The state intends to emerge more often in the government securities market this year. This was made clear by the words of the Minister of Finance Vladislav Goranov, who said on Wednesday that his office will issue a total of BGN 1 billion in 2019. This is the new debt limit that the government can take this year according to the law. In June, the government placed government securities for BGN 300.6 million, and last week it became clear that it planned another auction for BGN 200 million on 22 June. This means that in the second half of the year an attempt will be made to raise funds for half a billion on the domestic market. The first two auctions took place with considerable investor’s interest, which allowed the ministry to achieve a low yield. From the words of the finance minister, the department has been waiting for the decisions of ECB and the US Federal Reserve for interest rate policy to choose the best time to raise funding from the market.

In the second quarter of 2019 the growth of the concluded property deals was only 0.4% on an annual basis. This became clear from the Registry Agency's published data. In the months from April to June, the number of listed deals was 52,503 for the whole country. For the first half of the year, there has even been a decline of 1.2% compared to the first half of 2018. The number of legal mortgages registered is 21 311 for the whole country in the first half of the year. They decreased by 34.4% compared to the same period of the previous year. In the big cities where most real estate deals are for housing, there is a slight increase in deals in the second quarter. In the capital, for example, it is 7.7% on an annual basis and Burgas - 7.8%. In Varna, however, it is 0.8% and in Plovdiv there is even a drop in transactions of 8.5%.

Bulgaria's transport ministry has picked a consortium comprising the operator of Munich Airport and French investment firm Meridiam Eastern Europe Investments as winner in the tender for awarding a 35-year concession contract to run Sofia Airport. The French-German consortium SofConnect led by Meridiam was ranked first with 86.12 points. A consortium comprising France's Aeroports de Paris (ADP) and its Turkey-headquartered unit TAV Havalimanlari Holding was ranked second with 80.31 points, while Fraport Bulgaria, the local unit of Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide came in close third with 80.19 points. The contract with the winner can be signed within a 15-day period if no complaints against the choice of the transport ministries are lodged. The transport ministry's decision can be appealed within 10 days before the country's competition authority and then before the Supreme Administrative Court. The winning consortium has offered to pay a concession fee of EUR 24.5 million per year for the duration of the contract and invest EUR 608 million in Sofia Airport. The ADP-led consortium has offered to pay the highest concession fee of some EUR 32.8 million per year and invest EUR 903 million. Fraport Bulgaria offered a EUR 21 million annual concession fee and EUR 615 million of investments.

Bulgarian plastics producer Lim Technics will invest BGN 4.0 million in the construction of a new manufacturing and office building in order to expand operations, the economy ministry said. The facility will be located in the Bozhurishte industrial zone, some 12 km west of Sofia and its opening will create 40 new jobs. Sofia-based Lim Technics started operations in 2017. It is specialized in the production of plastic and silicone components used in automobiles, medical consumables, household appliances and electronic devices.

Bulgarian logistics company Zora Logistic MMS will invest BGN 17 million in the construction of a base for storage and servicing of third-party cargo shipments, the economy ministry said. The opening of the new base, to be located in the Bozhurishte industrial zone near Sofia, will create 33 jobs. Sofia-based Zora Logistic MMS is specialized in the storage of cargo as well as construction and purchase of real estate, according to data from the Bulgarian commercial register.

Coffee brand Lavazza will be re-distributed by Sofstock. Lavazza and Sofstock OOD have signed an agreement according to which from September 15 this year the Italian coffee brand will be imported to Bulgaria by Sofstock. The contract between the two companies covers the distribution of Lavazza’s products in Bulgaria in retail channels, food services, the office sector and vending machines. Lavazza has been present on the Bulgarian market for 27 years, and until October 2017 the brand was imported by Sofstock. Then the brand chose Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company for a distributor. Earlier this month it became clear that Coca-Cola would no longer import Lavazza’s products from mid-September, but it was not clear who would be the new distributor.

