Financial news

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) will advise Bulgaria's finance ministry on the management of EU funds in the 2014-2020 period, the ministry said. "Bulgaria needs the IBRD's expertise, which it plans to tap both at the stage of setting up a Fund of funds and organising the operations of the manager of the Fund of funds, as well as throughout the duration of the financial instruments in Bulgaria," the fiance ministry said in a press release issued upon the signing of an agreement with the international lender. "The provision of technical assistance will assist national capacity building and achieving consistency in respect to the financial instruments which are gaining prominence in the European Union," it added.

Bulgaria’s Finance Ministry reopened a 5-year issue of Government Securities (GS) with maturity February 4, 2020. Securities with nominal value of BGN 100 million were offered at the auction held on September 14, 2015 . The annual average weighted yield achieved was 0.94%. By comparison, the yield achieved at the previous auction on May 18, 2015 for the same issue was 1.28%. The participants showed high interest in the auction and the subscription totalled BGN 197.50 million, the bid-to-cover ratio being 1.98. The spread to the benchmark German Bunds in this segment is 92 b.p. Banks acquired the biggest amount of GS at the auction, i.e. 64.30%, followed by pension funds with 9.50%, insurance companies with 8.20%, guarantee and contractual funds with 7.00% and other investors with 11.00%.

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

Companies

GE Pharmaceutical Ltd. officially opened a new production building in Botevgrad today - September 16th 2015. With it, production capacity will be increased to 75-80 million blisters yearly and the mandatory in the near future EU system to combat counterfeit medicines will be introduced. This is another joint investment of Bulgarian pharmaceutical company Ecopharm with owner Dr. Velev and Genericon Pharma GmbH, Austria, owned by Dr. B. Leitner and Dr. M. Bartenstein. GE Pharmaceutical Ltd. It is one of the largest employers in the region, which continuously increases its employees and cares about their qualifications. Unemployment in the region is below 1%.

On the 17th of September Logistics center of the Swiss company Trisa in Bulgaria will be opened. The center is located at a built-up area of 3000 square meters on own site of 27 thousand square meters, as construction will be completed on stages in the coming years. The value of the investment until now is assessed to more than BGN 6 million, as it is expected about 30 jobs to be opened solely in the built part of the center. For the project and the concept of the long-term development of the company in Bulgaria Trisa Bulgaria has certificate for investment class A. It’s the third investor in industrial park Sofia East. Construction of the logistics base started back in October 2014. Ataro Invest 2014 is contractor, as major partner is Ataro Clima. The project is drafted by Top arch EOOD.

On the 30th of September on the line Ruse- Nuremberg a second train will be launched. This is what Ilyan Filipov, co-owner of Plovdiv-based PIMK said. The so-called intermodal block train is a joint project of the transport company with forwarder DB Schenker. It started from the end of January this year. It allows cargo to be transported to the starting point, i.e. Ruse or Nuremberg, with tractors. There trailers are boarded on the train, and then arrive to the final station to be again move with tractors. The idea is transportation with trucks to be limit in a smaller perimeter. The project follows the growing in popularity trend combined transport to be used, as it saves money, dependency on drivers is limited as there is no need of one for a term of 72 hours, emissions go down, etc. When the first train was launched the two companies said that it’s an experimental project. The launch of the second train in the end of the month shows that there is demand for such type of transport service. The line is regular. According to the agreement between the two companies the Plovdiv-based PIMK is obliged to provide goods for 23 of all 34 trailers for a course of block-train in one direction, Schenker - for the other 11. The train itself is DB Schenker Rail’s while trailers with which goods are transported to Rousse, are PIMK’s.

Bloomberg and Bulgaria ON AIR announced that they have entered into a long-term agreement to create a new business television channel in Bulgarian language. Sole owner of the business is Bulgarian company Investor TV, which is a joint stock company from the group of Chimimport. No details on the contract length and the price for the brand and content provided by Bloomberg was announced. Bloomberg TV Bulgaria will be broadcast in October on the networks of cable and satellite operators in the country. The channel received registration by the Council for Electronic Media at the end of August. Nikolina Dimitrova, program director of Bulgaria ON AIR, and George Biserinski, CEO of Investor media group, will be CEOs of Bloomberg TV Bulgaria. Jeff Greene, executive producer at Bloomberg Television, will work together with the team of Bulgaria ON AIR for the creation of economic and business content of the new channel. On September 21 two more representatives of Bloomberg will arrive in Bulgaria, to train the team by the standards of the media giant.

