A negative effect on profit

Norwegian indus-trial group Orkia ASA said Friday that lower earnings from Russian beer helped depress pretax profits by 40 per-cent in the first four months of 1999 and it forecast a mixed outlook for the rest of the year. Orkia, whose interests range from soft drinks to newspapers, said pretax profits fell to 468 million kroner ($58.5 million) in January to April from 778 million in the same period of 1998. The results were weaker than most analysts_ forecast, especially for chem-icals, beverages and foods. Baltic Beverages, which Orkia owns 50-50 with Finland_s Hartwall, is a ma-jority shareholder in St. Petersburg_s Baltika Brewery. Baltika sales rose by 25 percent to 287 million liters but a weaker ruble cut Orkla_s share of profit to 67 million kroner from 167 million. Orkla_s overall operating revenues gained to 9.63 billion kroner from 9.58 billion while operating profits fell to 341 million kroner from 474 million. Net profit fell to 342 million from 576 million. Orkla_s overall beverages division swung to a loss of 35 million kroner from a profit of 70 million, also partly hit by the end of a production deal with U.S. soft drinks giant Coca-Cola.