Bulgaria's economic expansion is expected to slow down to 3% in 2019 from an estimated 3.2% last year, due to a drop in exports and deceleration in domestic consumption growth, France-based credit insurance company Euler Hermes said on Tuesday. Net exports are expected to drop by 4.2% in 2018 and remain negative in 2019 as a result of a further decrease in exports to neighbouring Turkey, Euler Hermes said in a press release. Exports to Russia are expected to stabilise, but at a lower level compared to previous years, while exports to the EU are expected to slow down due to the region's decelerating economic growth. Domestic consumption, which was the main engine of Bulgaria's economic growth last year, is expected to let some steam off in 2019. Private consumption is expected to increase by 7.8% in 2018 and 5.5% this year, while public consumption is seen shrinking from 3.6% in 2018 to 3.0% in 2019. Bulgaria's unemployment rate is expected to drop from 5.3% last year to 5.0% in 2019, while salary costs are expected to rise by 2.9% in 2018 and 2.8% in 2019. Foreign debt is expected to be equivalent to 64% of GDP in 2018 and 63% this year, Euler Hermes said.

European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis stated in Riga that if Bulgaria handles its commitments without problem, then it will be given the green light for entering the European Exchange Rate Mechanism ERM II as early as the summer of this year. He added that it will be at least another three years after that before the country can adopt the euro. The first two – for meeting the Maastricht criteria, and the third – for assessment of the results attained and for preparatory work. This means Bulgaria will be able to enter the Eurozone no earlier than 2022.

London-based offshore drilling contractor Noble Corporation said Shell has hired its Noble Globetrotter II ship to drill a well offshore Bulgaria beginning in the first quarter of 2019. "Following the conclusion of the idle period, the unit will earn a dayrate based on a market index or the newly established floor of USD 275,000, whichever is higher," Noble Corporation said. The dayrate will be adjusted every six months thereafter until completion of the contract. The estimated contract expiration date will be early September 2023. In January last year, Shell said it is planning to start an exploration drilling programme in block 1-14 Khan Kubrat in the Bulgarian sector of the Black Sea in late 2018 or in 2019. Later in 2018, the local branch of Australia's Woodside Energy acquired a 30% non-operated participating interest in Block 1-14 Khan Kubrat from Shell.

Velocity Minerals Ltd. announces that it has received positive drill results from the Rozino gold project located in Bulgaria. Highlights include 29.7m from surface grading 1.17g/t gold. The Rozino project is one of seven exploration projects located within an Exploration and Mining Alliance with Bulgarian operating partner Gorubso-Kardzhali AD. Velocity began exploring and drilling at Rozino in August 2017 and completed a Preliminary Economic Assessment in September 2018. The PEA provides a base case assessment of developing Rozino by open pit mining and on-site crushing, milling and simple flotation to produce a 30 g/t gold concentrate. The concentrate would then be trucked 85km on existing roads to the currently operating CIL plant where saleable gold doré would be produced. Mineralization remains open for expansion. Having delivered the PEA, Velocity has exercised its option for a 70% interest in the project and will move forward in joint venture with Gorubso-Kardzhali AD.

The American company Robertshaw is the new owner of the Plovdiv-based manufacturer of components for white goods Cast Futura BG. The change is part of an international deal, with which the Illinois-based company acquired the Italian CastFutura last month. The deal will allow both sides to complement their portfolio and benefit from each other's markets. The price has not been reported. The Bulgarian company has revenues of BGN 37 million and three production sites. With its 500 employees, Cast Futura BG is the largest company in the Italian group. CastFutura has a total of six plants with 750 employees, with manufacturing bases in Brazil, Hungary and Poland apart from Bulgaria. Robertshaw is a subsidiary of One Rock Capital Partners, which manages about USD 1.4 billion of capital. Robertshaw employs over 6300 people in 11 countries. The last published report of Cast Futura BG shows that in 2017 the company's sales increased by more than 12% to BGN 37 million, but the net profit shrank by almost half to BGN 523 thousand. According to the company’s financial report for 2017 Cast Futura BG has invested BGN 471 thousand in the modernization of the production facilities and the financing is provided by own funds.

DXC Technology has negotiated terms to buy fellow New York Stock Exchange-listed tech services and consulting group Luxoft for USD 2 billion. The agreement means that all issued and outstanding Luxoft Class A and Class B ordinary stockholders will get USD 59 per share in cash, assuming the transaction leaps any regulatory hurdles. Headquartered in Switzerland, Luxoft sells outsourced engineering services, cloud and DevOps. In addition it flogs consulting on analytics, UX/IX and blockchain. In fiscal '18 ended 31 March, Luxoft turned over USD 906.8 million, up 15.4% year-on-year and reported net profit of USD 57 million, down 9%. The company entered the Bulgarian market in 2014 with the establishment of its subsidiary LuXtoft Bulgaria, which is one of the largest and most rapidly developing companies on the IT sector in Bulgaria.

