Financial news

Unemployment in Bulgaria reduced by the fastest pace in the EU - from 11.5 percent in July 2014 to 9.4% in July this year. Seasonally adjusted data from Eurostat show that the unemployment rate in Bulgaria is slightly below the EU average. In EU the unemployed are a little over 23 million people, or 9.5% of the working population. Unemployed Bulgarians are 313 thousand. According to the European Statistical Office in July there was a slight decrease in unemployment in the EU - 9.5% compared to 9.6% in June and more visible improvement in the labor market compared to July 2014, when unemployment reached 10.2%. The euro area also reported a drop in unemployment to 10.9% in July from 11.1% in June and 11.6% in July 2014. Statistics show that the lowest unemployment in the EU is in Germany - 4.7%, while at the opposite pole are the southern states - Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Cyprus. Most serious is the situation in Greece, where the unemployed is 25% of the working population.

Deputy Prime Minister for European Funds and Economic Policy, Tomislav Donchev and Vice President of the World Bank for Europe and Central Asia, Cyril Muller, inked a memorandum of understanding, partnership and assistance in adoption of EU structural and investment funds in the period 2014-2020. This is the second memorandum between Bulgaria and the World Bank for cooperation in the field of European funds. The first such agreement was signed in 2012. “The memorandum of understanding gives an excellent stepping-stone of Bulgaria for faster absorption of resources,” Vice President of the World Bank for Europe and Central Asia, Cyril Muller, said after signed the memorandum of understanding. “Bulgaria may serve as a good example. We are satisfied with our cooperation,” Cyril Muller said.

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

Companies

The second attempt to sell 15% of the shares of Technomarket Bulgaria, which served as collateral for a loan to bankrupt Corporate Commercial Bank (CCB), is unsuccessful. The package is the first large asset put at auction by receivers in late July, and if it had attracted interest from buyers, the bank could return about BGN 6 million. The share in one of the biggest retailers for equipment comes from the end of July and the price has again been reduced by 5% or BGN 315 thousand. It has not yet been decided whether, after two consecutive attempts to sell it, there will be a third, in which the minority share will be offered at even lower price, or another way of cashing in on the pledged asset will be sought, spokesman of the trustees of CCB Alexander Katzarov said.

6 branches of foreign banks in Bulgaria will be left out of the stress tests, which will assess the assets of Bulgarian banks. The consultant will assess 22 financial institutions licensed in Bulgaria. Outside the scope of the review and stress tests will remain six branches of foreign banks in the country: ING Bank NV - Sofia Branch, BNP Paribas - Sofia Branch, Alpha Bank - Bulgaria Branch, Citibank Europe PLC - Bulgaria, Ziraat Bankasa - branch office Sofia and Isbank GmbH - Sofia Branch. This is clear from the explanations of the BNB to the documentation on the contract, announced by the Central Bank in August 2015. The estimated value of the contract for the consultant is BGN 1.7 million, VAT excluded. The analysis will have to be prepared for a year. The notice says that offshore companies and their affiliates are prohibited direct or indirect participation in public procurement, including through a consortium.

German auto parts manufacturer RSN Sihn will build a plant in Saedinenie. This is clear from a notice of investment proposal made by RSN Bulgaria EOOD - a company with a capital of BGN 130 thousand, whose sole shareholder is the German company. It will design, construct and produces mechanical and fluid (hydrodynamic) fasteners, detail drawings and custom parts and others. In recent years Bulgaria became one of the most attractive destinations for companies for the production of automotive components. Last year the InvestBulgaria Agency estimated that export of automotive components for the previous five years was worth BGN 400 million. Bulgaria produces upholstery, components for air conditioners and motors, microchips and other electronics components for automobiles of medium and high grade. In Bulgaria operate companies from Germany, France, Belgium, the USA, South Africa and others, including Montupet and Witte Automotive in Ruse, Melexis, Yazaki in Yambol and Sliven, Johnson Controls, ALS, Nexans, Behr-Hella Thermalcontrol and others.

