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Press Digest
Press digest - year 2007
 | The Bulgarian capital market will be absolutely competitive when it integrates with a leading stock exchange or an alliance of stock exchanges. That will solve a lot of the problems that exist now, especially the issue about the direct access of Bulgarian businesses to big financial resources, the CEO of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE), Bistra Ilkova, said. The amendments to the Public Offering of Securities Act finally cleared the way to the privatisation of the state stake in the BSE. In the past year the bourse saw a huge progress in its activities and that did not remain unnoticed by the European exchanges, Ilkova added. Interest in the BSE has been demonstrated by Deutsche Boerse, OMX, Wiener Boerse and the Athens stock exchange. That shows that the capital market has huge potential for development, according to Bistra Ilkova. Source: Pari (03.01.2007) |
| | Stock exchanges have always been a reflection of a country's economic condition. This holds value for the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) as well, which had an impressive year in 2006 boosted by the optimism surrounding Bulgaria's EU entry. The stocks of a number of companies appreciated to record-high levels due to the expectations for new EU investors. A total of 49 new issues of shares were also listed on BSE over the year. The number of companies listed on BSE grew to 329 after a total of 11 enterprises went public in 2006. At the same time Monbat, Chimimport, Sofia Commerce Pawnbrokers, Advance Equity Holding, Fintexco and insurer Bulstrad raised their capital on BSE in 2006. The number of companies seeking to raise funding through listing on the bourse will grow, according to Andrey Pramov, member of the board of directors of BSE. The large number of new issues helped increase BSE's turnover but at the same time the major BSE indexes depreciated slightly on the days of the IPOs and in the days that followed. This can be put down to the fact that most investors shifted their capital from companies included in the calculation of the indexes to new attractive companies, such as Monbat and Chimimport. Despite the temporary setbacks, the BG40 index of the most traded stocks on BSE appreciated gradually in 2006 to close at the record high 199.88 points. The strong performance of the BG40 reflects the higher turnover registered on segment B of BSE's official market. This was the most interesting segment throughout the year due to DZI Bank and Chimimport. Greece's Eurobank EFG declared its intentions to acquire DZI Bank, which sparked interest in the latter. Eurobank offered a total of BGN 307 million for DZI Bank initially. The deal, however, was delayed by a few months as it had to be approved by several countries. The deal was eventually sealed for BGN 322 million to become the largest transaction carried out on BSE. The Sofix blue-chip index, which reflects the performance of the companies with the largest market capitalisation on BSE, also registered its highest year on year growth, compared to previous years. BSE's market capitalisation nearly doubled in a year to BGN 15.3 billion. The record-breaking figure is one of the many reasons for foreign stock exchanges, such as OMX and Deutsche Boerse, to start showing serious interest in acquiring BSE. Source: Pari (04.01.2007) |
| | Petrol Holding has reduced its stake in fuel retailer Petrol by 4.115 per cent to 71.75 per cent with the sale of 4.496 mln shares at BGN 4.33. The transaction was registered by the Central Depository on Dec 22. There is no information on the buyer of the Petrol equity. Petrol Holding has made no secret of its plans to cash out of the fuel distributor and is looking for a strategic investor. Source: Dnevnik (05.01.2007) |
| | Herti, the local producer of bottle caps, and Tetra operator ProWave have announced plans to list on the Bulgarian stock exchange. ProWave, the nation's first Tetra operator, is in talks to sell itself to a strategic investor. The listing will not happen before the talks are completed sometime in late Jan. Herti is currently selecting a financial brokerage for the bourse listing. The preparations for the exercise will begin by mid-Feb. Source: Dnevnik (05.01.2007) |
| | Last chance to take part in Kremikovtzis meeting
