Summary of economic news released on Thursday, November 23
Damovo Slovakia Changed Name to Alison Slovakia
Damovo Slovakia changed its name to Alison Slovakia from November 22. The company changed its name after the Alison Group has become the majority owner of Damovo Slovakia, s.r.o., Velky Meder. So-far owners, members of the company's management, have kept the remaining stake. The group Alison provided this information while it will not specify details of the transaction. "The entry of a strong financial group completed the process of transformation, which started in 2005 after the Slovak arm left the structures of the international group Damovo. The arrival of the strategic investor strengthens our position of the most influential partner of Ericsson company on the Slovak market," said president of Damovo Slovakia Pavol Roza.
VsZP Reports Rising Number of Complaints over Unwanted Switches
The biggest health insurance company in Slovakia with over three and a half million policyholders, Vseobecna Zdravotna Poistovna (VsZP) continues to report complains from policyholders, whose insurance policies were moved to another insurer without their knowledge. "Cases have emerged when also policyholders who are on long-term stays abroad and thus they were unable to sign a contract with a new insurer, have received new health insurance identification cards from the health insurer Union. Also some VsZP employees are receiving new Union's cards, what we consider to be absurd," said VsZP spokesperson Petra Balazova. VsZP recommends its clients to turn directly to the insurer, from which they have received the new cards and to the Healthcare Supervision Office (UDZS).
Eco-Invest to be the Sole Owner in Meat Processing Firm Tauris
Financial investment holding Eco-Invest, a.s. should become the exclusive owner of the meat-processing company Tauris, a.s., Rimavska Sobota by the end of this year. Eco-Invest has acquired a one-third stake in Tauris already in early November, said Tauris spokeswoman Renata Vasova. However she declined to specify the purchase price and the shareholders who should sell their stakes. The involved parties are currently waiting for clearance of the takeover by the Anti-Trust Office.
THP, a.s. Shareholders Approve Share Capital Hike of SKK 100 Mln.
At an extraordinary general meeting on Monday, shareholders of the poultry-processing company THP, a.s. in Topolcany agreed to increase the company's share capital by SKK 100 million to SKK 207.1 million. Firm's finance director Kvetoslava Trencianska said that the shareholders initiated the hike to raise funds to finance investments. The share capital will be increased in a subscription of new shares through a financial deposit of up to SKK 100 million. The company will issue 100,000 registered ordinary shares in document form with par value of SKK 1,000 with the issue price identical with the par value. Current shareholders have the preemptive right to the share subscription.
Parliamentary Committee Recommends to Approve Electronic Toll Bill
The parliamentary economic policy committee on Thursday discussed and recommended to parliament to approve a draft electronic toll bill. According to the bill, drivers of motor vehicles weighing more than 3.5 tons will have to pay toll on highways, dual-carriage ways, and parallel first-category roads. The ministry plans to announce a tender for a contractor to build the toll collection system in the spring of next year. The system should be launched at the beginning of 2009.
Lift Producer Schindler with 2005 Sales of SKK 166.7 Mln.
Escalator and lift producer Schindler Vytahy and Eskalatory, Bratislava, a.s., posted sales of its products and services of SKK 166.7 million last year, down by 21.1 percent from a year ago. The total production volume represented SKK 171.5 million, which is down by nearly 18.3 percent. Production costs dropped by more than 14.6 percent to SKK 139.6 million. The company generated added value of SKK 31.9 million, which is down by SKK 14.3 million.
Ministry Considers Dispute about 34 Pct. of Transpetrol to be Over
The Economy Ministry considers the legal dispute about the ownership of a 34-percent stake in Slovak crude oil transport company Transpetrol to be resolved. Several companies from Vranov nad Toplou claimed their rights for this stake. "We received information that these disputes have been solved," said ministry's spokesperson Branislav Zvara. Economy Ministry, as an owner of a 51-percent stake in Transpetrol. However, he was reluctant to provide further information.
PAS: Business Environment in Slovakia Deteriorated in Q3 2006
Slovakia's business environment worsened moderately over the third quarter of 2006. This is the conclusion of a survey conducted among entrepreneurs by the Business Alliance of Slovakia (PAS). According to the survey, the business environment index (IPP) recorded its first drop ever since October 2001 when PAS started evaluating the business environment. IPP reached 125.62 points in the third quarter, down 0.7 percent compared with the previous quarter, PAS informed SITA.
December 22 is Last Trading Day on Bratislava Stock Exchange in 2006
December 22 will be last trading day on the Bratislava Stock Exchange (BCPB) this year. The BCPB board of directors at its meeting on Thursday decided that working days from December 27, 2006 to January 5, 2007 will not be trading days due to a technological break at the Central Securities Depository. The stock exchange will resume trading on January 8, 2007, BCPB director general Maria Hurajova informed SITA.
