Financial news

Income of families where at least one of the spouses hold a managerial position is by 76% higher, than that of households that consist of ordinary employees. The annual income per capita in 2014 is on the average BGN 4813, according to the National Statistics Institute. But if the head of household holds executive position such as the manager or senior employee in a company, the average annual income per family jumps to BGN 8427, which makes BGN 702 per month. If the head of household is an ordinary worker, the average income per family per year is only BGN 4783, which makes nearly BGN 400 monthly. The amount is quite small as compared to the average salary in the country in June, which is calculated at BGN 868. But the reason for this is that all pensions and other income received in the family are then divides between all household members. If the head of the family is a specialist in his field, but does not hold a managerial position, the average income per household is BGN 7328 per year or BGN 610 per month. It turns out that even if a person is a manager the income in his household rendered by wages is solely by 30% higher than the salaries received in the families of ordinary workers. Higher incomes come, if you have your own business and staff.

Bulgarian lender CIBank signed a BGN 200 million loan agreement with the European Investment Fund (EIF) aimed at supporting around 1,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in Bulgaria, the European Commission said on Friday. The EIF-guaranteed loans will be provided under the European Union's programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, COSME, with the financial support of the European Commission, the Commission said in a press release. The loans will be made available to Bulgarian SMEs by CIBank over the next three years. The EIF's main mission is to support Europe's micro, small and medium-sized businesses by helping them to access finance

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

Companies

Bulgarian company Walltopia, the industry leader that built the wall at the Cliffs, will debut a new product next fall that will standardize climbing routes using giant mass-produced panels, making it possible for gyms to revamp walls without hiring pricey workers to plot out unique courses. “If you have the same canvas, you can paint the same painting,” says the lead designer, Vasil Sharlanov. The new walls will enhance the USD 150-million-a-year climbing industry’s ability to, ahem, scale. Walltopia is set to open swanky new headquarters in Sofia and just signed a USD 50 million contract to build 30 to 50 walls in China.

Quadrant Beverages, the official bottling company of PepsiCo’s products in Bulgaria is investing nearly BGN 600 thousand in production and technological innovation in 2015. Part of the funds will be utilized for a new cooling system that saves 10% of water consumption in the enterprise, and for installation of a filtering system of air and water that is to result in better quality of produced water table. The company has invested and in ventilation system in one of the rooms, as well as in the production line for hot filling. The company has implemented a new system for palletizing products. It increases the number of stacks in a pallet by 20%, leading to a reduction in transport costs and carbon emissions. Quadrant Beverages is the official bottling company of Pepsi, Mirinda, 7UP, Evervess, Gatorade in Bulgaria. Its portfolio also includes still fruit drinks under the brand of Prisun, cold tea Lipton, as well as energy drink Rockstar. The company is a manufacturer of table and bottled water Bellissima, and carbonated soft drinks Fizzy. Part of the investments in 2015 is related to new products with the brand Prisun, as well as with the increased number of so-called post mix apparatus for draft beverages located in restaurants and hotels. By the end of October Quadrant Beverages will launch fruit drinks Prisun with four different flavors in carton of 250 ml with a straw.

A contractor is expected to be selected in early December for the construction of a gas pipeline interconnection with Romania under the Danube river bed, Bulgaria’s Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova said on Friday. Bulgaria’s gas pipeline operator Bulgartransgaz invited bids for the construction of a gas interconnector with Romania including a section under the Danube on September 16. The deadline for submitting bids will expire on October 16. A contractor is expected to be selected in early December 2015 if the submitted offers meet the requirements of the public procurement tender and no appeals are filed against the ranking of the bids and the naming of the successful candidate. The project for the construction of a gas interconnection between Bulgaria and Romania is being implemented jointly by the gas transmission operators of the two neighbouring countries - Bulgartransgaz and Transgaz. The two companies have been granted up to EUR 8.9 M for project financing under the European Energy Programme for Recovery (EEPR).

The operator of the energy market in Bulgaria is looking for a servicing bank. This is clear from the invitation published on the website of the Independent Bulgarian Energy Exchange. The commercial bank that will be selected must serve the financial relationship between the operator of the stock market of electricity and relevant participants. Moreover, the financial institution must meet certain requirements for the frequency and speed of providing information on payments made and received. According to the invitation in the current account it is expected to pass by BGN 19 million monthly in about 540 transactions. The average value per transaction will be BGN 36 thousand. Independent Bulgarian Energy Exchange‘s deposit account will hold BGN 180 thousand monthly on the average. The deadline for submitting bids is up 16th of October. The Independent Bulgarian Energy Exchange will start operation on the 8th of December.

