Business Industry Capital
Bulgaria
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BNB Exchange Rates
(18.09.2019) |
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EUR |
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1.95583 |
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GBP |
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2.20219 |
USD |
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1.77383 |
CHF |
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1.78354 |
EUR/USD |
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1.1026* |
ECB exchange rate |
Basic Interest Rate |
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as of 01.09 |
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0 % |
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Financial news |
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Successfully completed a course organized by the Bulgarian Industrial Association and BIC Capital Market Ltd. for training 7 trainers under the REFA (Germany) program. The trainers who have received the internationally recognized REFA-certificates are entitled to conduct training on "Optimizing the Company's Management of the Labor and Production Process" on the territory of Bulgaria under the program of REFA 2.0. The training took place in the period 29.07-17.09.2019. Source: BNR
The Governing Council of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) has determined the level of the countercyclical capital buffer applicable to credit risk exposures in the Republic of Bulgaria at 1% for the fourth quarter of 2020. In determining the level of the countercyclical buffer, account shall be taken of both the benchmark and the relevant guidelines of the European Systemic Risk Board and other indicators which the BNB deems appropriate to reflect the cyclical systemic risk. As of the end of the second quarter of 2019, the credit/GDP ratio, calculated according to the methodology published on the website of the Bulgarian National Bank, amounts to 95.3%. The deviation of the indicator from the long-term trend is negative (-41.0 percentage points), which corresponds to the zero value of the anti-cyclical buffer benchmark. Source: Banker
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Companies |
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The total number of fintech companies in Bulgaria is 65, by which the country is a leader in the region of Southeastern Europe, according to the first of its kind report, prepared by the Bulgarian Fintech Association. In the last three years, the operating revenues of the fintech sector have doubled and the average growth of the industry on an annual basis is about 33.5%. About 1/3 of the Bulgarian fintech companies operate in the field of payments. The key findings of the report show the potential for active development of the sector in the country. The number of companies identified as fintech is 65, 41 of them are start-ups and 24 are already established companies. At the time of the report, the average age of enterprises was 6 years. More than half of them were created after 2015, which is indicative of the key role of startups in the fintech ecosystem. The heart of the Bulgarian ecosystem is the capital Sofia, where the talent of many IT professionals is created and developed.
German automotive components manufacturer VOSS Automotive said that it will inaugurate its first production plant in Bulgaria on September 26. VOSS Automotive has invested BGN 15 million in the first stage of the project located in Bahovitsa Industrial Park, near the city of Lovech in central Bulgaria, creating 100 jobs, the company said in a statement. The number of people employed at the plant is expected to reach 900 by the end of next year. Last month, Bulgaria's economy ministry said that its secretary general met with representatives of VOSS Automotive to discuss the company's plans to set up a new production facility in Eastern Europe and the options to build it in Bulgaria. VOSS Automotive specialises in the production of fuel and coolant lines and fittings, quick connector systems, thermal management lines and fittings, and other components.
IT company DXC Technology reported the hiring of its 3500th employee in Bulgaria. According to the company, it indirectly employs another 1,000 people. To that number are added 250 people, part of Luxoft, which was acquired globally by DXC for about USD 2 billion in early 2019, with both companies having large offices in Bulgaria. Thus, with over 4,500 employees, DXC Technology becomes the largest employer in the IT sector in the country. According to the company, it hired more than 600 people in the first six months of 2019. In addition to Sofia, DXC has an office in Varna. Bulgaria is the largest European service delivery center for the global company. DXC was created in the spring of 2017 following the merger of Computer Sciences Corp (CSC) and the Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) IT Services division. The deal led to a giant with 6,000 customers in over 70 countries, with the two companies overlapping in just 15% of their operations. Both had large engineering units in Bulgaria before the transaction. DXC Technology's revenue for fiscal 2018 reached USD 24.6 billion. Source: Capital
Bulgaria's Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) has granted approval to Czech Republc-based car parts trader Auto Kelly to acquire an undisclosed stake in local company Elit Car. The CPC did not specify the size of the stake that Auto Kelly aims to acquire but after successful completion of the transaction deal, Elit Car will become sole owner of the Czech company's Bulgarian unit Auto Kelly Bulgaria, the anti-trust body said. Auto Kelly will exercise control of the Bulgarian company along with private investors Zlatin Totin and Lyubomir Nachkov, who currently hold 50% of Elit Car's capital each. CPC's decision can be appealed by interested parties before the Sofia Administrative Court within 14 days after its publication. Prague-based Auto Kelly is part of US-headquartered LKQ Corporation and operates a unit in Slovakia. Varna-based Elit Car's main activities include trade in car parts and hospitality activities. It has a registered capital of BGN 245,000, according to data published in the Bulgarian commercial register.