All investors who want to attend to the extraordinary general meeting of Kremikovtzi JSC but do not own any companys shares could acquire some during todays trade /Jan 9/. This is the last possible chance to acquire shares that will allow the shareholders to attend to the meeting. At the end of November the Board of Directors of the steel company decided to call an extraordinary general meeting of the shareholders on Jan 25, 2007. On this meeting the shareholders will discuss a possible increase of the credit line for the purchase of commodities by the British Stemcor an increase from USD 40 mln to USD 60 mln. Kremikovtzi JSC announced huge loss for H1 2006. Due to an nveiled information about companys financial records its shares were suspended from bourse trade for a day. On the other day the company introduced all required financial data and it was all clear that the companys loss for H1 2006 was BGN 153 mln. In comparison for the same period an year earlier the loss has been just BGN 19 mln. There was also a decrease of the total sales by BGN 100 mln, as in June they totaled BGN 368 mln. A little earlier the Board of Directors said that the financial results of the steel plant for 2006 will be lower than expected. They expected a total loss of BGN 7 mln. The negative change of the financial forecasts reflected very badly on companys bonds, which lowered their value by more than 30%. This information also affected companys shares traded on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange. Since November their price is falling down. Yesterday there were 863 trades at an average price of BGN 13.21. The decrease is by 4% since the last business session and almost 20% lower since November levels. Source: Dnevnik (09.01.2007) |
| | Papas Olio, Bulgaria's biggest producer of vegetable oil, placed a BGN 20 mln bond on Dec 21, '06, says a notice published in the Official Gazette. The 5-year paper has a 5.5 per cent interest coupon. It was not immediately clear if the Papas Olio bond will be listed for secondary trading on the local bourse. Source: Dnevnik (10.01.2007) |
| | The components of the Dnevnik index that tracks the movements in the value of Bulgaria's biggest and most liquid public companies will be increased by 5 to 20. The newcomers are Pleven-based Oil and Gas Exploration Company, insurers DZI and Bulstrad, chemical company Polimeri, cable maker Emka and Bulgarian American Credit Bank. Former Dnevnik 15 component DZI Bank is dropped because the majority owner is in the midst of a buyback that aims to delist the company. The index committee said it was resized in response to the increased liquidity of the Bulgarian capital market. In addition to the new components, the committee has also put in place two new eligibility requirements. Companies undergoing a buyback aimed at their delisting that coincides with the semi-annual update of the index will be kicked out. The second requirement is for a share capital of at least 200,000 units. Dnevnik 15 was launched unofficially on January 1, 2006 from a base of 100 points. The inaugural selection of index components was based on bourse data for July 1-December 31, 2005. The index closed at 158.75 point on Wednesday. Source: Dnevnik (11.01.2007) |
| | A package of 7.344 million shares in Central Cooperative Bank (CCB) was traded on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange on Thursday. The package makes up more than 10% of the bank's capital. The shares changed hands at an average price of BGN 7. The price of the stock dropped by 12.83% (nearly BGN 1) to BGN 8.030 and was the main reason for the decrease in the blue-chip Sofix index. The price fell due to the sold package. It will restore its positions in the next few days and in a couple of months it may even reach BGN 9, experts said. Since last October CCB's capitalisation has nearly doubled. Source: Pari (12.01.2007) |
| | Capital market to become more popular
The capital market in Bulgaria is gaining momentum and is becoming increasing popular among Bulgarians, despite some its disadvantages. The market capitalisation of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) stood at 32% of GDP at the end of December 2006, compared to 22% of GDP at the end of June 2006. The figure will continue to rise as a result of the growing economy and BSE's increasing market capitalisation, which already amounts to BGN 17 billion. Bulgaria's good macro-economic indicators and the favourable optimistic forecasts for 2007 create a stable and foreseeable environment for the development of the capital market, the Agency for Economic Analysis and Forecasting (AEAF) told the Pari daily. Similar conditions may result in the attracting of foreign investors with long-term interests in Bulgaria, which in turn may influence directly the BSE, AEAF forecasts. Companies raising funding on BSE may benefit from this relatively foreseeable economic and legal environment. They will be able to expand their investment horizon, reduce their costs and respectively improve efficiency. A similar strategy will not go unnoticed on BSE and will affect the market value of the companies. The growing income of Bulgarians may influence stock demand, if they accept investments in equity as a more profitable alternative to bank deposits. Investments in 2007 will be focused mainly in public companies operating in the transport, warehouse, and communications sectors, the processing industry and construction of business buildings, according to AEAF. The transport and warehouse sectors are among the leaders in terms of turnover on BSE. Source: Pari (17.01.2007) |
