The general producer price index in June 2019 decreased by 1.1% compared to the previous month, National Statistical Institute reported. Lower prices were registered in the manufacturing by 1.4% and in the mining and quarrying industry by 0.3%, while no change was observed in the production and distribution of electricity and heat and gas. In the manufacturing industry the most significant decrease was recorded in the production of basic metals - by 3.0%, and in leather and leather goods - by 1.4%. Food production went up by 0.4%, of beverages and of plastic and rubber products - by 0.3% each. Compared to June 2018, factory prices increased by an average of 0.9%. For the year, the increase in the energy sector was 7.6%, while decrease was observed in the mining and quarrying industry - by 6.3%, and in the manufacturing - by 0.7%. In the manufacturing, the most significant annual decrease in prices was observed in the manufacture of basic metals - by 7.2%. More significant price increases were recorded by repair and installation of machinery and equipment - by 3.4%, in the manufacture of clothing by 3.1%, and in the manufacture of food by 3.0%.

Prices of housing in Bulgaria increased about 26.15 per cent between 2015 and 2018, according to the National Statistical Institute (NSI). The largest increase was in Bulgaria’s capital city Sofia, where housing prices in the fourth quarter of 2018 were 35.25 per cent higher than in 2015. Close behind was second city Plovdiv, where housing prices rose by 34.47 per cent over those three years, according to the NSI’s figures. In Stara Zagora, the increase was 28 per cent, in Ruse 27 per cent and in Bulgaria’s largest Black Sea city Varna, 26 per cent – notably, the figure for Varna does not include sales at its adjoining resorts. Among Bulgaria’s largest cities, the one with the lowest increase was Burgas, at 18.23 per cent between 2015 and 2018, according to the NSI. Over the three years, prices of newly-built apartments increased by an average 22.3 per cent, while prices of existing apartments rose by 28.24 per cent. Increases in prices of existing apartments were highest in Sofia, Varna, Burgas and Ruse, though the trend was the opposite in Plovdiv and Stara Zagora, where prices of newly-built apartments rose at a faster pace.

Plovdiv-based company Milara International is investing EUR 10 million to start mass production of electric trucks in Plovdiv. The company, whose main activity is the production of robots (some of which for the US Army), has decided to enter into the project of the German-registered Sevic systems SE and to start assembling, and after a year - to design and manufacture electric trucks. According to Milara owner, the company has already started the process by buying 5,000 square meters of land and machinery and building a production base, with the total investment amounting to EUR 10 million, of which more than EUR 3 million will be a loan from OTP. The team of the Plovdiv-based company will produce a total of 260 electric trucks by the end of 2019, and by 2020 alone the monthly productivity will be 600.

IT services company Telelink Business Services plans a debut at the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) in November. However, the company will not make an initial public offering (IPO), but will only list existing shares. The news was announced by the CEO of the company Ivan Zhitianov in an interview and confirmed by the main shareholder in the company Lyubomir Minchev. A prospectus for public offering is currently being prepared and will be submitted for approval to the FSC. Telelink Business Services is one of the four Telelink Bulgaria subsidiaries. The company offers solutions in terms of IT infrastructure, information security, digital transformation, big data, etc. Telelink Business Services is one of the largest companies in the sector. For 2018, the company reported revenues of BGN 53.7 million and a profit of just over BGN 2 million with a total of 144 employees at the end of last year. The company operates in Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Albania, the main market of the company being the home market. In an interview Zhitianov said that this year's double-digit revenue growth is expected to continue in the next few years.

The Chief Architect of the Sofia Municipality Zdravko Zdravkov has issued a building permit for the reconstruction of the Sofia Telephone Hall. It envisages reconstruction, redesign, alteration of the roof and construction of an underground garage. The building is owned by NG Property, which purchased the building in May 2017 from BTC for EUR 17.3 million. The intention of the company is to make a museum in the Telephone Hall, which also has laboratories for the restoration of artifacts. As part of the project, the roof of the building will be converted into an attic floor. According to the documents presented during the approval of the project, the building, which has an area of 13,400 square meters and also has an additional 3,000 square meters underground level, should "grow" by 4.5 meters. Before the sale, the building was used by BTC for its administrative needs, cash desks. The premises will now be converted into showrooms, offices and technology laboratories.

