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November 22nd, 2008
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October 1st, 2008 | Current Issue

Shattered glass
How the country's largest crystal manufacturer found itself beyond repair

Warsaw bids on Prague bourse
Vienna, Germany and Nasdaq also interested in buying the BCPP

Zentiva approves takeover bid
French drug firm successful after three-month courtship

Horse auction bucks the trend
Largest sale in decades marks increased Czech interest in horse trade

Farmers cry foul over subsidy cuts
Proposed budget would mean 700 Kč loss per hectare of farmland

Czechs no closer to euro
Finance minister says no set date this year

Biz Events
Dates of Note

10 Questions
with Sotiris Foutsis
10 Questions

CB hires Scháňka for CEE
Movers & Shakers

BRIEFS


ČEZ Czech power company ČEZ has won its bid for a 76 percent stake in an Albanian distribution company. OSSH, with nearly one million clients, accepted the 2.5 billion Kč offer for the majority of its shares Sept. 29. A spokesperson for ČEZ said Albanian’s energy sector is “interesting” because per-capita power consumption is two-thirds lower than in the Czech Republic, although it’s expected to grow 5 percent annually, well above Europe’s average growth.

AIRPORT Prague-Ruzyně had its 10 millionth passenger for the year Sept. 30, two weeks before the same landmark in 2007 and 41 days earlier than in 2006, the first year it cleared that many passengers. A spokesperson said the airport expects to end the year having served more than 13 million passengers. Czech Airlines was the busiest carrier, with nearly 3.7 million passengers between January and August.
IBM IBM, with Hewlett-Packard, Logica and SAP CR, has won a 2.19 billion Kč ($132.2 million) tender to build State Treasury, the digital information system that will manage public finances, the Finance Ministry announced Sept. 26. The winning alliance was the only bidder after Indra Czech Republic’s bid was excluded because it failed to meet the qualifying requirements.
MUTUAL FUNDS The majority of Czech mutual funds have posted losses this year, with mixed funds, funds of funds and equity funds losing an average of 30 percent in value. Money market funds and some bond funds posted low yields. Analyst Lukáš Buřík of AWD told Czech News Agency (ČTK) that the U.S. mortgage crisis, having become a global one, is to blame.
CNB The Czech National Bank left interest rates unchanged Sept. 25, in line with analysts’ expectations. The bank said it would ease policy later this year with the anticipated drop in inflation and growth. The current repo rate, at 3.5 percent, is the second-lowest borrowing rate in Europe after Switzerland. Analysts expect the bank will make another interest rate cut in November.
TESCO Retail chain Tesco Stores ČR made a stark turnaround in the 2007 financial year ending this February, earning profits of 816 million Kč after a loss in 2006 of 156 million Kč, the company announced Sept. 24. The profits put the chain in second and third places, along with Ahold, among the largest retailers in the Czech Republic. Last year, the company opened 16 new stores and four new petrol stations.
WOOD Growing coal, gas and electricity costs have made wood an attractive heating alternative for Czechs, ČTK reported Sept. 28. The costs of wood heating are the lowest compared to other options, saving several thousand crowns a year for households that make the switch. The Czech Statistical Office found that 1.77 million cubic meters of wood for heating were used in 2007, compared with 940,000 in 2000.
RENT Regulated rents may rise nearly 50 percent as of January in some towns, according to ČTK. Rents in standard first-category flats will grow the most in Zlín, Strakonice and Kutná Hora and increase more than 40 percent in certain districts in Prague. Rent deregulation will enter its third year in 2009. Nearly 20 percent of flats in the Czech Republic have regulated rents.

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