Veliko Turnovo’s producer of promotional bags and packs Extrapack presented Bulgaria on the international exhibit of packs, packing machinery and packing materials in Nuremberg, Germany. The exhibit is the second largest in Europe. Bulgaria was presented solely by two companies- Extrapack and Stara-Zagora based Ate plast. The company participates in the event for the first time. It took place between 29th of September and the 1st of October. The company attracted visitors’ interest with its newest products- thermal bags and cotton promotional bags and paper bags made from 100% certified recycled paper, Extrapack operates on the American market and exports promotional bags for the African countries of Morocco and Ghana. Its basic market though is Europe.

Europe

The pace of job creation in Spain continued to slow in September as the country heads into the final months before a general election pegged on employment. The number of unemployed Spaniards rose by 26,087, the Labor Ministry said, adding to two consecutive months of rising joblessness. On a seasonally-adjusted basis, unemployment fell by 9,746 people. Adding to the mix data was social security sign-ups, a measure of staff, which rose for the month, albeit at a lower pace. “On a seasonally-adjusted basis, it was a good month,” said Miguel Cardoso, chief Spain economist at Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA in Madrid, addingthat most jobs came from the education sector, coinciding with the start of the school year. “The question is whether this helps reverse the trend from the previous months, or the pace of job creation slows as the economy decelerates going into the second-half.” Unemployment typically rises in September as temporary summer workers are laid off when the tourist season comes to a close. Even so, from a year earlier, jobless claims were 353,608 lower, the biggest September drop since official records began.

America

The Blackstone Group raised the world’s largest-ever private real estate fund, totaling $15.8 billion. News of the fundraising broke in March, but it took several months to rake in all the cash. Twenty percent of the capital is already committed to projects. Blackstone’s real estate group, headed by Jonathan Gray, is the largest private U.S. landlord and the world’s largest private real estate fund manager. As of June 30, it had $92 billion in assets under management. In April, it bought GE Capital’s real estate portfolio for $26.5 billion in partnership with Wells Fargo and other investors, in a leveraged buyout using money from several Blackstone real estate funds. And last month, it dished out $3.9 billion for Strategic Hotels & Resorts, a deal that included Manhattan’s Essex House Hotel. The new fund, Blackstone Real Estate Partners VIII, is the firm’s latest global fund, succeeding the $13.3 billion Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII, which it raised in late 2012.

Asia

Next year, about 50 people in Japan will start using taxis to get between their homes and the local grocery store. The twist? The cabs will have no drivers (paywall). A test run for a service scheduled for a broader Japan launch in 2020, the experiment will take place in the Kanagawa prefecture, south of Tokyo. The company behind it, Robot Taxi, is a joint venture between mobile-internet firm DeNA and vehicle-technology developer ZMP. The two announced their intentions in May, saying they would roll out self-driving taxis and buses (paywall). Robot Taxi’s system incorporates GPS, millimeter-wave radar, stereo vision cameras, and image analysis to get around. During the trial, the cabs will drive a distance of about 3 km (almost two miles), partly on major avenues. Crew members will be onboard in case they are needed to avoid accidents. The company announced the trial yesterday (Oct. 1) at a ceremony in Yokohama, the prefecture’s capital. The attendees included Shinjiro Koizumi, son of former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi and a vice minister in the current government.

Temnata Dupka Cave

Temnata Dupka (Dark Hole) Cave is located over the railway station Lakatnik, 52 km north of Sofia, and is a representative of the longest caves in Bulgaria. It is one of the first explored caves in the country. A system of two large main galleries, among which there are numerous smaller ones. This whole composition is located on 4 floors, the first is still unexplored. In the bottom of the cave runs deep river, springing from the source Zhitolyub. The cave is a complicated labyrinth of entrances, galleries, waterfalls, thresholds, drains, lakes and underground rivers. Temnata Dupka is not adapted for tourists and must be visited with an experienced guide and necessary equipment. The cave is inhabited by17 troglobites (creatures adapted to life without light) as water snails, lower crustaceans, beetles. In 1962 it was declared a natural monument. (Photo: bulgariatravel.org)

On that day:  Stara Zagora public holiday St. Georgi Zograph Monastery – Aton (Greece)