| | Chimimport, Bulgaria's biggest holding company, pocketed BGN 41.13 mln from last week's disposal of 8.08 per cent stake in Central Co-operative Bank (CCBank), said the Bulgarian stock exchange. The holding company sold to Austria's Bank Austria Creditanstalt 5.875 mln shares at BGN 7. The Austrian bank will issue warrants on the CCBank shares that will be traded on European bourses. Liechtenstein-based Chiminvest Institut, connected with Chimimport, has also unloaded some CCBank equity, selling just over 1.4 mln shares at BGN 7. The two transactions have lowered the CCBank equity under Chimimport's direct or indirect control by 10 per cent to 77.22 per cent. Chimimport owns directly only 0.65 per cent of CCBank; the rest of the equity is controlled via holding companies. The market capitalisation of CCBank is almost BGN 600 mln, placing it fifth among the local publicly traded companies after telco BTC, Chimimport, drug maker Sopharma and Economic and Investment Bank. Source: Dnevnik (17.01.2007) |
| | Massimo Capuano, chief executive director of Milan-based Borsa Italiana, will meet on January 19 with representatives of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE), the Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) and the ministry of finance. Borsa Italiana is yet another candidate buyer for the state-owned 44-percent in BSE. Scandiavia's OMX, Greece's Hellenic Exchange Holdings and Germany's Deutsche Boerse are among the other candiates. Source: Pari (17.01.2007) |
| | A total of 612,350 shares from the capital of Vamo were transfered on the block segment of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) on Tuesday. The deal is estimated at BGN 52.8 million or BGN 86.22 per share. The price is three times higher than Monday's average of BGN 28.78 per share. Vamo's capital is divided into 816,600 shares, which means that 75% of the capital of the company have changed hands. Vamo specialises in the manufacturing of turbines and engines. Source: Pari (18.01.2007) |
| | Greek tobacco processing company Leaf Tobacco Michailidis is offering BGN 2.3 mln for tobacco processing plant Sandanski BT, said Bulgarian tobacco monopoly Bulgartabac Holding. Bulgartabac is selling 99.946 per cent of Sandanski BT for a minimum BGN 2.1 mln. The bid receipt deadline expired on January 17. The submitted offers will be graded solely on their price parameters. The sale of the Sandanski-based plant is part of the holding's corporate restructuring program. The next 2 Bulgartabac subsidiaries that will go up for sale are Smolyan BT and Kardjali BT, said Vladimir Karolev from the consortium hired to advise the privatisation procedure. The 2 companies are not public and therefore will be sold through a competitive procedure. The Bulgartabac management is expected to approve the papers for the sales within the next 10 days. More information on the upcoming privatisation of cigarette factories Plovdiv BT and Slantse Stara Zagora BT is expected to be made public over the next couple of days. Bulgartabac's initial plans were for the companies to be sold on the local stock exchange together with their cigarette-making licences. The tobacco holding has so far successfully sold subsidiaries in Plovdiv and Pazardjik, both on the local bourse. Pazardjik BT fetched BGN 4.72 mln while J.G. BT sold for BGN 27.6 mln. Source: Dnevnik (19.01.2007) |
| | Three companies controlled by Varna-based business conglomerate TIM will dominate the blue chip index of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) after its updated on February 2. The BSE has decided to drop from the index, which tracks the public corporations with the biggest market capitalisation, sea resort Sunny Beach and welcome hydraulic equipment maker M+S Hidravlik, shipyard Odessos and TIM-owned holding company Chimimport. TIM controls a 25 per cent stake in Odessos. SOFIX component CCBank is majority-owned by Chimimport. The TIM companies will have roughly a 40 per cent weight in the SOFIX which could increase after the likely delisting of insurer DZI, noted market analysts. Sunny Beach flunks out on anemic trading volumes. The bourse reportedly decided to keep in the index another poorly traded tourist company, Golden Sands, because otherwise the industry will be represented by just one company, Albena AD. SOFIX components Bulgartabac Holding and cigarette maker Blagoevgrad BT have also been widely tipped as possible flunkers due to thin trading volumes. However, BSE sources said it would be advisable to keep the tobacco stocks among the blue chips in view of government's efforts to divest equity in some Bulgartabac subsidiaries on the bourse. Analysts were surprised that telco BTC, the public company with the biggest market capitalisation, is still not a SOFIX component. They dismiss the argument of the bourse that it would have a considerable weight in the index, pointing out that elsewhere the weight of corporations with massive capitalisation is simply capped off at, say, 20 per cent. The SOFIX may undergo a new revision in a couple of months, said Ivan Takev, chief of BSE trading and supervision. He said the bourse wants to increase the number of SOFIX components. In related news, BSE executive director Bistra Ilkova said the bourse is mulling over the launch of a new index. Source: Dnevnik (22.01.2007) |
