Financial news

Bulgarian treasury ended 2014 with a deficit of BGN 3.1 billion, or 3.7% of GDP. The fiscal reserve amounts to BGN 9.2 billion as of 31 December 2014, or BGN 8.1 billion in deposits and BGN 1.1 billion in EU funds. This is written in the report of Minister of Finance Vladislav Goranov which was approved by the Cabinet. The state revenue amounts to BGN 29 billion, while expenditure amounts to BGN 32.4 billion. Compared to 2013, tax revenue increased by BGN 657.9 million.

Non-guaranteed household deposits exceeding BGN 200,000 decreased by more than BGN 906 million, BNB data show. The same trend is observed in corporate loans. Deposits exceeding BGN 1 million decreased by more than BGN 919 million in a year, while those of BGN 500,000-BGN 1 million decreased by BGN 69 million. At the same time the total amount of deposits in banks increased by BGN 1.465 billion in 2014, mainly thanks to household deposits that increased by BGN 1.566 billion in a year despite the exclusion of Corporate Commercial Bank (Corpbank) from the statistics in November 2014. Guaranteed deposits paid by Corpbank were distributed into various banks in the banking system. BNB data show that loans in the banking system decreased by BGN 5.261 billion in Q4 of 2014. This is mainly due to the exclusion of Corpbank from the statistics in November. The bank’s credit portfolio amounted dot BGN 5.3 billion.

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

Concessions

The Bulgarian government decided to terminate the concession deal on the Ruse-West port terminal on the Danube river. The contract will be terminated unilaterally because the concessioner has failed to perform its primary responsibility. A 35-year concession was awarded to local company Port Terminal Ruse-West in September 2013. Ruse-West port covers an area of about 118,400 sq m and has 34,500 sq m of storage area, including 6,900 sq m of covered storage area. It is connected to the national railway and road network.

Companies

LAUNCHub’s creators have ambitions to set a new fund after 2015 by which to go on supporting and insuring funding for innovative projects and start-ups. In 2015 term for taking up money for start-ups under JEREMIE expires. Through it EUR 21 million has been rendered to LAUNCHub (EUR 9 million) and Eleven (EUR 12 million). Till the end of the present years the two funds have remaining resource under JEREMIE which will be invested in new, existing of already completed projects. LAUNCHub was set in 2012. It has negotiated investments to the amount of almost EUR 54 million up to now that are distributed among 50 different companies. The fund’s team plans to entirely use the remaining part of the capital assessed to EUR 3.6 million. It will be distributed for follow-on investments in companies in their current portfolio and initial financing of newly attracted projects. The seed fund plans to make between 10 and 15 completely new investments till the end of the year. Against minority stake the maximum sum that can be given to a start-up is EUR 200 thousand, as the major requirement for its registration in Bulgaria remains.

Bulgarian gas transmission system operator Bulgartransgaz has opened a BGN 9.8 million tender for the design and drilling of a well at Chiren underground gas repository, a tender notice indicated. The works envisioned in the tender should be completed within 360 days. The value of the contract is given net of Value Added Tax. The company said last year that the capacity of the underground natural gas storage facility in Chiren is planned to be increased by the end of 2018, in stages, to 1 billion cubic metres (bcm) from the current 550 million cubic metres (mcm) with daily withdrawal and injection capacity reaching 10 mcm, up from the current 4.2 mcm daily for withdrawal and 3.16 mcm for injection. Also last year, Bulgartransgaz, together with gas monopoly Bulgargaz, signed with Azeri state-owned gas and oil company SOCAR a memorandum of understanding for a possible joint project for the expansion of the Chiren storage facility.

Satellite operator Bulsatcom is building its telecommunications satellite worth USD 150 million and if all goes well, it could be in orbit in 2016. The project was presented recently in America. The equipment is called Bulgaria Sat 1, just like the company, which is currently building an earth station in Polski Trambesh. The project is funded by a credit line from the US Foreign Trade Bank. The company received a license to provide mobile services from fourth-generation, also with external financing of EUR 85 million. Development of the satellite project is actually expected for nearly two years. The company has a geostationary orbit provided to it by the State. A few days ago advisors of Polski Trambesh approved detailed plan for investor Bulgaria SAT JSC. So was officially given the green light to the project for two routes with a view to greater security of the communication link.

