The Prague Post Online: Business: Biz Week

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October 12th, 2008

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TAKEOVER French cheesemaker giant Lactalis said it will pay more than 100 million Kč for a majority stake in the Czech cheese company Moravskoslezské mlekárny. Lactalis, which is best known for making President Brie cheeses in France and exporting them around the world, also said it would buy Mlékárna Klatovy dairy. In 2004, it bought Promil, then the No. 2 Czech cheese maker on the market.

CUSTODY Polish lobbyist Jacek Spyra is lobbying again to Prague courts to be released from Czech custody, according to the daily Právo. Spyra was successfully prosecuted for offering a 10 million Kč ($468,604) bribe in connection with privatizing Czech petrochemical company Unipetrol two years ago to Polish oil giant PKN Orlen. Spyra’s lawyer said they’ll ask for bail if the courts don’t agree to the release.

LABOR ČMKOS labor leader Milan Štěch plans to meet with left-leaning Parliament deputies to discuss public finance reforms, which he says give tax breaks to the rich, among other things. An estimated 30,000 protesters turned out in Žižkov June 23 to demonstrate against the package of tax, healthcare and social reforms, which received initial government approval in June.

BLOGGING Czech blogging is on the rise, especially for music and information technology lovers, according to Navrcholu.cz, a local Internet company. The number of blogs, or Web logs, registered with the company grew 142 percent from 383 to 928 from 2006 to 2007 while the number of Web sites grew from 20,205 to 23,297, or almost 16 percent. Blogs are open forums on the Internet where users can talk to one another and all participant’ comments are registered onscreen.

CONSUMERS Czechs led the region in purchasing power, rising to 79 percent of the European Union average in 2006, compared to 74 percent in 2005, according to Eurostat, an analysis agency. Its next closest neighbor in purchasing parity was Hungary at 66 percent, followed by Slovakia at 63 percent. But it still falls far below the EU’s richest countries: Luxembourg is now at 280 percent, Austria is at 129 percent and Germany is 117 percent, Eurostat said.

BANKS Fueled by construction and loan-making, Czech banks posted 13.3 billion Kč in pre-tax earnings in the first quarter, down 3.6 percent from the same period in 2006, the daily Hospodářské noviny reported. Revenues went up 25 percent to 35 billion Kč. At the same time, foreign debt also rose to 1.24 trillion Kč, putting it at almost 38 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.

RENTS Regulated rents will rise more quickly next year around the country than they have so far in 2007, Mladá fronta Dnes reported. The country’s effort to deregulate rents has caused thorny problems for numerous residents, most notably for pensioners living on fixed incomes. In Prague, rents are expected to jump 35 percent in 2008. In České Budějovice, they could rise more than 40 percent.

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