Bulgarian cellulose producer Svilosa said that its majority owner A.R.U.S. Holding has increased its stake in the company by 3.38% to 96.64% through a buyout offer, priced at BGN 5.5 per share. A total of 222 private investors and companies have accepted the offer. As A.R.U.S. Holding's stake in Svilosa exceeded 95% following the bid, the company has the right to squeeze out minority shareholders. At the same time, minority shareholders have the right to force A.R.U.S. Holding to buy their shares at a price of BGN 5.5. In October last year, A.R.U.S. Holding, which held a stake of 80.67% of Svilosa at the time, signed an agreement with Luxembourg-based KBD SA for joint management of Svilosa, in accordance to which A.R.U.S. Holding's direct and indirect ownership of the Bulgarian cellulose producer increased to 93.26%. A.R.U.S. Holding has said it intends to delist Svilosa from the Bulgarian Stock Exchange. Svilosa, through its unit Svilocell, is the largest producer of bleached kraft pulp in Bulgaria.

Bulgarian software developer QuarkVR has attracted two new investments worth more than BGN 500,000 in total, as it won the trust and support of local investor CEO Angels Club. The startup's most pressing issue currently is the expansion of its team of specialists. Among the company's main achievements in the past year have been the partnerships with Deutsche Telekom and France's Orange. QuarkVR also partners with companies such as HTC, NVidia, Dell and Intell. QuarkVR is building out the AR/VR Cloud service for 5G and the Edge Cloud. The QuarkVR solution provides low-latency compression and wireless transmission. The company's B2B model envisages partnering with telecoms to deliver QuarkVR to other enterprises. CEO Angels Club invests in early stage, post-accelerator startups. It typically expects companies to break-even or achieve a clear meaningful mile stone within 12-24 months of CEO Angels Club's initial investment.

A dramatic plunge in German industrial activity late last year raised the risk that Europe’s largest economy will slip into recession. Production fell for a third month in November and posted its worst year-on-year drop since the end of the financial crisis, with weakness in everything from consumer goods to energy. A slump in Germany has repercussions for the euro area, where separate numbers on Tuesday showed economic confidence has fallen to the lowest in almost two years. It’s another headache for European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, who last month said the 19-nation economy has enough underlying momentum to justify a decision to stop adding monetary stimulus. The German numbers, while volatile, follow a bigger-than-expected decline in factory orders. That’s sparked recession talk among investors and economists already fretting about slower global momentum. Germany’s central bank said Tuesday it’s “looking through the volatility of monthly economic data” and doesn’t comment on individual indicators.

Amazon, formed 25 years ago, has eclipsed Microsoft to become the world's most valuable listed company. The online giant was worth $797bn when the US stock market closed on Monday after rising 3.4% and moved past Microsoft, valued at $789bn. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, is the world's wealthiest man, with riches of $135bn, according to Bloomberg's billionaire index. He overtook Microsoft founder Bill Gates last year. It is the first time Amazon has held the top position. The share prices of US tech giants have been on a rollercoaster in recent months on worries about sales and trade tensions. Founded by Mr Bezos in 1994, Amazon started life as a niche second-hand book seller and has become an online retailer of items ranging from fresh food to clothes. The firm was created in a garage in a suburb of Seattle, Washington. It was originally called "Cadabra," (as in "abracadabra") and in 1995 sold its first book - Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought, by Douglas Hofstadter.

Samsung Electronics expects to post a 29% drop in quarterly operating profit as demand for smartphones and memory chips slows. The firm forecasts operating earnings of 10.8 trillion Korean won ($9.7bn) for the last three months of 2018. It marks the first quarterly profit drop in two years as strong demand for chips had boosted earnings at the firm. Samsung also faces fierce competition from Apple and Chinese rivals. In a statement on Tuesday, the firm cited lacklustre demand and rising competition for its darkening outlook. "We expect earnings to remain subdued in the first quarter of 2019 due to difficult conditions for the memory business," the South Korean tech giant said in a statement. It forecasts revenue will decline 11% to 59 trillion won. The firm had seen earnings surge in recent years largely due to strong appetite for memory chips in mobile devices. Slowing demand, including from China, is weighing on the wider sector.