Financial news

Economic growth in 2014 will reach just over 2%, said Finance Minister Petar Tchobanov. He recalled that the current forecast for 2014 GDP growth was at 1.8%. However, according to the politician, the data to accelerate economic growth in the second half of 2013 give hope this forecast to be revised in a positive direction. One of the first measures that were taken by the Oresharski government was the timely recovery of VAT in the order to help the business to pile up funds as working capital. Petar Tchobanov made it clear that by the faster rotation of funds into the economy promoted economic growth. In his words, this also became evident from the 1.6% yoy economic growth in the fourth quarter of 2013. Meetings with local businesses together with the Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB) help to get information on which other reforms can be based, Tchobanov noted.

Bankcard transactions in Bulgaria hit BGN 22.17 billion in 2013, up BGN 2 billion y/y, according to BNB data. Figures published by the central bank show that transactions in 2012 totaled BGN 20 billion. The sum includes ATM cash withdrawals, transfers and deposits, POS terminal operations and payments in stores. The value of ATM withdrawals in the country increased by BGN 1.4 billion y/y to BGN 17.6 billion last year. POS terminal operations bulged by BGN 644.5 million y/y to BGN 4.3 billion. According to BNB, there were over 7.3 million bankcards in circulation in late 2013. VISA Electron was the most popular brand with 2.9 million issued cards, followed by Maestro with 2.8 million. The number of ATMs in the country was 5,861 and there were 73,556 POS terminals.

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

Companies

Gennady Timchenko, included in US list of sanctions over Ukraine, is to build Bulgaria's part of the South Stream. The Russian official is reported to have a 63% share in Stroytransgaz, the company in charge of Bulgarian sector of the South Stream pipeline project. Bulgaria's Economy Minister Dragomir Stoynev announced  he did not know which company is to manage the project on Bulgarian soil. Timchenko has the main stakeholder in Stroytransgaz since 2007, even though his name does not appear on the company's website. Timchenko is described as the sixth richest Russian. He is known as part of President Vladimir Putin's "inner circle". Sanctions imposed by the US earlier forced him to sell his 43% share in energy giant Gunvor.

Companies of processing industry will get easily certificates from InvestBulgaria Agency. Faster procedures are also kept in mind. For the new production companies necessary minimum investment is reduced by half. Lower thresholds are provided for projects for development of industrial zones and technological parks. This became clear from published for public discussion amendments in the Regulations for Implementation of the Law on Investment Promotion. Companies that apply for certificate will be granted a special certificate from the agency that is to ensure them cooperation from different institutions for completion of the project. Minimum size of investment required for certification of priority investment projects in the processing industry are reduced from BGN 100 to 50 million. High-tech activities in processing industry are to be certified if they make a minimum investment of BGN 30 million. Minimum required investment for construction of industrial zones and development of industrial parks has also been drastically decreased from BGN 50 to 15 million.

Deputy Prime Minister Daniela Bobeva has started negotiations with the international creditors of Bulgarian State Railways who have agreed to reschedule loans for 10 years. The Holding's total liabilities currently amount to BGN 620M compared to BGN 704M in May, 2013, CEO Hristian Krastev said. For the first time in recent years, BGN 66M principals on overdue loans coming up to BGN 150M have been paid, Krastev said. The Holding intends to sell all unnecessary assets - buildings, unused and scrapped coaches and lodgings. The expected revenues are nearly BGN 19M. Krastev has confirmed his intention to purchase 20 electric railcars. The contract will be announced in April.

Subscription for the BGN 9.0 million initial public offering (IPO) of indebted Bulgarian football club CSKA opened on Friday, attracting higher-than-expected investor interest, the local brokerage which manages the IPO said. Investors subscribed for 75,000 shares in 760 deals in just five and a half hours, Dimitar Georgiev, head of Elana Trading's financial markets department said. Investors have been offered 3.0 million shares with a nominal value of BGN 1.0 and an issue price of BGN 3.0 each. Football fans have been queuing up at all offices of the brokerage company throughout the day. They, however, have been subscribing for small batches of shares and it will take large investors for the whole issue to be sold. The IPO will be considered successful if investors subscribe for at least 1,409,210 shares. The subscription will run for 15 days. CSKA’s capital currently stands at BGN 5.09 million. The debt-ridden club was acquired by Luxemburg-based Lira Investment in July last year in a debt-for-equity deal. As of the end of October, its liabilities stood at over BGN 20 million.

