The NRA reminded that six days remain until the deadline in which all companies without VAT registration and sales management software should change their cash registers with new ones. After June 30, these companies must issue a cash receipt with a QR code, and each sale is counted within 5 minutes on the revenue agency's server. More than 210 thousand cash registers are already working according to the new requirements. For businesses registered for VAT using sales management software, the deadline for replacing and the installation of new cash registers was postponed until September 30. The purpose of the QR code is for every buyer to check with his mobile device whether his cash receipt is reported to the NRA. In this way, consumers can also control the reporting of company earnings.

Over 2.13 mln pensioners will receive a 5.7% increase in their pensions from July 1. BGN 277 million are provided for this purpose, according to the National Social Security Institute. From next month, there will also be an increase in minimum pensions, including those granted in 2019. The minimum retirement pension will thus increase from BGN 207.60 to BGN 219.43 and the social old-age pension will increase from BGN 125.58 to BGN 132.74. The minimum rates of the remaining pensions for labor activity as well as the non-labor related, which are set as a percentage of the said minimum sizes, will be new. For new pension rates, people will be able to get information through Unique citizenship number and PINs on the NSSI site or by requesting a free copy of the order in the relevant territorial unit of the institute.

The Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) announced that it is doing a full review of Eurohold Bulgaria AD after the company confirmed last week the acquisition of CEZ's assets in Bulgaria. The regulator will assess the financial position and capacity of the group to acquire the electricity distribution company. The audit will also include subsidiaries that are part of the holding. ‘In regard to the intention for the forthcoming acquisitions of CEZ Distribution Bulgaria AD and CEZ Electro Bulgaria AD from Eurohold Bulgaria AD, the Financial Supervision Commission continues its work on four inspections of the activities of Eurohold Bulgaria AD and the activity of three insurance companies in the holding group’, the regulator announced. At the end of last week, Eurohold Bulgaria announced that it has signed a contract for the acquisition of Czech CEZ's assets on the Bulgarian market for EUR 335 million.

The Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) successfully implemented and now operates the latest generation of technology architecture of Deutsche Börse - T7. The vanguard platform enables market participants on the Bulgarian capital market to be the first in Eastern Europe to benefit from state-of-the-art stock exchange technologies. With migration from the current Xetra system to T7, the delays in trade are further reduced. In addition, international trading participants already associated with T7 can benefit from potential synergies through lower development and maintenance costs if they wish to have exposure to the Bulgarian capital market. The Maltese Stock Exchange introduced T7 in March this year. Several other exchanges in Europe and the world have also embedded Deutsche Börse's commercial infrastructure. The Bulgarian Stock Exchange has been using the commercial infrastructure of Deutsche Börse since 2008.

Bulgaria's Phoenix Pharma, part of Germany's Phoenix Group, said that the construction of a new build-to-suit warehouse in Sofia that will replace its existing facility in the Bulgarian capital is expected to begin later this year. The pharmaceuticals trader is also planning to invest in the expansion of its regional warehouse in Plovdiv this year. Currently, Phoenix Pharma has four warehouses in Bulgaria - in Sofia, Plovdiv, Burgas and Veliko Tarnovo. Besides wholesale, Phoenix Pharma's activities also include pre-wholesale, as well as development of pharmacy software. Phoenix Pharma closed 2018 with a net profit of BGN 3.1 million on revenue of BGN 707.7 million.

The Bulgarian unit of Danish bedding and furniture retailer JYSK has opened its seventh store in Sofia, its 27th in the country. The new store, located in The Mall shopping centre, spreads on 1,285 sq. m. Earlier this month The Mall said that forty new stores will open doors at its premises on June 20, including JYSK Bulgaria's new store, growing the number of brands present at the shopping centre to over 240. The new openings follow an investment of EUR 24 million in renovations by The Mall. JYSK plans to open four stores in Sofia within a very short term. The company's strategy envisages having an average of five stores in the largest cities in Bulgaria. JYSK entered the Bulgarian market in 2005 and currently operates stores in 17 cities in the country, employing over 300 people.

Bulgaria's Road Infrastructure Agency (RIA) has signed a BGN 119 million contract with local GBS Infrastrukturno Stroitelstvo for the design and construction of a six-kilometre section of Sofia ring road. The contract was signed on June 20, RIA said in a notice. Eight companies tabled bids in the public procurement procedure for awarding the contract. GBS Infrastrukturno Stroitelstvo is part of local Glavbolgarstroy Holding.

Almost a third of branded food products sold in the European Union have the same or similar packaging, but different contents, according to a report published by the European Commission on Monday. However, the report did not find that there was a noticeable split between the east and west of the bloc, despite complaints from former communist countries that multinationals sell lower quality food in their markets. The study into nearly 1,400 samples of 128 different food products in 19 EU countries found that 9% of products had identical and 22% similar package fronts, but different compositions. The disparities included varied content of meat or fish, a greater fat content or a different type of sweetener in some EU countries compared to the product elsewhere. Hungarian commissioner Tibor Navracsics said he was pleased that there was no evidence of an east-west divide, but described the findings as “mixed”. Since Commission President Jean-Claude Junker made dual food standards an issue in his state of the union speech in 2017, the Commission has established a common way to test food products and set EU-wide rules to make similarly branded food have the same content.

U.S. regulators have sought explanation from Deutsche Bank AG about its “bad bank” proposal and its impact on U.S. operations at the loss-making German lender, the Financial Times reported on Monday. Officials at the U.S. Federal Reserve are concerned on learning about Deutsche Bank’s strategy and have sought further details of the plan, which is part of the lender’s move away from investment banking. The Fed did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the matter. Deutsche Bank reiterated an earlier statement without directly commenting. “As we said at the AGM on May 23, Deutsche Bank is working on measures to accelerate its transformation so as to improve its sustainable profitability. We will update all stakeholders if and when required,” Deutsche Bank said in a statement. Reuters reported earlier this month that Deutsche Bank was planning to overhaul its trading operations by creating a so-called “bad bank” to hold tens of billions of euros of non-core assets. The overhaul would also include shrinking or shutting equity and rates trading businesses outside of Europe.

Carrefour SA has agreed to sell an 80% stake in its China unit for 4.8 billion yuan ($698 million) in cash to local retailer Suning.com Co. as it rethinks its exposure in the world’s No. 2 economy after years of decline. The yielding of control comes after a long search for a partner for the French company’s struggling Chinese operations. Once the premier foreign supermarket chain locally, it failed to adjust to the onslaught of e-commerce in recent years and sales slumped. Carrefour will retain a 20% stake in the China business, which generated net sales of 3.6 billion euros (28.5 billion yuan) in 2018. It will also get two seats out of seven on the China unit’s Supervisory Board, according to a statement Sunday. The valuation of Carrefour’s China unit at 0.2 times its 2018 sales -- compared to an industry average of 0.8 times -- is at a “significant discount to peers likely due to poor financial results,” said Citigroup Inc. analysts led by Lydia Ling in a note Monday. A growing number of European and American retailers are either scaling back their presence or tying up with local partners in order to stay competitive in China, where e-commerce penetration is one of the highest globally.