Financial news

Vienna Stock-Exchange has expressed its interest in acquiring shares of the Bulgarian Stock-Exchange (BSE), Bulgaria's Finmin Simeon Djankov stated. Yesterday Minister Djankov rang the bell to give the start of stack-exchange trade with shares of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange. The idea is that the Bulgarian state keeps the majority package of 50% plus one share so that the 49,9% of the share of Bulgarian Stock Exchange be freely traded. The size of the emission of shares of the BSE is BGN 6,582,860 as the par value of each share is BGN 1. "We need a strategic investor so that the BSE becomes a big player and a regional leader but this is hardly possible to become a fact for a month only," Minister Djankov commented. "The public status of the BSE will facilitate the negotiations over the finding of a strategic investor," Minister Djankov added.

According to the NSI Business inquiries in December 2010 the industrial confidence indicator increased in comparison with November. This is due to the improved managers’ expectations about the production activity over the next 3 months. At the same time the production assurance with orders in December was 1.1 percentage points above its longterm average value. By preliminary operative data the gross domestic product (GDP) in the third quarter of 2010 amounted to BGN 19 403.0 million at current prices and GDP per capita was BGN 2 581.2. In comparison with the third quarter of 2009 the real volume of GDP increased by 0.5% according to the seasonally adjusted data.

	Mineral Fuels, Tailoring Products, Canning, Perfumery and Cosmetics, Furniture, Meat Products, Wine, Wood-processing Industry

Companies

Heat Supply-Ruse advised that it is officially registered in the Ministry of Economy and Energy, as entity entitled to carry out heat distribution accounting. The company is licensed to work with the appliance of SIEMENS. This will probably lead to shifts on the market. Ruse households must replace their appliances for heating accounting because they are installed in the period 2000 - 2001 and their 10-year lifetime has expired. This will probably cause the households to consider the bids of the heat accountants and to choose a new one that offers better prices.

For the period November 2009 - November 2010 banks in Bulgaria have lent their corporate customers with new BGN 1.274 billion, according to calculations based on data from the Bulgarian National Bank. At the end of period 72.91% of loans are in euros, while those in BGN and other currencies are respectively 23.88% and 3.2%. From January to November 2010 the Bulgarian companies paid interest totaling BGN 2.48 billion compared to BGN 2.504 billion for the same period a year earlier. As of 30 November the bad and restructured corporate loans reached a record level of 19.1 percent against 18.68 percent a month earlier. At the end of the period the bad or restructured loans according to BNB statistics were 16.44 percent of total loans of the population. The data also show that bad consumer loans are 16.86%, housing - 15.55% and other loans - 21.44%.

The waste management companies of Titan International Holding will get through a cession agreement between BGN 10 million and BGN 12 million from Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB), one of the company's owners, Dimitar Borissov, told. Earlier, Borissov stated that the obligations of part of the municipalities using Titan's services will be settled via BDB, expecting, however, that the sum will make up BGN 20 million. The scheme is mainly aimed at the redemption of municipalities' overdue liabilities, which, in turn, will be used by Titan to pay back its creditors and suppliers. Local authorities are expected to reimburse the money by April.

BDZ’s (Bulgarian State Railways) liabilities stand at BGN 580 mln, said Vladimir Vladimirov, Chairman of the company’s Management Board. He explained that the company was unable to invest in new cars. Until now, the personnel has been reduced by 13% and by 2014 some 17% more employees would be let to. Vladimirov noted that there should be no mass staff lay-outs. According to him, this year, a total of 400 employees would retire and new ones would not be appointed. In 2011, however, an optimization of the personnel related to safety is foreseen. "Trains will travel even in situations of strike, but the operating staff will be limited," said Peter Bunev, Chairman of the Syndicate of Railway Men in Bulgaria at the CITUB. Trade union leaders proposed a meeting to analyze the problems on January 13. According to Bunev, there is a risk that the optimizing of BDZ’s staff would threaten the safety of the railways.

Europe

Ireland's unemployment rate increased to 13.4% in December from 13.2% in November, official data showed on Thursday, in a rise seen as temporary for the indebted eurozone member. November's level was revised down from an initial estimate of 13.5%, while December's figure comes after the Irish parliament voted last month in favour of a bailout worth EUR 67 billion by the EU and IMF. "The increase in December can be attributed to people who are temporarily employed in the educational sector signing on over the holiday period," said Minister for Social Protection Eamon O Cuiv. "Adverse weather conditions in December would also have affected certain sectors, such as the construction sector," he added in a statement. The 437,079 on the country's Live Register in December was up from the November total of 425,002.

America

Yahoo! is out to build on its lead over Google and Apple in the budding smart television market by letting television broadcasters connect in real time with viewers. Yahoo! and several television networks on Wednesday launched a pilot "interactivity" program for its Connected TV on the eve of the opening of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) gadget extravaganza in Las Vegas. "This is the next phase of where television is heading and we think we have a strategic advantage being out on the market for two years now," said Russ Schafer, senior director of product marketing at Yahoo! Connected TV. "We think it is really going to change TV," he said. Television sets embedded with Yahoo! software "widgets" that link to specific websites launched at the annual CES event in 2009 and are now in about six million households.

Asia

China will invest 700 billion yuan ($106 billion) in 2011 in building railways. The money would be used for 70 new intercity projects, said the official newspaper of the ruling Communist Party. China will open a $33 billion high-speed rail link between Beijing and Shanghai in June, cutting the journey between the two cities in half to less than five hours. A spending spree on railways was an important part of the government stimulus package launched in late 2008, but even as expansionary fiscal policy is wound down, the government has pledged to maintain hefty railway investment. China's high-speed rail network has been developing rapidly over the past decade, reaching a total of 8,358 km, the world's longest.

St. John The Baptist Feast

On January 7, the Bulgarian orthodox church celebrates the day of St. John the Baptist – the last prophet of the Old Testament and Baptist of Jesus Christ. The feast is also called “Ivanovden”. John the Baptist is also called “The Precursor”, for he was walking before Jesus and prepared the people for his birth. His sermon calling for repentance and baptism, for cleaning of all sins as a preparation for the coming of Jesus gives him a special place among all Evangelists. He was fighting for high morality and justice, and was sentenced by the ruler Irod Antipa. Later on, he was beheaded following the ruler’s order. In Bulgarian national tradition, Ivanovden is connected with the purifying power of the water, sanctified the previous day. The period of the so-called “dirty days” is over and everyone turns their sights forward waiting for the prophecies for good health, rich harvest and happy life to come true. On this day, everyone called Joan, Joanna, Ivan, Ivana, John, Ivaylo, Jean, Jeaneta, Yovko, Yovcho, Johan, celebrate their name day.

On that day:  The village of Lyutibrod Stoyan Mihailovski