| | Borsa Italiana, the Italian stock exchange operator, is keen to co-operate with its Bulgarian counterpart, it emerged after a meeting between Massiomo Capuano, CEO of the Italian company, and top executives from the local bourse on Friday. The big development potential of Central and Eastern Europe on the backdrop of the consolidation of the global stock exchanges and the solid foothold that Italian business has in Bulgaria were cited by Capuano as the main reasons for Borsa Italiana's interest. The executive did not rule out an Italian bid for the state-owned stake in the Bulgarian bourse operator. Executives from Nordic exchange operator OMX and Germany's Deutsche Boerse have met over the last couple of months with counterparts from the Bulgarian stock exchange to discuss possible partnership formats. A team with a similar mission is also expected from the Greek Hellenic Exchange. The Bulgarian bourse is reportedly also eyed by its counterparts in Warsaw and Vienna. Source: Dnevnik (22.01.2007) |
| | The Bulgarian bourse said local real estate investment trust Solid Invest will start its initial capital raise on Jan 29. The REIT will increase its capital by the law-prescribed 30 per cent from the current BGN 0.5 mln. The company was incorporated by Elana High-Yield Fund (30 per cent), BG Rent (15 per cent), Cinemax 2000 (15 per cent), United Cinema (15 per cent) and Hemus Group (10 per cent). Solid Invest will invest in the purchase of a resort complex on the Black Sea and an industrial site in Sofia and in the construction of tourist complex in ski resort Pamporovo and a gated residential community in Sofia. Source: Dnevnik (22.01.2007) |
| | Representatives of the Athens Stock Exchange will arrive in Bulgaria on January 30. They will hold a meeting with the shareholders of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE). The representatives of the Greek stock exchange are expected to show interest in the purchasing of the state-owned 44% in BSE. Athens Stock Exchange is the only exchange that has been following consistently the opportunities for consolidation in Bulgaria since the early 1990s. Source: Pari (23.01.2007) |
| | Local contractual fund Capman Max has acquired an 8.66 per cent stake in real estate investment trust Mel Invest, said the Bulgarian stock exchange. The 213,000 shares were transferred on Jan 18. The high risk Capman Max fund is run by asset management company Capman Asset Management, a unit of investment company Capman Capital. The contractual fund managed BGN 10.853 mln in assets by Jan 19, '07. Source: Dnevnik (23.01.2007) |
| | The Bulgarian stock exchange said it is developing a new stock index that will track only public corporations traded on the official segment of the bourse. The index should provide a more accurate gauge of market movements as it will not be based on market capitalisation like the blue chip SOFIX. The other existing bourse index, the broader BG40, reflects the stock movements of the 40 most liquid companies. Source: Dnevnik (23.01.2007) |
| | Securities transactions involving foreign investors topped BGN 1.983 bln in '06, said the Bulgarian stock exchange. Local investors generated securities transactions worth BGN 1.394 bln. Securities transactions totalled BGN 802.5 mln in Dec '06, mainly due to the transfer of a majority stake in DZI Bank. The number of transactions increased by 10 per cent in the last quarter of '06. Source: Dnevnik (23.01.2007) |
| | Executives from the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) will visit Bulgaria in mid-February for a meeting with local counterparts related to the plans of the Polish bourse to pursue the government-owned stake in the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE). WSE has started preparatory work on a possible bid for BSE, WSE president Ludwik Sobolewski told news outlet PAP Market Insider. A couple of days ago, Sobolewski confirmed for Dnevnik the trip plans. Despite the reports in the Bulgaria and Polish media, there has been no official communication regarding a possible bid from the WSE itself, said BSE. Bulgaria's finance ministry has not yet opened a privatisation procedure for the state-owned BSE stake but a working project for the divestiture is reportedly in development. WSE aims to become a regional financial centre via increasing the presence of foreign firms on the Polish equity market and making alliances with other Central European markets, Sobolewski told PAP in an interview. Source: Dnevnik (24.01.2007) |
| | The Ruse district court has registered the capital raise performed by Kaolin. The mining company hiked its capital from BGN 3,403,230 to BGN 20,419,380 by tapping into its reserve fund. The court has also registered the decision barring current shareholders from the second phase of the exercise which will raise the company's capital to BGN 30 mln through an IPO on the local bourse. Source: Dnevnik (24.01.2007) |