United Bulgarian Bank (UBB) has put up for auction the assets of Mesocentrala Montana Ltd. ,one of the first meat processing plants in Bulgaria with EU license, for BGN 7.73 million. The company owes UBB nearly BGN 12 million. Mesocentrala Montana went bankrupt in February 2013, but according to UBB data production had wrapped up back in early 2010. UBB officials said they had attempted to sell the assets of the company at least in four previous auctions.

Military Plant Fleet Arsenal in Varna, a division of Terem, has contracts signed for the next 5 years to repair the Russian military ships. The company that reported a loss of BGN 6 million last year, has already turned to profit and has create 100 new jobs. Plant Tcerno More JSC, which produces navigational radar systems, is in talks with the MoD and MoI to produce video cameras for the Bulgarian borders. Negotiations with major companies from the Far East are held to establish joint ventures with Bulgarian companies.

Europe

BMW's CEO, Norbert Reithofer, announced that they will need to build even more electric-drive cars to meet the new, even stricter antipollution laws. In a press conference, M. Reithofer said he was extremely satisfied with the global reception of the i3. Even better, the order book for the American market will open in June, generating more sales. The USA are the biggest market for electric vehicles in the world. The other car in the i brand, the i8, is also a commercial success so far, the company having actually sold so many of them they are now on a 6 month waiting list! This, however, could become a problem. The CEO of BMW thinks that while customers are able to wait 6 months for the delivery of such an advanced vehicle, any longer than that would turn people away from the electric sport car. According to M. Reithofer, the i brand would have to produce more than 100,000 vehicles annually to meet demand, including the i3 and i8.

America

More than five years after the financial crisis struck, the biggest U.S. banks are better able to withstand a severe recession than at any time since the meltdown, the Federal Reserve has determined. Results of the Fed's annual "stress tests" showed Thursday that all but one of 30 top banks passed muster with sufficient capital buffers to keep them lending through an economic crisis. Only Zions Bancorp fell short. The results showed continued improvement in banks' financial positions since the 2008 crisis, the Fed said. That built on positive results from last year's tests. "The industry is stronger and more profitable than a year ago," said RBC Capital Markets banking analyst Gerard Cassidy. The banks' stronger positions should enable them to pursue business plans, pay dividends to shareholders, raise capital from investors and expand services to customers, said Frank Keating, president of the American Bankers Association.

Asia

Chinese PC maker Lenovo still considers strategic acquisitions as its best growth path, even with the ink not yet dry on its $2.3 billion deal to land IBM’s (IBM) x86 server business and an equally high profile $2.91 billion purchase of Google’s (GOOG) Motorola mobile unit. Following a shareholder meeting in Hong Kong earlier this week, Lenovo chief executive Yang Yuanqing, as reported by The Wall Street Journal, said the company will “continue to use acquisitions as a means to grow. Whenever there is a good opportunity, we will grasp it." But having just spent more than $5 billion—some $2.7 billion of it in cash—on two acquisitions, does Lenovo have enough left in its storehouse to move on new opportunities? Until two months ago, in the nine years since buying IBM’s PC business for $1.75 billion, Lenovo had engaged only in far smaller deals. Will we see more blockbusters in the future?

The St. Spas Church in Nessebar

The church St. Spas was built in the 17th century. It was the only church built in Nessebar during the Ottoman slavery. According to the Ottoman rules, it is not distinguished architecturally from the other buildings in the town. It was built in 1609 from stone and mud, with wooden roof, without belfry and cupola, with small windows, and the eastern wall was half dug into the ground. St. Spas is with one hall and one apsis. The gravestone of the Roman princess Mataissa Cantacuzina Paleologina stayed many years in the apsis of the church. The walls were painted by the Nessebar icon-painters with evangelic scenes and images of saints. On the church’s walls you can see the Christ Baptism, the Christ Resurrection, the Entering of Christ in Jerusalem and many other.

On that day:  The capturing of Edirne fortress Village of Dolen