Financial news

2385 companies with over 210,000 employed persons in the country were involved in yesterday's national protest for reforms in the energy sector and on the increase of the additive 'responsibility to society’ to the price of electricity. Over 300 of them participated in marches and rallies in many cities of the country, which included over 25,000 people. The protest was organized by four employers' organizations - BICA, BIA, BCCI and CEIB, supported by trade unions CITUB and Podkrepa. Dissatisfaction is dictated by the upcoming on August 1 increased price supplement 'responsibility to society’ and accordingly the price of electricity for industry by 20 percent. The protesters in the capital have clearly stated their position that they are not here to overthrow governments but to help find arguments to convince KEVR not to raise electricity prices. They are adamant that this can only happen through reforms. Among the raised posters were: "Yes to reforms, no to theft" and "Do not kill Bulgarian working enterprises."

The unemployment rate for youths aged 15 to 29 was 17.7% in 2014, which is 4.1% lowerthan in 2013, shows Cabinet's Annual Report on Youth 2014, reported the government press office. In this period the number of social services offered to the community increased, including activities aimed at supporting young people and the amount of financial resources set aside for this purpose. At the end of 2014 the total number of community-based social services was 841 with capacity of 18,933 users. Compared with 2013, the number of services has increased by 60 and the capacity by 1090. In terms of healthy lifestyle and sports activities the results were also good - over a quarter of Bulgarian youths do sports, 52% of which are aged 15-19. Compared with school year 2012/2013 the number of schools offering physical education and sports has increased by over 5%. The number of projects and programs for students with disabilities rose as well.

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

Concessions

Geotechmin was granted concession for extraction of construction materials- limestone from Raztarvenitsa deposit, South section in Slivnitsa municipality, Sofia region. The concession is granted for a period of 35 years. Nearly 3 million is the planned investment for the period. Additional funds for activities related to environmental protection - over BGN 180,000 are also envisaged.

Bulgaria's government decided to launch a procedure to award a concession for the operation of the civil airport of Gorna Oryahovitsa, in the north central part of the country. The main goal will be to attract a financially stable private investor to contribute to the development of the operations of the airport, ensure airport traffic and improve the airport's commercial activities. The launch of the concession procedure is part of the country's strategy for the development of its transport system until 2020. A US-based company is said to be interested in a possible concession of the airport, as its plans include building aircraft recycling facilities. The potential investor also said it could create between 500 and 600 jobs.

Companies

Telekom Austria Group announced its Bulgarian subsidiary Mobiltel has agreed to acquire 100% of Blizoo Bulgaria from Swedish EQT group. "The acquisition of blizoo is another step to further develop our challenging Bulgarian market. We see a huge growth potential together with Mobiltel in the strongly rising fixed-line segment, which will be ultimately beneficial for our Bulgarian customers," Alejandro Plater, CEO Telekom Austria Group said. In combination with Mobiltel, Blizoo will be able to offer the full four-play service spectrum to our customer base and this also offers great opportunities for further growth. Mobiltel is the country's largest telecom. For some time has also been offering fixed-line services, and after purchasing Blizoo will be able to develop further in the segment. Details about the purchase price will not be released for the moment. The closing is expected for Q4 2015. Covering a total of 1.3 million households, Blizoo is Bulgaria's second-largest fixed-line operator, with 8% share in the fixed broadband and 11% share in the TV market.

Bulgarian employees of the British software company Reward Gateway will get a bonus of millions in a forthcoming sale of the US private equity fund Great Hill Partners. 144 people work for the Plovdiv-based office. They will share percentage of the sum at which the company will be assessed in the deal-GBP 140 million (or EUR 196.35 million). Founded in 2006 Reward Gateway developed software platform for motivation of employees via different rewards, systems for payment and bonus systems and discounts on purchases and services. The product is sold to global corporations. The department which operates in Plovdiv is engaged with support, including software development, 24-hour cooperation, finance, etc. Basic markets of the company are Great Britain, Australia and the US. Among its clients are IBM, American Express, Diageo, Heineken, Sky, McDonalds, Bloomberg, Unilever, DHL, Bayer and others. So far the group has been owned by another fund - Inflexion Private Equity. The office was created in Plovdiv a year and a half ago, as initially it was responsible for software development.

Global Tobacco Ltd received a permit for tobacco processing, announced the government's press office. The company has the necessary production facilities and fully complies with the conditions. To be authorized for tobacco processing, applicants must have technical and technological capabilities for industrial processing of tobacco and for the formation of uniform quality batches corresponding to the respective types and origins in the Law on tobacco and tobacco products.

