Financial news

Gross external debt of Bulgaria at the end of March was EUR 39.38 billion, which is EUR 387 mln less compared to the end of 2014, BNB announced. Year-on-year, however, the debt rose by EUR 2.22 bln, due to the growth of state liabilities. Gross external debt of the government sector at the end of March was EUR 6.452 billion and compared to the end of 2014 it increased by EUR 425 million. On yearly basis the debt of the government sector increased by EUR 2.985 billion (86.1%). External liabilities of sector Banks were EUR 5.185 billion. They decreased by EUR 706.6 million YoY. External liabilities of sector Others were EUR 11.9 billion and they decreased by EUR 200 mln for one year. In late March, intercompany lending is EUR 15.84 billion, an increase of EUR 141 million. For the period January-March loans and deposits received from abroad were EUR 2.522 billion. Of these, EUR 2 billion was for the government sector, mainly due to acquisition by foreign investors of bonds issued in March in international markets totaling EUR 3.1 billion.

The European Commission asked 11 EU member states, Bulgaria among them, to fully implement the provisions of the bank recovery and resolution directive. The directive went into force last year and EU countries had until the end of 2014 to implement it. Drafted in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, the main objective of the directive was to ensure that banks on the verge of insolvency can be restructured without taxpayers having to pay for failing banks to safeguard financial stability; providing instead for shareholders and creditors of the banks to pay their share of the costs through a “bail-in” mechanism, the Commission said. The issue is particularly topical in Bulgaria’s case, where the country’s fourth-largest lender by assets, the Corporate Commercial Bank, asked to be put under central bank administration in June 2014 and later was found to hold mainly impaired assets.

REFA qualification course 29.06-03.07.2015, 13.07-17.07.2015, 20.07-31.07.2015 Corporate organization and management and optimization of the production processes Second module: Production Data Management Topic: Production Data Management The production organization Planning and control of production Workplace analysis European legislation on safety and health at work http://refa.bia-bg.com/, tel. 981-45-67, Sofia

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

Companies

International company Standard Profil Group opened a new factory for production of automotive seals in the town of Stara Zagora. Concept for hybrid encapsulation of automotive seals will be realized in the new production facility of the company. The investment in the factory, which has an area of 10.3 thousand square meters, is assessed to EUR 10.5 million. At present the number of employees of Standard Profil in Stara Zagora is 1050. Gradual increase of their number is planned to happen by the end of 2016. The fixed number is 1500. Seals for Opel Astra will be produced in the new production facility, as well as General Motors’ new model. Major customers of the company are car giants, such as Volkswagen, Fiat, Renault and Daimler. Standard Profil’s entire production volume for Europe will be rendered to the Stara-Zagora-based factory.

Chinese entrepreneurs have expressed interest in the possibility of producing electric scooters in the Pernik region, mayor Ivan Ivanov revealed. After certification, the products could be sold in the European market and worldwide, Ivanov noted. He and local businessmen from Pernik attended the International Economic Forum in China last week to seek investors for the region. "We had an intensive series of meetings with Chinese businessmen and am confident that they will lead to real investments in Pernik," said the mayor. He stressed that during the talks the parties discussed the possibilities of BG companies to partner in the economic sphere with Chinese manufacturers. According to Ivanov, there is a huge interest in the metallurgical sector, machinery and cement production. He held a meeting with the governor of Hubei Province, with heads of departments in the regional administrations. The forum was attended by representatives from various countries, including Romania, Poland, Argentina and others.

Sofia-based freight forwarding company Gopet Trans plans to invest BGN 2 million by 2016 in the development of intermodal transport in Bulgaria, connecting the country with Britain and western Europe. Gopet Trans also plans to launch an intermodal connection between Curtici in Romania and the Bulgarian capital city Sofia. In 2014 Gopet Trans became the first Bulgarian operator of an intermodal block train, between Curtici and the Bulgarian city of Ruse, on the Danube. Currently, the train runs once a week between Curtici and Stara Zagora, in southern Bulgaria, and Ruse. By 2020 the company plans to diversify its services by the so called green logistics - rail and intermodal transport - as well as sea and air transport. Gopet is also working on developing a new service portfolio for supply management, warehousing, cross docking, and value-added services. Planned investments in these activities add up to EUR 300,000. The company has local offices and subsidiaries in Romania, Poland, Austria and Greece. It has a network of contractors, own vehicles, logistics center at an area of 400 square meters for goods of common type and additional space of 600 square meters for storage of dangerous goods

117 employees of Woodworking-VT JSC will be laid-off. On June 1 people working in the wood-processing plant will receive their 1-month notices and on July 1 they will be unemployed. The reason is that Kronospan will acquire the plant to expand its own production base, which is next to Woodworking-VT. One of the owners of Woodworking-VT, Alexey Kanchev, confirmed the news. “We negotiate actively with Kronospan, we have not signed a contract yet, but things have been moved forward. The buyer of our assets intends to build a new plant. We are a wood-processing company, we have markets, but we cannot produce as we are left with no wood.