At an extraordinary meeting, the General Assembly of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) approved Assoc. Dr. Manyu Moravenov to join the Board of Directors of the institution. The Board assigned Assoc. Dr. Moravenov the role of Executive Director of BSE. The new CEO is yet to be approved by the Financial Supervision Commission and entered in the Commercial Register. The BSE Board expressed gratitude for the outstanding contribution of the former CEO Ivan Takev, who left the institution after an 18-year career in it. His achievements include establishing BSE as a technologically advanced European stock exchange through the introduction of Deutsche Börse's electronic trading system - Xetra and the transition to its newest technological generation - T7 this year, the creation of a specialized platform for regulated information disclosure - X3 News, as well as the acquisition of the Independent Bulgarian Energy Exchange.
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Bulgarian Industrial Association
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World
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Europe |
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Christine Lagarde secured the backing of the European Parliament to become the next president of the European Central Bank following a vote on Tuesday. The former head of the International Monetary Fund was nominated in July for the role to succeed Italian economist Mario Draghi. The EU Parliament's non-binding vote in Strasburg, France, saw Lagarde receive 394 votes in favor and 206 against, with 49 abstentions. Lagarde — who will be formally appointed to the post by EU leaders in October — will be the first woman to helm the ECB. The European Central Bank (ECB) is responsible for the administration of the euro currency within the 19 Eurozone countries and overseeing monetary policy in the EU. Her nomination comes at a contentious time, as the current president, Draghi, this month announced measures to ensure that the euro meets its inflation target of just below 2%. Ahead of the vote EU lawmakers debated Lagarde's candidacy and the role of the ECB and the future of the eurozone.
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America |
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Almost the entire population of Ecuador had their personal data leaked online, security experts said, a massive breach that the government called a "very delicate" issue. An estimated 17 million people, including almost seven million minors and children, had their data exposed by a breach on an unsecured server run by an Ecuadorean marketing and analytics firm. "The information that I can share with you at this moment is that this is a very delicate issue, it is a major concern for the whole of the government and the state," said Interior Minister Maria Paula Romo. The security company vpnMentor uncovered the breach on the server run by the firm Novaestrat, which included citizens' full names, dates and places of birth, education levels, phone numbers and national identity card numbers. ZDNet, the cybersecurity website that first reported the breach, said there was even data on the country's president and on Julian Assange, the Wikileaks founder who applied for asylum in Ecuador and who spent years holed up in the country's London embassy before being arrested this year by British police. Source: AFP
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Asia |
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Chinese telecommunications equipment and services company Huawei is interested in supporting Serbia in the development of a data centre in Kragujevac, Serbia's e-government office said. Huawei may participate in the development of the cloud infrastructure of the data centre and in the establishment of a state-owned artificial intelligence platform based on high-performance computing (HPC) solutions, Serbia's Office for Information Technologies and e-government said in a statement on Monday. During a meeting with the president of Huawei's cloud unit, Zheng Yelai in China, a delegation of the e-government office also discussed the opening of a regional centre of the company for the Western Balkans in Serbia, the institution said. Serbia's government plans to invest EUR 30 million in the construction of a data centre in Kragujevac, prime minister Ana Brnabic said in July. The facility will spread on an area of four hectares and will have a few hundred employees.
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Indexes of Stock Exchanges 17.09.2019 |
Dow Jones Industrial |
27 110.80 |
(33.98) |
Nasdaq Composite |
8 186.02 |
(32.47) |
Commodity exchanges 17.09.2019 |
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Commodity |
Price |
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Light crude ($US/bbl.) | 59.01 |
Heating oil ($US/gal.) | 1.9900 |
Natural gas ($US/mmbtu) | 2.6600 |
Unleaded gas ($US/gal.) | 1.6800 |
Gold ($US/Troy Oz.) | 1 509.90 |
Silver ($US/Troy Oz.) | 18.00 |
Platinum ($US/Troy Oz.) | 942.00 |
Hogs (cents/lb.) | 67.68 |
Live cattle (cents/lb.) | 105.30 |
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The Krushuna waterfalls – Maarata |
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The Krushuna waterfalls – Maarata have been declared a nature landmark in order to preserve the typical geomorphologic formations, animals and plants on an area of 5.7 hectares. It is situated 34 kilometers east from the town of Lovech and 8 kilometers away from the town of Letnica, at the North end of Devetashko plateau. The water of Maarata River forms a karst waterfall, 20 meters high, and the biggest Bulgarian travertine waterfall cascading through a wealth of quarries, water pools, freestone terraces, U-shaped rocks and peculiar flora. In this region is one of the most beautiful caves in Bulgaria – Vodopada (The Waterfall), with its original galleries and a labyrinth, hard to orientate in, and barriers - accessible only 150 meters from the entrance and only by speleologists. The spring water from Vodopada cave falls from 20-meter rocks and forms the Krushuna waterfall. The region has rich history. The Thracian tribe Usdikenzhy enhabitet the area during 5-th century B.C. One of the most valuable treasures from that period was found here – the Letnishkoto treasure. Fortress ruins south of the village remind of the Roman period. During the Middle Ages the area was a philosophical center of the rock monks – Hesychasts.
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