The construction of a new shopping center in Blagoevgrad has started. The first sod was made by the mayor of the municipality and the chairman of the board of directors of Videolux Holding. Investor in the project and owner of the site is Technopolis. The new shopping center in Blagoevgrad is expected to open in the autumn of this year. The main contractor of the project is Avtostroy Ltd.

A1 Bulgaria telco grew earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) by 13.3% on the year to EUR 87.9 million in the first half of 2019, parent company A1 Telekom Austria Group said. A1 Bulgaria's revenue rose 3.9% to EUR 226.5 million in the first six months of the year. The rise was mainly due to higher service revenues, which increased to EUR 182.9 million from EUR 170.9 million in the like period of last year. Capital expenditure increased by 7.7% to EUR 26.5 million. The number of A1 Bulgaria's wireless subscribers decreased by an annual 3.4% to 3.8 million in the first half of 2019 due to the removal of inactive SIM-cards, while the average revenue per user (ARPU) increased by 7.6%. A1 Bulgaria competes with Bulgarian Telecommunications Company (BTC), which operates under the brand name Vivacom, Telenor Bulgaria owned by Czech Republic-based investment group PPF, and Max Telecom.

Britain is facing the highest risk of a recession since the financial crisis and needs urgent plans to combat the next downturn, according to an alarming assessment of the nation’s economic health. Preparations need to be made to reduce the impact, the study by the Resolution Foundation thinktank warns. It states that both uncertainty around Brexit and the global economic slowdown have led to the highest recession risk since 2007. It raises the alarm over the potential impact on living standards, warning that the five previous recessions have produced an economic shock equating to a £2,500 loss for each household in the UK. They have also increased unemployment by one million. It comes after a series of warnings over the health of the economy amid continuing uncertainty around Britain’s EU membership. Earlier this month the governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, warned that there had been a “sea change” in the world’s financial markets, driven by pessimism about the economic outlook.

SumUp Inc., a six-year-old electronic payments startup, secured a 330 million-euro ($371 million) loan, backed by Bain Capital Credit, Goldman Sachs Private Capital and others to fuel its expansion. The London-based company plans to boost its customer base across 31 markets and develop its range of products, including via acquisitions. The startup makes credit-card readers to help businesses of all size receive payments faster, both in-store and online, and is working to improve contactless payments. “This cash injection will significantly accelerate the growth of our customer base, enhance SumUp’s technology leadership position, and drive the development of new services,” said Marc-Alexander Christ, co-founder of SumUp. The six-year-old startup currently has more than 1.5 million active users, such as DHL Worldwide Express and the U.K.’s black-cab drivers, and more than 4,000 new business join every day, the company said. It expects to generate more than 200 million euros in revenue this year, and seeks to maintain its 120% year-on-year growth in 2019, according to a statement. Goldman Sachs International acted as lead structuring agent, Barclays Bank PLC as structuring agent, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges acted as legal adviser to SumUp on the financing. HPS Investment Partners, and TPG Sixth Street Partners also participated in the loan, which has a five-year term, the company said.

Google's controversial Project Dragonfly has officially been shelved. At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing this week, Google's vice president of public policy, Karan Bhatia, said that work on its censored Chinese search engine had been "terminated." A spokesperson later confirmed that Google has no plans to launch Search in China, and that there is no work being undertaken on such a project. Google has been vague about Project Dragonfly ever since it first came to light. Leaked documents indicated that the China-centric search app would automatically identify websites blocked by the country's so-called Great Firewall, and simply remove them from search results. This would include information on free speech and political opposition, as well as any negative references to authoritarian governments. While Google did confirm that it was working on a project codenamed Dragonfly, it wouldn't give any further details on it, other than to say its development was going well. However, Dragonfly faced global backlash once more details about it emerged, with Amnesty International organizing a protest against the project and Congress hauling Google boss Sundar Pichai out for questioning.