EXPANSION - Czech cardboard packaging producer Model Obaly said it would invest 54 million Kč ($2.17 million) to expand its Nymburk plant to boost production and storage capacities due to a growing demand for corrugated cardboard products. The reconstruction will be completed in November 2005.

CLOSING - Textile company Tiba Dvůr Králové nad Labem will close some of its plants because of lower sales this year, with the Česká Skalice plant to cease operation and 130 staff to be given notice by the end of July. The production will be transferred to the Mostek plant.

OPENING - Japanese concern Daikin Industries has opened a plant in the Borská pole industrial park in Plzeň. The company, covering one-third of the global market for air conditioning, has invested 2 billion Kč there, and the plant employs 600 staff. CONSTRUCTION š Czech do-it-tourself and gardening chain OBI has launched construction of a new outlet in Pardubice worth more than 200 million Kč; it will employ around 100. OBI, which will open the store early in December, currently operates five outlets in the Czech Republic.

TV ADS - Spending on TV advertising totaled 1.76 billion Kč in June, up 357 million Kč, or 26 percent, against a year ago, with the five biggest advertisers spending a gross of 444 million Kč, according to data provided by TNS A-Connect. The number of TV spots broadcast grew by 2,224, or 13.5 hours of more advertising, during that same time.

AIRLINES - The expansion of a training center for Czech Airlines (ČSA) staff, as well staff from ČSA's rivals, will cost 60 million Kč, with a further 100 million Kč to purchase flight simulators. The center will open next spring, with a return on investment expected in six years.

BAKERY - Odkolek bakery is reversing its fortunes. The company sustained a loss of only 42 million Kč in 2004 against a loss of 77 million Kč in 2003, and the company projects a profit of tens of millions of crowns this year, CEO Jan Jedlička told the Czech News Agency. The company has gone through a restructuring process since the arrival of new management in July 2004, including several cost-cutting measures.

BEER - Pivovar Zubr increased beer production to 141,000 hectoliters (3,724,825 U.S. gallons) in the first six months of 2005, up 6,000 hectoliters on the year, with sales at 200 million Kč, up 2 percent from the same period last year, Director Pavel Svoboda said, though exports fell by 6 percent.