Two new directors will occupy key positions in Mtel, announced the mobile operator. They are Simeon Donev and Georgi Tomov. Simeon Donev will be Director of the “Products and Services” in the company. He graduated specialty “Computer Systems and Technologies” at the Technical University in Sofia. His career in telecommunications began 15 years ago in Germanos stores, and over the years has held various managerial positions. Simeon Donev joined Mtel by Vivacom, where in the past seven years held the position of Director “Products and services”. Georgi Tomov takes the position director direction “Individual clients”. He has more than 12 years experience in sales management, as well as a thorough knowledge of the Bulgarian telecom market and consumer behavior. Tomov joined Mtel by Vivacom, where he was director “Direct Sales” since 2012.

Europe

Prada SpA's first-half net profit fell 23%, despite favorable exchange rates as the Italian fashion house struggled to get back on track after a number of weak quarters. Prada said revenue rose 4% to 1.8 billion euros ($2 billion) in the six months ended July 31, compared with a year earlier, but it was down 5.9% at constant exchange rates, underscoring the support that came from currency fluctuations during the period. Earnings before interest and tax, or Ebit, dropped 21% to EUR293.2 million. In the Asia-Pacific region, revenue was down 1.4% at current exchange rates and 17.5% lower at constant exchange rates, as Hong Kong and Macau "failed to show any signs of recovery," the company said. In Greater China, sales were down 1.2% at current rates and 19.3% lower at constant rates. In the Americas, sales grew 13.5% at current exchange rates, and rose 6.1% at constant exchange rates. In Europe, revenue grew 4.9% at current rates, supported by tourist flows and a recovery in domestic demand, the fashion house said.

America

Brazil's government announced spending cuts and tax increases totaling 65 billion reais ($16.9 billion) on Monday as it scrambles to close a budget deficit that led to a downgrade of the country's credit rating last week. The biggest item was the revival of the unpopular CPMF tax on financial transactions that will raise 32 billion reais next year if it passes a Congress opposed to new taxation. The drastic cuts hit agricultural subsidies, infrastructure investments, government salaries and bonuses, as well as public health and low-cost housing programs. The government reduced tax subsidies for the chemical industry, cut refunds to exporters of manufactured goods and raised the capital gains tax to up to 30 percent. The latest round of fiscal measures are meant to bridge a shortfall of 30 billion reais in next year's budget that President Dilma Rousseff sent to Congress last month and reach a budget surplus of 0.7 percent of GDP before interest payments.

Asia

Japan’s central bank held fire on expanding its monetary easing programme and its chief said the economy was expanding, but economists warned more stimulus could be needed to boost the sagging economy. A series of weak data had strengthened pressure on the central bank to expand its ¥80tn ($665bn) annual asset-buying scheme to stimulate the economy, which contracted in the second-quarter. The Bank of Japan (BoJ) said in a statement that while Japan “has continued to recover moderately... exports and production are affected by the slowdown in emerging economies”. The yen gained against the dollar after the decision, with the US unit buying ¥119.76 compared to ¥120.65 before the announcement. Analysts had expected the BoJ to sit on its hands this time to see whether the US Federal Reserve decides to raise its key interest rate for the first time in almost a decade, a move that could hit emerging markets.

The Ledenika cave

The Ledenika cave was opened for the first time in 1961. In 1962 it was proclaimed for a natural landmark. Ledenika is a cave in Vratsa Mountain, Stresherski side, 16 km west of Vratsa. It is approximately 300 m in length. Ten halls, ornate with stalactites, stalagmites, stalactones, rock draperies and waterfalls. A natural site and a national tourist beauty spot. Ledenika is the most frequently visited Bulgarian cave. The highest point of the Ledenika cave is called the Seventh Sky and it is within the capacity of the most ambitious tourists. The temperature in the cave varies from -7° C to -15° C (in winter in the Antechamber) and to 8° C in the inner parts. The moisture of the air is 92 %. The animal variety can not be rich in these conditions: bats, cave beetles, wood lice, little spiders. You can see only here the insect Ledenikus or Lighthater. Not so many plants can be seen here, just lichen and moss.

On that day:  Thracian Sanctuary – Madjarovo