, has issued semiannual report Baltic ICT Market News. The report enlightens important events of Baltic ICT market and provides proprietary rankings of the leading Baltic IT service companies. The rankings that are being compiled since 2001 are based on revenues from in-house developed IT services and value-adding efficiency. The ranking by IT service revenues does not include any sales of hardware, distribution of software other than developed in-house, office equipment or other products. Efficiency ranking is compiled by the value added, calculated as EBITDA plus personnel cost. 2006 was one of the most successful years for the Baltic IT industry. The total increase in annual IT service revenue of Prime’s TOP-20 companies exceeded 30%. IT service revenue growth rates have now been consistently increasing for 3 years and the demand for IT services remains very strong in 2007. IT services revenue grew faster than the overall IT sales revenue, as it did in 2005. Exigen Services (Latvia) retained the 1st place in the Prime’s TOP-20 rankings. Alna (Lithuania) stood at the 2nd. Eight companies’ annual growth exceeded 80%. NOTE: Sonex Group did not provide the data. The most significant shift in added value per employee which increased by more than 20%, was determined by two factors. Firstly, IT market players managed to increase productivity while implementing large scale projects. Secondly, as the lack of qualified professionals is increasing in all three Baltic countries, the companies increasingly resort to subcontracting. This boosts added value per employee, as additional profit is achieved without the increase of in-house staff. The survey indicated that Estonian IT companies are the most export oriented compared to Latvian and Lithuanian businesses. Next issue of Baltic ICT Market News, containing half-year results for 2007, will be published in November 2007.