From the whole NACE sector, the most companies have chosen wholesale of other foods, including fish, crustaceans and mollusks (NACE code 46.38) with 140 companies.

The biggest companies from this sector are SIA GLOBEX INTERNATIONAL with EUR 35.9 mlm net turnover in 2022 reaching 200th place in TOP 501 biggest companies top accordingly to net turnover. Second place takes SIA SMART UNITED with EUR 26.9 mlm net turnover, but in third place is SIA LOTANA LV with EUR 18.2 mlm net turnover in 2022.

TOP3 biggest companies in wholesale sector

Although at the moment have not submitted annual report for 2022, it is possible to determine 3 biggest companies. TOP 1st place takes SIA BALTIC SALES NETWORK , that works in a wholesale of tobacco products field since 1998. In 2022 the company was able to increase its net turnover to EUR 146.4 mlm or 9.6% and profit reached EUR 910 thousands. At the moment the company is 42nd biggest in the country according to TOP 100.

In second place is the company SIA MV GROUP DISTRIBUTION LV, that since 2005 has been working in a wholesale of beverages and in 2022 it net turnover reached EUR 80.4 mlm (increasing by 5.4% compared to 2021), but profit reached EUR 1.127 mlm increasing by 24.5% compared to 2021. SIA MV GROUP DISTRIBUTION LV at the moment company is in 71st place in TOP 100 biggest companies in Latvia.

SIA FRESH FOOD LOGISTICS is in the 3rd place. The company was established in 2019 and is working in a non-specialized wholesale of food products, eggs and tobacco. In 2022the company reached EUR 66.5 mlm net turnover that has increased by 32.9% compared to 2021, but profit reached EUR 159 thousands increasing by more than 3 times.

The total turnover of these 3 largest companies in 2022 is 16% of the entire industry - EUR 1.541 billion, or almost 1/5 parts.

Overview of the industry Overall, the wholesale industry did better in 2022 than in previous years, taking into account that the remaining restrictions introduced due to the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted already at the beginning of 2022 and the companies operation was no longer disrupted. However, it should be taken into account that at the beginning of the 2022 Russia started war in Ukraine, sanctions were introduced, both for legal and for natural persons, which can affect this industry in the long term run.

In 2022, the industry's total turnover increased by 20.4% compared to 2021, and profit by 24.4% compared to 2021.

137 companies out of 723 have tax debts as of 07.06.2023, which is 19% of all companies. These tax debts to the state amount to EUR 3.2 million, which may indicate that several companies have problems balancing income/expenses, as well a cash flow – as a result, they are unable to pay taxes. In total, 33 of all companies that have tax debts are in risk class 9 or 10, as well as these companies have had their VAT registration status canceled and these companies can no longer carry out active economic activity.

Of all the companies, 30% are in risk classes 2 and 3, which is a very good indicator - paying attention to the fact that 95 companies, or 13% of the total, are in risk class 9, indicating that these companies have cash flow balancing issues and may be out of business in the near future.

The largest companies in the 3rd risk class are SIA FRESH FOOD LOGISTICS, SIA OVOSTAR EUROPE and SIA HANSA FOOD COMMODITIES . The 9th risk class companies with the biggest drop in net turnover in 2022 are SIA MASSA FOOD (engaged in non-specialized wholesale of food products, beverages and tobacco) with 92% drop in 2022 compared to net turnover results 2021 with EUR 2.179 mlm decrease, SIA TRUE IDEAL PRODUCT LATVIA (engaged in the wholesale trade of other foodstuffs, including fish, crustaceans and molluscs) with 72% drop or EUR 9.5 thousand decrease and SIA TĪRAIS ŪDENS (engaged in fruit and vegetable wholesale) with 44% or EUR 86.1 thousand decrease.

There are only 16 companies in the 1st risk class with the best solvency. The 3 largest companies in 2022 according to the currently submitted annual reports are SIA BALTIC SALES NETWORK with EUR 146 mlm net turnover, SIA BERLAT TRADING with EUR 31 mlm net turnover and SIA EAST SPIRITS with EUR 29 mlm net turnover.

Of all the companies in the industry, 12 companies entered the TOP 501 list in 2021 (based on net turnover), while in 2020 there were 15 companies. In 2021, 6 companies improved their position, while 9 lost their positions in TOP 501.

Changes in assets, profitability of companies

In 2022, the total assets of companies increased by EUR 92 million or 20.1% compared to 2021. The largest increase in assets is for companies SIA OVOSTAR EUROPE , SIA EIPU and SIA BALTIC SALES NETWORK . The biggest asset decrease is for the companies SIA DIAKONIA (engaged in wholesale of beverages), SIA COFFEE ADDRESS SIA COFFEE ADDRESS (engaged in wholesale trade of coffee, tea, cocoa and spices) and SIA MV GROUP DISTRIBUTION LV (engaged in wholesale of beverages). On 23.03.2023 for SIA DIAKONIA the liquidation process was initiated and since July 2023 it also has tax debts as well the real beneficiary of the company was a natural person from Belarus.

The total net value of wholesale companies increased by EUR 38 thousand in 2022, reaching EUR 11 million, while the total liquidity of companies on average reached 102% compared to 33% in 2021. Total liquidity indicates a company's ability to balance its liabilities against the company's assets, which indicates that companies have generally recovered from the COVID-19 years and their overall financial position is improving.

The total profitability of companies in 2022 reached 279%, which increased by 241% or 7.3 times, compared to 2021, when it was 38%. This indicator shows that since 2021, the profitability of companies has increased.

In 2022, the liquidation process was started for 2 companies, which ended in 2022 (in addition to 2 other companies, the processes started in previous years and ended in 2022). In total, 27 companies have been liquidated and has stooped carrying out their activities. It should be mentioned, that almost all of these companies have tax debts in the last year.

For the moment, the wholesale industry has recovered from the restrictions of COVID-19, however, it is difficult to say how the introduced sanctions against legal and natural persons from the Republic of Russia and Belarus, due to the invasion of Ukraine, may affect the industry. The introduced sanctions prevent any kind of cooperation with suppliers, as well as the possibility of exporting goods - which can severely affect various types of companies in Latvia in the long term, considering that it is not known when the war in Ukraine might end, and it is also not clear whether these sanctions are planned to be lifted.

A relatively small number of companies have been liquidated (for the time being according to the available data) by 01.01.2023 or are facing financial difficulties.