Rent income of more than BGN 635 million was received by Bulgarians in 2018, according to annual tax returns submitted to the National Revenue Agency (NRA). Rental money has a very large share in household income. Announced rental income was 9.4% more than the previous year. The amount of the declared income from the transfer of rights and property amounts to BGN 438.9 million. This includes income from the sale of equities and shares in companies, as well as of dwellings, fields and cars. But most of the income from the sale of dwellings and cars is exempt and does not come within this amount. It is declared at the payer's request in annual tax returns. The income from the sale of one dwelling is exempt if there is more than 3 years between the acquisition and the sale, and of two properties if they are owned over 5 years. There is no tax on the income from the sale of a car if it is owned over a year. But anyway, the total income from rental and sale of property and shares of companies exceeds BGN 1 billion.

The growth rate of advertising investment in Bulgaria remains stable and almost three times higher than the global one. Globally, it is expected to reach 3.6% and in Bulgaria - 9.5%, according to the latest Dentsu Aegis Network report. Overall, the forecasts are different across markets. There is a tendency for digital media to be the main driver for investment growth, both globally and in Bulgaria. It is projected to grow globally by 11.5% on an annual basis in 2019 and to reach 45% of total advertising investment in 2020. For Bulgaria, the forecast is that online advertising will gain nearly a quarter of the total advertising investment in 2019, and surpass this rate in 2020. The share of television in total advertising investment this year remains 55%. The trend towards a gradual and smooth redistribution of costs from TV to digital media on average by a 1.0 - 1.5% per year - especially of online video, will remain valid in 2020 as well.

The Plovdiv-based metallurgical plant KCM is preparing a new investment of about EUR 150 million, which will allow it to produce additional metals besides basic zinc and lead. This will be a continuation of the project for technological renewal and expansion of production with approximately the same value. This was announced by the company after the general meetings of KCM and the group KCM 2000. Income from the Group's operations for the past year was BGN 749.5 million, EBITDA amounted to BGN 53.8 million. The group companies at the KCM site work 1880 people, and in both ore mining enterprises with a participation of KCM 2000, Varba-Batantsi and Lucky Invest, employ more than 1200 people.

Non-profit organisation Endeavor Bulgaria said that several parties have agreed to invest a total of BGN 4.5 million in software developer Tiger Technology, which is part of the Endeavor Network. Tiger Technology will use the investment for the expansion of its business and the development of one of its latest products, called Tiger Bridge. However, commercial register data shows that the registry agency refused to enter Tiger Technology's capital increase, due to a number of missing documents, including approvals from the boards of several of the investors in the capital hike - Nikolov and Partners, V Investment Bulgaria, and Lucent Investments. Earlier this year, Tiger Technology said that its shareholders have approved the launch of a capital increase aimed at raising up to EUR 2.3 million by offering 11,620 shares at a price of EUR 200 each. Tiger Technology develops data management solutions for companies in the enterprise IT, surveillance, media and entertainment sectors. Its products and services are used in more than 120 countries as some of its main clients include Financial Times, Kodak and NBC Universal. Endeavor is a non-governmental organisation which operates in 28 countries worldwide

The German company Behr-Hella Thermo Control (BHTC), which has a factory for automotive air-conditioning systems in the industrial area in Bozhurishte since 2015, is starting to expand its production. The project foresees the capacity to increase almost twice and to employ about 150 people. Construction began last month and should end in March next year. The company does not specify the amount of the investment in the project. The extension will be around 6500 sq. m., which includes 4340 sq. m of production area and 1370 sq. m of warehouses, as well as technical zones, offices, laboratories, and so on. At present, the Behr-Hella Thermal Control building, as it is called the local German company's group, has an area of 14.5 thousand square meters. By installing the new lines, the plant's production capacity will grow by 80%. At present, there are about 490 people employed in the company. The construction will end in March 2019, and within two months the building will have to get an Act 16 to start production.

Bulgarian state-owned natural gas transmission network operator Bulgartransgaz said that two tie-ups have placed bids in a BGN 351 million tender for the construction of two compressor stations needed in order to extend the TurkStream pipeline through Bulgaria. The two candidates are a consortium of local company Klimatronik, Belarus-based construction company Alvora, Ukraine's Poltavaspezmontage and Spanish infrastructure consulting company TEC Cuatro, and another consortium comprising Bulgaria's Glavbolgarstroy and Germany's Ferrostaal Industrieanlagen. The tender envisages investment project design, the supply of the materials and equipment and the construction works of two compressor stations in Provadiya and Rasovo, in the northeastern and southwestern part of the country, respectively. Bids will be ranked based on price, which will form 60% of the final mark, and technical criteria.

Three units of Maritsa Iztok 2 Thermal Power Plant (TPP) were shut down after a breakdown late on Wednesday and were later reconnected to the grid, the Independent Bulgarian Energy Exchange (IBEX) said. All three units were reconnected to the grid early on Thursday, IBEX said without elaborating on the reasons for the accident. No information about damages or casualties was provided. Unit 3 was out for 5 hours and 20 minutes, Unit 4 was out for 4 hours and 44 minutes, while Unit 1 was reconnected to the grid after 3 hours and 43 minutes. TPP Maritsa Iztok 2 has eight operating units with a total installed capacity of 1,620 MW.

The Dutch parliament opposed the start of negotiations with Albania last night but rejected the same resolution that concerns Northern Macedonia. Dutch Parliament voted four resolutions on EU enlargement yesterday but only Albania has won a majority of votes, including the ruling, with 105 votes out of 150 MPs in parliament. The resolution calls for not to enter into negotiations with Tirana in 2019, mainly due to insufficient progress in the fight against organized crime and corruption. The Dutch Government shares this view. According to Foreign Minister Stef Blok, the opening of the accession talks with Albania is a hasty decision. The resolution for northern Macedonia, through which several Dutch MPs wanted to block talks with Skopje, was rejected by the majority in the Dutch parliament. This is the first possible step towards separating northern Macedonia and Albania into the EU Council if the Netherlands as an EU Member State calls on the Council to take this approach when deciding on the Albania-Macedonia package on 18 June in Luxembourg or the next meeting the end of July in Brussels.

Amazon Web Services CEO Andy Jassy derided other providers of traditional on-premises database services at the company's 10th annual public sector conference in Washington DC on Wednesday. AWS has battled Microsoft, Oracle and others for the Department of Defense cloud services contract, which is worth $10 billion and runs for 10 years. "I think that most people are pretty frustrated with the older guard database solutions," Jassy said. "They're expensive, proprietary, high lock-in. They're constantly auditing you, fining you unless you buy more from them. It's just a model that people are sick of. And it's why people are moving as quickly as possible to more open engines." Microsoft declined to comment and Oracle did not respond to a request for comment. Amazon and Microsoft are the only two remaining companies in contention for the Pentagon contract, which is known as Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI.

China’s biggest e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd has filed confidentially for a Hong Kong listing that could raise up to $20 billion as early as the third quarter of this year, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said. A deal of that size would be the biggest follow-on share sale globally in seven years and give Alibaba funds for technology investment - a priority for China as economic growth slows and a trade spat with the United States intensifies. Alibaba holds the record for the world’s largest initial public offering with its $25 billion float in New York five years ago. Then, the company had initially hoped to float in Hong Kong but the tech firm’s management structure clashed with the city’s listing rules. Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing, the city’s bourse operator, changed its listing rules last year - primarily with the aim of attracting Chinese tech groups. Alibaba declined to comment on the deal when contacted by Reuters. Japan’s SoftBank Group, which is Alibaba’s largest shareholder with a 28.7% stake, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.