Home furnishing retailer IKEA Bulgaria said on Tuesday that its sales increased by 10% to BGN 78.3 million during the catalogue year 2014-2015. Visitors totalled 2.2 million, up by 27%, and clients increased by 13% to 747,000 during the past catalogue year, IKEA Bulgaria manager Theo Mouratidis said. The figures refer to the company's store in Sofia, an online store which it launched in April, and an order and delivery centre in Varna, on the Black Sea coast, which opened in July. In 2015, IKEA Bulgaria handled more than 9,000 orders through its online platform and attracted more than 67,000 clients to the order and delivery centre in Varna. The company is planning to restructure its business in the country as its financial results for the year 2014/2015, especially those of the online store and the delivery centre in Varna, have exceeded expectations. "Judging from financial numbers in Varna, next year is going to be a very good year for us", Mouratidis said. IKEA Bulgaria does not plan new store openings for the time being, and will instead focus on sustaining growth through optimisation of the existing stores' performance, he added.

Europe

The most popular city on the home sharing site will be the first location for the tax, which will be collected directly from users of properties. The levy will come into effect from 1st October 2015, with Airbnb planning to roll it out to subsequent French cities. Tourists using Airbnb will pay a fee of €0.83 per person per night, with Airbnb properties now being classified under the rental category of furnished lets or ‘meublés touristiques non classés’. In the face of rising hotel costs, Airbnb has grown very quickly in Paris over the last few years. Figures from an economic study carried out by Airbnb back in June 2013 show that Parisian properties on Airbnb generated EUR 185 million towards the economy. Paris-based hosts accommodated 223,000 Airbnb users between May 2012 and April 2013 with 83 per cent of hosts renting out the homes they live in on an occasional basis. On average Airbnb guests stay 5.2 nights and spend EUR 865 over the course of their trip, compared to hotel guests who stay an average of 2.3 nights and spend EUR 439. Over 27 per cent said they would not have come to Paris or stayed as long without Airbnb.

America

Aga Rangemaster, the British maker of the iconic stoves associated with the country's rural upper classes, has turned up the heat on its agreed takeover by Illinois-based Middleby Corporation after another North American suitor has rushed in to ask for its hand. The UK group has said it has now opened its books to Whirlpool Corporation, another US company, which has said it intends to steal Aga away from Middleby after that deal was agreed back in July, Naomi Rovnick writes.Aga, whose board has recommended the Middleby offer that values its business at £129m, plans to stick with its current suitor for now. The UK stove maker is preparing to close the chapter on British ownership after years of struggling with a pension deficit that is large relative to its valuation. Under the terms of its agreed deal with Middleby, the deficit was valued at £84m.

Asia

China's factory activity contracted at its fastest pace in three years in August, confirming fears that the country's growth is continuing to slow. The official manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) dropped to 49.7 from 50 in July. A figure below 50 indicates contraction. The weak data is likely to add to global concerns over China's economy losing steam and could send Asian and global shares down further. A separate private Caixin/Markit index also released on Tuesday puts the PMI number even weaker, at 47.3, the weakest reading since 2009. The fresh economic data is also likely to undermine efforts by Beijing to reassure investors and calm markets. Chinese mainland stocks have been on a steep downward slope over the past months, shedding almost 40% since June. Authorities have injected money into the markets, allowed the state pension fund to start buying up shares and lowered lending rates.

Zahari Stoyanov

Zahari Stoyanov (1850, village of Medven, Bourgas Region – September 2, 1889, Paris) was one of the organizers and a participant in the Bulgarian national movement for liberation. He was an apostle in the IV revolutionary Plovdiv district during the April uprising in 1876. He was a member of the Tarnovo District Court (1880). He persisted in and helped the Unification of the Principality of Bulgaria and Eastern Roumelia in 1885. In 1886 he moved to Sofia. He was a member of the Parliament (1886), a deputy chairman (1887) and a chairman of the Parliament (1888-1889). Zahari Stoyanov was a biography and memoirs writer and a novelist. His most significant work is “Memoirs on the Bulgarian Uprisings. A first- hand account. 1870 – 1876”. This is the greatest book of the middle 1880’s, a story about the committees and the uprisings from the near past, a result from a long-standing rationalization, collection of facts and documents, memories and accounts of eyewitnesses and participants in the events.

On that day:  The Seven Thrones Monastery