Activation Contributions Paid to 97,900 Job Seekers in October
As of the end of October 2006, Slovakia had 97,900 socially-dependent job seekers who carried out smaller municipal services or voluntary work for which they received a so-called activation contributions from labor offices, according to data the National Labor, Social Affairs, and Family Office provided to SITA. The highest number of people involved in activation works was in the Banska Bystrica County (25,200), and the Kosice and Presov counties reported almost 24,000 and 22,700 beneficiaries respectively. The sum of an activation contribution was SKK 1,900 from September 2006.
Budget is about Consumption rather than about Future, Says Miklos
The first state budget the Robert Fico-led government drafted proves that the coalition has no meaningful development strategy, stated Ivan Miklos, former finance minister and vice chairman of the biggest opposition party the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union-Democratic Party (SDKU-DS). As he told a news conference on Thursday, the budget is oriented towards consumption and does not feature any development tendencies for the future. SDKU-DS representatives find the state budget draft no good and will not support it in parliament. Former Prime Minister and SDKU-DS chairman Mikulas Dzurinda added that his party representatives will definitely come up with amending proposals that should improve next year's budget.
H1 Foreign Direct Investments in Slovakia at SKK 55.5 Bln.
In the first half of this year foreign direct investments in Slovakia (property participation and reinvested profit in Slovakia) achieved SKK 55.5 billion. Of this sum reinvested profit was approximately SKK 17.5 billion. The updated Convergence Program of Slovakia for 2006-2010 suggests that this year's start was better compared to 2005 also despite some restrictions in the pre-election period limiting in particular sales of land to foreign investors. In its material the Finance Ministry expects a stable influx of green-field foreign direct investments in the years to come.
MONEY MARKET: Central Bank Accepts SKK 1.15 Bln. in Bill Auction
An auction of bills of the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS) was held on the interbank market on Thursday. However, the 84-day paper did not attract much interest because a part of the market expects the central bank to raise Slovakia's key interest rates at its next week's Bank Board session. Tatra Banka dealer Jozef Bozek stated that bank bids in the auction were SKK 1.95 billion, of which SKK 1.15 billion the central bank accepted. Those were probably bids with requested yields did not exceed the NBS two-week repo rate of 4.75 percent p.a. The previous issue of SKK 1.55 billion NBS bills matures on Friday.
STOCK MARKET: BCPB Strengthens Significantly on Thursday
The Bratislava Stock Exchange (BCPB) relatively strongly improved during trading on Thursday. The value of Slovakia's official SAX share index jumped 3.58 percent or 14.21 points to 410.8 points. All SAX base titles except SES Tlmace shares were traded on the stock exchange floor. Turnover on the Bratislava Stock Exchange (BCPB) rose from SKK 332.4 million on Wednesday to SKK 3.335 billion on Thursday, with almost SKK 5 million in share trading.
FOREX MARKET: Crown Initially Loses, Later Recovers
The Slovak currency moderately weakened at the beginning of trading on Thursday, but later recovered its losses. Tatra Banka dealer Boris Somorovsky stated that the crown opened at 35.650/35.690 SKK/EUR. At the beginning of trading the crown started to lose, and its exchange rate against the euro climbed up to 35.700/35.740 SKK/EUR. At that level, foreign banks again started buying the Slovak currency, and the exchange rate moved in the opposite direction. Thus, it stood at 35.630/35.670 SKK/EUR shortly before the close of trading. According to Mr. Somorovsky, the Slovak crown may stay in the band between 35.500 SKK/EUR and 35.750 SKK/EUR over the coming days. "Those limits now seem to be relatively strong," he added.
EU Commissioner Boel: Slovakia Can Keep 25% of Eastern Sugar's Quota
EU Commissioner for Agriculture Mariann Fischer Boel stated at a press conference in Skalica, western Slovakia, which was held on the occasion of her official visit on Thursday, that Slovakia will be allowed to keep 25 percent of the sugar quota, which the EU allocated to the sugar-producer Eastern Group. The producer decided to close some of its sugar mills in central Europe and leave Slovakia. Its annual quota in Slovakia was 70,100 tons of sugar. Agriculture Minister Miroslav Jurena is, however, concerned that no one would be interested to take over that part of the quota. "In the relationship to Eastern Sugar, agriculture ministers from Slovakia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic carried through paying compensations to sugar beet farmers of 20 percent, while the original proposal of the sugar producer was 10 percent," Mr. Jurena informed.