Germany’s HeidelbergCement AG plans to buy rival Italcementi SpA for EUR 3.7 billion as the world’s second-biggest cement maker puts its repaired balance sheet to work to follow industry leader LafargeHolcim Ltd. down the path of consolidation. HeidelbergCement will initially buy Italmobiliare SpA’s 45 percent stake paying EUR 1.67 billion total in stock and cash, and then offer the same for each share held by outstanding investors once the first transaction is approved. The price offered for each share is 61 percent higher than Italcementi’s closing price before the deal was announced. In Bulgaria Italcementi is the owner of Devnya Cement and Vulkan in Dimitrovgrad. Just two months ago the Italian group put into operation a new production line for clinker and cement in Devnya Cement, in which it invested EUR 320 mln. This is one of the largest industrial investments in Bulgaria in recent years, the capacity of the new line is over 4 thousand tons of cement per day. The new line is practically a new plant, which is among the largest in Europe.

Europe

Global investment funds are turning increasingly skeptical about Russia's economic prospects, as investors show less interest in Russian equities. The "BRIC" investment idea is also no longer attractive. The news came from the United States and hit big waves in Russia, but grabbed little attention in Germany: The Templeton Russia and East European Fund, a US investment fund founded 20 years ago by legendary portfolio manager and emerging markets expert Mark Mobius, had announced its liquidation. The announcement marks the dissolution of a fund which identified the potential of the Russian stock market long before the hype around Russia and other BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) took hold among small investors worldwide. But the hype has now evaporated. It is felt not only by the US fund Franklin Templeton Investments, which is shuttering its Russia fund due to a lack of investor interest. In Germany, too, the industry is turning away from the former stock market favorites.

America

Belgian chemical group Solvay has agreed to buy U.S. peer Cytec for $5.5 billion, giving it a bigger presence in the lightweight materials business where demand from the aerospace industry is booming. Solvay said in a statement on Wednesday it would pay $75.25 per share for Cytec, which closed at $58.39 on Tuesday. The Belgian group will finance the transaction with a 1.5 billion euros rights issue, 1.0 billion euros of hybrid debt and a senior debt issue. Solvay Chief Executive Jean-Pierre Clamadieu said the acquisition was justified by Cytec's growth potential in aerospace markets. "The composite market in the aerospace sector is growing by about 10 percent per year," he told a conference call. "We are confident Cytec is well positioned to benefit from this growth." The Belgian company said the enterprise value, which includes debt, was $6.4 billion, representing a 2015 estimated core profit (EBITDA) multiple of 14.7 times and of 11.7 times when considering potential benefits. Solvay expects to make annual savings of 100 million euros.

Asia

Nissan Motor Co's April-June net profit grew 36 percent to 152.8 billion yen as revenue rose 18 percent to 2.9 trillion yen. For accounting reasons, Nissan books its China sales in January-March in its accounts for April-June. Despite the surge, Nissan left its financial forecasts for the year ending March 2016 unchanged, estimating operating profit for the 12 months will be 675 billion yen, up from 590 billion yen a year earlier. Nissan said its first-quarter operating profit soared 58 percent, beating forecasts, lifted by strong vehicle sales in the long-buoyant U.S. market as well as a weak yen that boosted the value of earnings overseas. Nissan said April-June operating profit rose to 193.71 billion yen from 122.61 billion yen in the same period a year earlier. That handily beat an average analyst estimate of 163 billion yen for Japan's second-biggest automaker, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Birds’ Bay (Taoukliman)

The Birds’s Bay, also known as Taoukliman (meaning literally Birds’ Bay in Turkish) lies 16 km north of Kavarna and 61 km away from the city of Varna. It is one of the many natural reserves along the Black Sea coast. It is famous for its many small beaches, few stair-like sand terraces, abundance of hot mineral water and a number of small exotic islets. During the seasonal migration of the birds, the bay welcomes hundreds of birds (seagulls, geese, golden eyes, etc.), which stop by for a rest and food. In those times, the lake becomes a real birds' paradise. The salt lake (or else known as 'firth') of Taoukliman, called also Nanevska Tuzla, lies on the lowest of one of the terraces. Its bottom is covered with black hydrogen sulphide mud, which is famous for its healing powers. Nearby, one can come across remains of pagan sanctuaries, settlements dating back to the Middle Ages, a Roman fortress used in the 5th century AC, a number of stone vessels used for wine production, etc. Between the terraces, a number of caves are dispersed, the most beautiful of them to be found in the lowest part – Golyamata Maara, Temnata Dupka (The Dark Hole), Aragonitovata cave, Iglenoto Uho (the Needle’s Eye), etc.

On that day:  Ratiaria Varovitetz Waterfall Petya Nedelcheva