International sensors and controls producer Sensata Technologies plans to invest around USD 40 million in a new plant in Bulgaria's second biggest city Plovdiv this year and USD 12 - USD15 million in expanding its existing plant in the country, the company's general manager said. “We are building a new manufacturing location in Plovdiv at the moment besides our existing manufacturing location in Botevgrad,” Tommy Ver Elst said. “This is creating additional capacity to meet our European customer demand from within Europe. This is fitting in our long term strategy within Sensata where we want to operate cost effective manufacturing plants close to the customers and markets we serve.” The company has finalised the technical design of the plant and main building construction works are ongoing. Production is scheduled to begin in early January 2016.

Europe

Spanish housing sales increased by 2.2 percent in 2014 in comparison with 2013, according to data published on Tuesday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). According to the INE, a total of 319,389 operations were registered in 2014, which meant the first rise on a year-on-year basis after three years of falling. Sales of second-hand houses increased by 18.4 percent to a total of 199,943 operations, while sales of new houses fell by 16.9 percent to a total of 119,446 purchases. The INE said sales of non-subsidized houses, which accounted for 89.7 percent of the total, rose by 3.2 percent in 2014, while sales of subsidized houses fell by 6.2 percent, accounting for 10.3 percent of the total. Meanwhile, In December, housing sales increased by 15.7 percent to a total of 25,998 operations in comparison with the same month of a year earlier, while on a month-on-month basis they increased by 3.2 percent.

America

iPhone and iPad maker became the first market capitalization of over $ 700 billion of US companies. Cupertino, California-based Apple, whose market capitalization last week of November and had a short break through intraday trading $ 700 billion, but failed to continue to close. And according to Tuesday’s closing price, Apple’s market capitalization of $710.7 billion. Investors often used to measure the market value of a company worth. The market value of that market capitalization, calculated by multiplying the stock price by the company‘s outstanding shares. Apple will issue 5.82 billion outstanding shares. Standard & Poor’s 500 index in selected companies, Apple’s market value is almost twice the market value of the other three big companies. Exxon Mobil‘s market capitalization of about $ 385 billion , second only to Apple; there are two classes of shares issued in Berkshire – Hathaway market capitalization ranked third, for $ 370 billion; Microsoft ranked fourth, was $ 349 billion.

Asia

Qualcomm Inc. was fined $975 million by Chinese antitrust regulators, who set new terms for smartphone makers to license the chipmaker’s technology, ending an inquiry that threatened the U.S. company’s growth in the biggest mobile market. China’s National Development and Reform Commission issued a decision that Qualcomm violated its anti-monopoly law, the San Diego-based company said Monday in a statement. Qualcomm won’t challenge the ruling, which includes a fine of 6.088 billion yuan ($975 million) and imposes conditions on royalties charged on phones sold in China. The accord puts to rest an investigation that lasted more than a year and hurt Qualcomm’s ability to collect licensing revenue in China, where some handset makers have delayed royalty payments or paid less than they owe. Qualcomm, whose chips run most of the world’s phones that can access the Internet, gets the majority of its profit from patent-licensing fees related to its ownership of technology fundamental to cellular-phone systems.

The Thracian sanctuary Orlovi skali (Eagle Rocks)

The Thracian sanctuary Orlovi skali (Eagle Rocks) is situated about 3km south of Ardino. This monument of the ancient culture of the Tracians is unique for Bulgaria. Because of the big slope of the place, the height of the rock is not the same. The west part of the rock is the highest – 30 meters, the north and the south is about 25 meters and the east – 10-12 meters. More than 100 rock niches were made in the rock. There is no regularity in their arrangement. The niches are trapezium-shaped, but their sizes are not the same. The largest one has the following dimensions: height –70 cm, width of the base – 34 cm and 20 cm of the top and the depth is 34 cm. It is believed that the niches were made by the Odrysian tribes in the 1st century A.D. During ceremonies religious objects were placed in the rock holes. The Thracian sanctuary Orlovi skali is a monument of culture for Bulgaria.

On that day:  Satovcha