According to the preliminary data in May 2019 the seasonally adjusted Industrial Production Index remained at the level of April 2019. In May 2019 the working day adjusted Industrial Production Index rose by 0.6% in comparison with the same month of 2018. In May 2019 as compared to April 2019, the increase was in the mining and quarrying industry by 9.5%, while the production fell in the manufacturing by 0.4% and in the electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply by 0.1%. The most significant production decreases in the manufacturing were registered in the repair and installation of machinery and equipment by 8.4%, in the manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products by 4.4%, in the manufacture of basic metals by 3.9%. Major increases were seen in the manufacture of tobacco products by 15.4%, in the manufacture of leather and related products by 11.3%, in the manufacture of furniture by 7.1%, in the manufacture of chemicals and chemical products by 6.0%.

The outsourcing industry in Bulgaria employs 2.4% of the workforce in this country. Over 67,000 people are employed at this sector. In 2021 their number is expected to exceed 80,000, data of the Bulgarian Outsourcing Association show. The outsourcing sector generates 7.9% of the salaries in Bulgaria. The people employed in the outsourcing industry receive good wages which are way higher than the average wages in Bulgaria. The outsourcing business expands from Sofia towards cities with big universities. The outsourcing industry is the biggest investor in the development of education in this country. 96% of the Bulgarian outsourcing companies entered in various partnerships with Bulgarian universities or support other educational initiatives.

Bulgaria's Commission for Protection of Competition has allowed local pesticides producer Agria to acquire pesticides trader Campo 2007. The two companies operate on competitive market segments which include a large number of subsidiaries of large foreign corporations and the deal is not expected to lead to the establishment of a dominant position. Agria generated consolidated revenue of BGN 109.9 million in 2017 and closed the year with a net profit of BGN 15.1 million. Campo 2007 booked revenue of BGN 10.3 million and a net profit of BGN 352,000 in 2017. The company is 50/50 owned by local companies MMS-99 and Ambus. Earlier this year, Agria said that it also intends to acquire Lichtenstein-based Zenith Crop Sciences.

Bulgaria's Trace Group Hold said that its wholly-owned unit Infra Commerce intends to absorb local acrylic paint producer Himcolor. Infra Commerce's capital will not be increased as a result of the merger, Trace Group Hold said in a bourse filing. Infra Commerce acquired 100% of Himcolor in April. Himcolor's capital comprises 5,000 shares with a nominal value of BGN 10 each Himcolor booked revenue of BGN 932,000 in 2017 and closed the year with a net profit of BGN 68,000, according to data from its latest available annual financial statement.

The German Osram Licht, which two years ago made a plant for lighting systems near Plovdiv, will have a new owner. Tthe board of directors and group supervisors supported the offer of the US financial consortium between Bain Capital and The Carlyle Group to acquire the shares at a price of EUR 35 per share. The new owners will retain the group's strategic priorities, including the focus on digitization, which does not imply changes in the activities of the Bulgarian company Osram. Besides production, the German group also has a trading company in Bulgaria - Osram Sales, which is based in Sofia. One of the buyers - Bain Capital, also has a Bulgarian connection. The Fund is a former owner of the Ideal Standard - Vidima sanitary ware and fittings manufacturer through its participation in Ideal Standard. The American company acquired Ideal Standard in 2007, and in 2014 as a shareholder came the Anchorage Capital Fund after debt restructuring and a fresh investment. In the middle of last year Bain Capital came out of its investment by selling its shares to Anchorage Capital.

The company of Markan Holding plans to build an eco-farm in the area of Gorni Okol, Samokov municipality. The project includes several sites for various animals and dairy and is part of the planned tourist complex with a golf course and a hotel. The total investment is estimated at around EUR 300 million, but will be implemented in parts. The project envisages the construction of a complex for ecological production of milk from cows and sheep, its processing in dairy products for direct delivery, as well as a small horse base. This became clear from the investment proposal of Golf Okol, which is owned by Markan Holding.

Bulgaria-based textile company E. Miroglio turned to a consolidated net loss of BGN 19.6 million in 2018 from a net profit of BGN 15.6 million in 2017, due to higher expenses. E. Miroglio's operating expenses grew to BGN 279.5 million last year from BGN 241.0 million in 2017. The rise in expenses was mainly due to higher expenses for materials and hired services, as well as personnel costs. The company's operating revenue edged up to BGN 260.5 million in 2018 from BGN 258.6 million the year before. E. Miroglio's assets increased to BGN 810.9 million at the end of 2018 from BGN 796.6 million a year earlier.

The Council adopted contingency measures on the implementation and financing of the 2019 EU budget in the event of a no-deal Brexit. The aim of the measures is to mitigate the impact of a no-deal scenario for funding in a wide range of areas such as research and agriculture. They will enable the EU to continue making payments to UK beneficiaries for contracts signed and decisions made before the withdrawal date, as long as the UK continues paying its contribution agreed in the EU budget for 2019. The European Parliament gave its consent to this contingency framework on 17 April 2019. Under the agreed contingency framework, the UK would have to confirm in writing that it will contribute to the financing of the 2019 EU budget as adopted. It would also have to accept the necessary controls and audits for the EU programmes and actions, and make the first payment to the EU budget for the period after its withdrawal. Only if these conditions are met would the eligibility for financing by the EU budget in 2019 of the UK and UK-entities be maintained.

PepsiCo Inc’s quarterly revenue and profit beat Wall Street estimates, boosted by higher sales of its traditional Pepsi soda as well as snacks Lay’s and Dorito chips. Beverage sales rose in the quarter as the company’s packaging strategy to move away from large cans of sugary drinks to smaller ones is helping it add consumers who occasionally like to ‘indulge’ even while preferring healthier options in the long term. “Core Pepsi is what is driving the improved performance in soda,” Chief Financial Officer Hugh Johnston told Reuters. “You have the consumer shifting from bigger volume packages into packages that are smaller... but the price realization is quite good on them,” Johnston said. Earlier this year, PepsiCo launched berry, lime and mango flavored sodas in 12-ounce cans and introduced variations of Cheeots and Doritos tortilla chips. Beverage volume fell 2% at PepsiCo’s North America beverage unit, largely due to higher sales of smaller packages of sodas and juices, but revenue from the business rose 2.5%. Revenue in its snacking division, Frito-Lay North America, rose 4.5%, led by high single-digit growth in convenience and dollar stores, pushing total net revenue up 2.2% to $16.45 billion.

The market size of cloud computing in China reached 96.28 billion yuan (13.97 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018, up 39.2 percent from 2017, said a recently-released white paper on cloud computing development. The public cloud market scale reached 43.7 billion yuan last year, an increase of 65.2 percent over 2017, according to the white paper released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology. It is expected that the market will grow rapidly in the next three years and reach 173.1 billion yuan by 2022. Favorable policies on cloud computing promoted its rapid development in the country, according to the white paper. In August last year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a guideline proposing that by 2020, cloud computing will be widely used in the production, operation and management of enterprises, and there will be 1 million more enterprises applying cloud computing in China. As of the end of last year, more than 20 provincial-level regions, including Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Hubei, have issued policy documents on developing cloud computing in enterprises.