Bulgaria's Commission for Protection of Competition said that Allianz Bulgaria Holding does not need anti-trust approval to acquire the remaining 49% of Allianz Leasing Bulgaria, as it is already the company's majority owner. Allianz Bulgaria Holding intends to acquire 3.04 million shares in Allianz Leasing Bulgaria from Austria-based VHO Holding. The share purchase agreement between the two companies was signed on June 17. The price of the transaction was not disclosed. The competition regulator's decision can be challenged before the Sofia Administrative Court within 14 days of its publication date - July 26.

Steel radiator manufacturer Korado Bulgaria, part of Czech Republic-based Korado Group, booked net profit of BGN 3.2 million in the first half of 2019, matching its financial result in the same period of 2018. The company's revenue rose to BGN 21.2 million in the January-June period of 2019 from BGN 20.7 million in the comparable period of 2018. Korado Bulgaria sold 258,855 units in the review period, up from 250,882 units sold in the corresponding period of last year. Most of the company's sales were to its Czech parent. Sales on the domestic market formed just 1.3% of the company's total sales volume. Sales to EU countries fell to 229,781 units in the first six months of 2019 from 235,206 units in the same period of 2018, while sales to non-EU countries more than doubled to 26,083 units from 11,103 units. The company produced 214,831 steel panel radiators in the review period, down from 221,617 radiators produced in the first half of 2018. Korado Bulgaria produced 47,050 towel rail radiators in the January-June period of 2019, up from 40,180 the year before.

Germany’s inflation rate weakened more than expected, adding to evidence that the European Central Bank may have to step up support for the euro area. Inflation in Europe’s largest economy was 1.1% in July, below economists’ estimates. While earlier reports from German states showed significant increases in the cost of package tours on the month, prices for clothing and fuel declined. The figures come one day before a report on inflation in the 19-nation euro area, for which economists anticipate a reading of 1.1%. That’s well below the ECB’s aim, and policy makers have already tasked staff to study options for further monetary stimulus as the region’s outlook remains clouded by trade tensions and other uncertainties. Most economists expect the ECB to follow up with an interest-rate cut in September, as well as resume asset purchases. Germany has been at the core of the wider region’s year-long slowdown due to its focus on manufacturing and exports. A separate report on Tuesday showed economic confidence in the bloc slid further as executives in industry worried about production and orders, and managers in the services sector became more pessimistic about future demand.

Citigroup Inc. is preparing to cut hundreds of jobs in its trading division -- stark new evidence that an industrywide slump in revenue this year may be more permanent than the tweets and policy moves rattling clients. The New York-based bank plans to slash jobs across its fixed-income and stock-trading operations over the course of 2019, according to people familiar with the matter. That includes at least 100 jobs in the equities unit, which would amount to almost 10% of the division’s workforce, the people said. About 80 of the cuts will take place at Citigroup’s London operations, one of the people said. For months, as global banks watched their revenue from trading slump, industry leaders have said clients were temporarily taking to the “sidelines” amid unpredictable twists in President Donald Trump’s trade negotiations and the Federal Reserve’s shifting stance on interest rates. Yet a growing number of banks are now cutting staff, a sign that executives are worried about more permanent challenges. “This won’t be the last trading-related job cuts story,” Jeff Harte, an analyst at Sandler O’Neill, said in a telephone interview. “The rest of Wall Street is thinking the same way.”

Tesla Inc. agreed to pay China 2.23 billion yuan ($323 million) in tax every year as part of a deal with local authorities to build an electric-vehicle factory on the outskirts of Shanghai. Under the terms of the lease with the Shanghai government, Tesla must start generating the annual tax revenues at the end of 2023 -- or hand the land back, the company’s latest quarterly filing shows. The U.S. company must also spend 14.08 billion yuan ($2 billion) in capital expenditure on the plant over the next five years, according to the lease. Tesla’s first overseas plant is aimed at avoiding tariffs and keeping prices down in the world’s largest electric-vehicle market. The obligations aren’t onerous compared with the company’s own targets, which include sinking several billion dollars into the facility. Tesla said last week it aims to produce half a million cars at the Shanghai site over the next 12 months, depending on how quickly output ramps up. “We believe the capital expenditure requirement and the tax revenue target will be attainable even if our actual vehicle production was far lower than the volumes we are forecasting,” Tesla said in the filing.