Company for production of bricks Wienerberger will invest more than BGN 1 million in 2015 in its factory in Lukovit. The money will be collected through equity capital and will be used predominantly for renovation of production and better working conditions. Significant expansion of machinery is not planned, yet. The Austrian company Wienerberger, which is owner of the factory in Lukovit, is celebrating its 10th year from its stepping in Bulgaria. Initially the subsidiary was only imported of bricks but in 2006 the group bought an old ceramics factory in Lukovit. The starting investment in it was EUR 30 million. In 2007 the first bricks under the brand of Porotherm were launched. The Austrian company has three plants in Romania, as well as factories in Croatia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Greece and Turkey. Almost all produced goods of the Bulgarian factory are sold on the local market. There have been just "boutique" quantities for export. The reason is that bricks are of the cheaper construction materials and thus longer transportation raises their price. At present in Lukovit and subsidiaries of the bricks’ producer a total of 81 people are employed.

Europe

Cash-strapped Greece has racked up mounting debts with international drugmakers and now owes the industry more than 1.1 billion euros, a leading industry official said. The rising unpaid bill reflects the growing struggle by the nearly bankrupt country to muster cash, and creates a dilemma for companies under moral pressure not to cut off supplies of life-saving medicines. Richard Bergstrom, director general of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, told Reuters his members had not been paid by Greece since December 2014. They are owed money by both hospitals and state-run health insurer EOPYY. Drugmakers and EU officials are now discussing options in the event Greece defaults on its debt or leaves the euro zone, disrupting imports of vital goods, including medicines. "We have started a conversation in Brussels with the European Commission," Bergstrom said. "We want the Commission to know that our companies are in this for the long run and are committed to Greece." There is a precedent for the pharmaceutical industry to agree exceptional supply measures during a financial crisis. It happened in Argentina in 2002, when some firms agreed to continue to supply drugs for a period without payment.

America

Solar power capacity in the U.S. has jumped 20-fold since 2008 as companies including Apple Inc. use it to reduce their carbon footprints. Rooftop panels are sprouting on homes from suburban New York to Phoenix, driven by suppliers such as SolarCity Corp. and NRG Energy Inc. Giant farms of photovoltaic panels, including Warren Buffett’s Topaz array in California, are changing power flows in the electrical grid, challenging hydro and conventional generators and creating negative prices on sunny days. The surge comes after shale drilling opened new supplies of natural gas, contributing to the 47 percent drop in oil since June. “Solar is the new shale,” Michael Blaha, principal analyst of North American power at Wood Mackenzie Ltd. in Houston, said April 8. “Shale has lowered cost and enabled lower natural gas prices. Solar will lower costs for electricity.” Solar capacity surged 30 percent in 2014 to more than 20 gigawatts and will more than double by the end of 2016, according to the Washington-based Solar Energy Industries Association. That’s enough to power 7.6 million U.S. homes, up from 360,000 in 2009. The biggest gains will be in California, Arizona, Texas, Georgia, New York and New Jersey.

Asia

Japan's retail sales rose 5.0 percent in the year to April, the first increase in four months, data showed on Thursday - bolstering the central bank's view that consumer spending is slowly picking up to underpin a steady economic recovery. The positive data adds to signs of improvement in consumer confidence and eases pressure on the Bank of Japan to expand its massive stimulus program in the near-term horizon. The increase fell slightly short of a 5.4 percent rise forecast in a Reuters poll and followed a 9.7 percent drop in March. The year-on-year numbers have been distorted by a surge in consumption leading up to last April's sales tax hike and a subsequent downturn after the higher levy nudged the economy into mild recession last year. Still, the pickup in retail sales is a welcome sign for policymakers, who hope that rising wages and the low cost of gasoline will boost households' disposable income and prompt them to spend more. The BOJ revised up its assessment of the economy last week on signs of pickup in private consumption, signaling that it has no plan to expand stimulus any time soon.

Snejanka (Snow White) cave

The cave Snejanka is located in the Batashka mountain, in the Western Rhodopi, some 5 km southwest of the town of Peshtera. Though difficult to access, it is impressive for its incredibly beautiful glacial shapes. Remains of fireplaces, built by the primitive people have been found inside the cave, along with some stone ware, made by humans without the use of ceramic wheels. Scientists believe these remains are dated back to the time of the ancient Thracians. Snejanka’s area is very small, but it is divided into many halls, abundant in stalactites, stalagmites and various draperies. The name of the cave comes from a female figure, moulded by nature in one of the halls, called the Magic Hall.