Financial news

In April 2015, number of arrivals of visitors from abroad to Bulgaria was 502,200, which is some 3.7% increase compared with April 2014. The share of visits of ЕU citizens was 54.4% of the total number of foreigners’ visits to Bulgaria in April 2015 or 1.7% less in comparison with the same month of the previous year. A decrease was registered in the visits of the citizens of Poland - by 24.6%, Greece - by 24.1%, Belgium - by 12.9%, France – by 6.2%, and etc. At the same time there is an increase in the number of visits from Romania - by 9.4%, Spain - by 9.2%, Italy – by 6.8%, the Netherlands - by 5.4%, and etc. The visits of foreigners in the group ‘Other European countries’ increased by 9.8%, as the highest growth was observed in the visits of citizens of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia - by 29.7%.

In 2015, Bulgaria has been ranked on the 55th spot in terms of competitiveness indicators, thus showing a slight improvement from last year's 56th spot. The data has been released by the Yearbook of World Competitiveness, administered by the Swiss International Institute for Management Development (IMD). According to the reviewed definition of competitiveness, published, it in fact denotes "the ability of a country to facilitate an environment in which enterprises can generate sustainable value". The report data demonstrates that the position of Bulgaria has neither improved nor worsened considerably as compared to the situation over the course of the past five years. The country remains among those with low levels of competitiveness, but nonetheless scores better than Croatia and Ukraine. The best ever score in the ranking was reached back in 2009, when it was 38th. Meanwhile, the main strong points of Bulgaria remain the low cost of both labor and goods and services. This, however, leaves it highly susceptible to any changes in the international economic order.

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

Companies

Bulgarian development center SAP Labs is opening a technological workshop in Bulgaria. It will be located at the company’s office at Tsar Boris III Boulevard. It is aimed at making different hardware innovations accessible for SAP Labs’ employees, as well as for students. The project is called D-Shop (an abbreviation from Developer’s Workshop). It is part of SAP’s global programme, focused at making more accessible the newest hardware gadgets for all its professionals. D-Shop has device for additional and virtual reality such as Oculus Rift and Leap motion. Technologies that can be accessed in d-shop include electronic platforms like tiny computer Raspberry Pi together with standard components for building and connecting hardware with SAP platforms. The software company’s idea is to accelerate penetration of Internet of things, as it makes easier starting of work with similar technologies and connects innovators within the company

By decision of the Council of Ministers, the Government assigned the Minister of Economy to transfer privately state-owned real estates, which are located in the villages of Gurmazovo and Voluyak, to the capital of the National Company Industrial Zones SPJSC. The properties have an area of 192 and 124 decares. They are necessary for connection of site infrastructure networks of Economic Area Sofia – Bozhurishte to trunk lines of the utilities. Transfer of the properties will allow to build the necessary road overpasses, parking lots, bus stops, discharging collector of rainwater and wastewater, as well as other area and line service facilities, characteristic of the entrance of a large industrial zone.

NEK obligations to the two US plants in Maritsa - Iztok grows within the hours, CEO of BEH Jaklin Cohen said during a parliament hearing on the energy situation. Cohen said he led tough negotiations with the plants for final signing of the contracts with which to reduce the cost of availability, which NEK pays. The effect of this measure will save BGN 1 billion for the remaining 10 years of the contract, or BGN 100 million per year. The condition to reduce the price is the payment of NEK’s debt to two companies - AES Galabovo Maritsa East 1 and Contour Global Maritsa East 3. Initially it was announced to be 700 million. Yesterday, Deputy Minister of Energy Nikolay Nikolov said the debt is BGN 800 million and that Bulgarian Energy Holding seeks to draw government loan to be repay the obligations.

Leading Polish producer of beverages and juices Maspex is about to acquire specialized in processing of fruits and vegetables company Agros Nova. The deal was cleared out by the Polish commission for competition and protection of consumers. In that way the largest group for beverages and foods will be created in Poland. Maspex is developing its business in Bulgaria also after in 2005 it took over Litex juice, which is now renamed to Tymbark Bulgaria. Arrangements envisage Mapex to buy two plants and lots of popular brands in Poland, such as Lowicz, Krakus, Kotlin, Wloclawek, Fruktus, Tarczyn and DrWitt. The takeover will allow bigger synergy in activities and expenses of the company, which has to be beneficial for both companies. Out of Poland the company is operating in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. It manages companies such as Walmark и Olympos. The Bulgarian company Tymbark Bulgaria works in three sectors: beverages, soluble and cereal products. Leading brands in the products’ ranges are Queen’s, Tedi, Ciao, La festa, Coffeeta, Ekland and Lubella. From recently the company's portfolio includes energy drink Tiger, too.

Lukoil has threatened to sue the Risk Management Lab at the New Bulgarian University over a recent report stating that the Burgas-based Lukoil Neftochim refinery deprived the state budget of over BGN 1 bln through inflated prices. According to a report of the lab, headed by Ivan Kostov, former Prime Minister and former leader of the right-wing Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB), the practice benefited the Russian Lukoil Group, at the same time causing significant damage to Bulgarian households and institutions and eroding the competitiveness of Bulgarian companies. The lab accuses the company of calculating production costs on the basis of the price of Brent crude oil instead of the cheaper Urals crude oil imported by Neftochim for processing at the refinery in Burgas. According to Lukoil’s reply, the report is full of misinformation and manipulative interpretation. The fuel retailer claims that it is buying the raw material at market prices and that the lab has gotten wrong the rates to which the two types of crude oil are tied.

Europe

German consumer confidence has risen for the eighth consecutive month as a positive economic outlook and low inflation encourage spending, data released on Wednesday by polling firm GfK showed, dpa reported. The Nuremberg-based market research company raised its consumer confidence index to 10.2 in June, up marginally from 10.1 last month. It is the eighth consecutive monthly increase and marks the highest reading since October 2001. "The good labour market situation, increasing salaries and low inflation are supporting people's willingness to buy in a sustainable way," said GfK analyst Rolf Buerkl. The economic mood in Germany has been buoyant in recent months as a weaker euro boosts exports and a strong labour markets and rising wages encourage domestic demand.

America

The U.S. airline industry slipped into a bear market as investors worry that carriers are losing power to raise fares even as oil prices rise. The Bloomberg U.S. Airlines Index tumbled for a fifth straight day Tuesday, dropping 21 percent from its 2015 high on Jan. 26, a common definition of a bear market. The decline has occurred despite forecasts for a record industry profit this year and as planes fly with more than 80 percent of seats filled. Investors are concerned expansion by some airlines is putting too many seats into the market, upsetting the balance between supply and demand at the same time that oil prices have climbed 34 percent since a 2015 low on March 17. Oil is refined into jet fuel, airline’s largest expense in recent years. “Unfortunately given the amount of capacity creep and likely resulting lack of pricing power, we don’t feel like we have the confidence level to take our revenue estimates up concurrently with higher fuel,” Hunter Keay, a Wolfe Research analyst, wrote in a note Tuesday. “This probably explains why airline stocks are getting hammered.”

Asia

Suntory Beverage & Food Ltd. plans to buy the soft-drinks operations of Japan Tobacco Inc. for ¥150 billion ($1.2 billion) after the cigarette maker decided to cut its losses in the beverage business. The food-and-beverage unit of Jim Beam owner Suntory Holdings Ltd. said Monday that it would acquire all the shares in two JT units operating its 260,000 drinks machines and pick up JT’s two domestic drink brands. Suntory Beverage’s strong presence in the Japanese soft-drinks market and its marketing strength give it the ability to leverage the value of the JT brands and services, JT said in a statement. The tobacco company had already said in February that it would withdraw from the soft-drinks business by the end of September, as its beverage unit seemed unlikely to make a profitable contribution to the JT Group in the medium to long term. Japan Tobacco entered the beverage business in 1988 and is Japan’s 10th-biggest soft-drinks maker.

Gorna Oryahovitza public holiday

The day of Gorna Oryahovitza has been celebrated on May 28 for decades. The town is the successor of the old fortress of Ryahovetz, which took its name from a walnut variety grown in the region. Some of the earliest information about the town dates back to 1444, when it was destroyed by Vladislav II Varnenchek. Gorna Oryahovitza is given some rights to implement commercial and craftsman activities by a royal decree from 1538. During this period, different crafts, such as furriery, homespun tailoring, smithery, goldsmith’s trade, cart-wright’s trade and saddle-making, flourish in the town. It gradually becomes renowned as a major commercial center. Gorna Oryahovitza plays a major role during the Bulgarian Revival. As early as 1822, the first monastery school was established in it, and in 1859 Ivan Momchilov set up the first class school, which marked the beginning of classical education in Gorna Oryahovitza. In 1869, the town already had its own cultural club, and two years later Elena Grancharov established the first female union Enlightenment. In 1868, the town became a “nahia” – a municipality, included in the structure of the Tarnovo “sandjak” (region). In 1870, it was officially given city rights. When Bulgaria was liberated from the Turkish yoke, Gorna Oryahovitza was already a town with 5700 population, 1200 houses, 5 churches and 6 schools.

On that day:  Borovo Silver Treasure