| | Iceland's richest man, Thor Bjorgolfsson, told the Financial Times he was reviewing his investment in the Bulgarian Telecommunications Co. (BTC) . The move could lead to the sale of the telecoms firm to private equity investors, the FT reported on Wednesday. Novator, his investment vehicle, had appointed Lehman Brothers to advise it on what to do with an option on a 65 per cent stake in BTC, Bjorgolfsson told the newspaper. A call to Lehman in New York was not immediately returned. The step was taken after Bjorgolfsson sold a 70 per cent stake in Czech telecoms firm Ceske Radiokomunikace in November to a consortium of private equity investors, the FT said. 'Following our sale of Radiokomunikace for nearly EUR 1.2 bln at the end of November - the largest ever leveraged deal in the region, and with Bulgaria's recent accession to the EU and given the strong investor interest in European telecoms, we have been receiving considerable interest re our 65 per cent option in BTC,' Bjorgolfsson told the FT. 'Given this keen interest, we have appointed Lehman Brothers to advise us on our strategic options,' he said. The options included Novator exercising a right to buy the stake and sell it on to private investors, the FT said, noting that BTC had a market capitalisation of EUR 1.6 bln. Source: Dnevnik (25.01.2007) |
| | The local MKB Unionbank, owned by Hungary's MKB Bank, has sold its leasing division Unionleasing to Germany's Deutsche Leasing AG, the Bulgarian bourse said Wednesday, January 24. The sale contract was signed on January 22, 2007. MKB Unionbank said it will release more information over the next couple of days. The disposal of its wholly-owned leasing unit marks Unionbank's exit form the local leasing market. Unionleasing was incorporated in 2001 to serve small and medium-sized enterprises. Market insiders expect promptly the announcement of another leasing deal. Italy's UniCredit is in the process of merging the leasing subsidiaries of its local units, UniCredit Leasing and HVB Hebros Leasing. Source: Dnevnik (25.01.2007) |
| | Following an extensive 3-month investigation, Bulgaria's financial regulator Wed announced it has failed to detect any irregularities in the acquisition by local company Baranko EOOD, a subsidiary of Cyprus-registered offshore outfit Baranko Co. Limited, of a 67 per cent stake in Plovdiv-based maker of cigarette production and packaging equipment J.G. BT. The new owner avoid having to place a buyout bid by selling 18 per cent of its stake to Komso Tobacco. The regulator investigated a possible connection between the two companies and the origin of the deal cash. Source: Dnevnik (25.01.2007) |
| | An unnamed buyer Wed acquired 4.35 per cent in the local Central Co-operative Bank (CCBank) on the stock exchange. The 3,165,987 shares fetched BGN 23.745 mln. Alexander Kerezov, deputy chairman of the managing board of CCBank owner Chimimport, told Dnevnik he was unable to say if the holding company was the seller. Source: Dnevnik (25.01.2007) |
| | Slanchev Bryag Holding posted BGN 184,000 non-consolidated loss for 2006, an increase of BGN 40,000 compared to the 2005 figure. The company did not register operating revenue for the period, as opposed to BGN 58,000 operating revenue posted for 2005. Slanchev Bryag's total expenses have decreased by BGN 20,000 to BGN 184,000. The stock of the company lost 3.91% of its value during Thursday's session on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange. Source: Pari (26.01.2007) |
| | Local real estate investment trust Real Estate Fund Bulgaria (REFB) has bought for an undisclosed amount a land plot near the ferry port in Vidin, on the Danube, which will be developed into a logistics center, the Bulgarian stock exchange said Thursday, January 25. The 86,000 sq m land plot is occupied by 7 buildings with a combined area of 1,900 sq m. The REIT intends to build contemporary warehousing facilities that will be leased out. REFB is still in talks to buy a 1.5 ha land plot near the Sofia International Airport. The site could be developed into a logistics center if the sale price ensures the rate of return targeted by the fund. The fund is also still in negotiations to acquire between 5 ha and 10 ha in Sofia for residential developments. One of the funds projects in progress is a mixed-use building on 2.0 ha across from office property Business Park Sofia. The development is due for completion in 20-22 months. The REIT has on the drawing board a holiday village near Black Sea resort town Sozopol. It has bought a 3.0 ha land plot for the project. Source: Dnevnik (26.01.2007) |
| | After trading in the BGN 10 range over the past 6 months, the stock of Bulgarian telco BTC cracked BGN 11 on Thu on news that Novator, the investment vehicle of Icelandic mogul Thor Bjorgolfsson, may sell the firm to private equity investors. The telco increased its market capitalisation by 1.58 per cent to BGN 3.17 bln on Thu after 242,000 shares changed hands at an average price of BGN 10.97. Deal or no deal, market analysts polled by Dnevnik said the market likes BTC's outlook. Source: Dnevnik (26.01.2007) |
| | Five Bulgarian public corporations have been included in one of the leading stock indices for Central and Eastern Europe. Sea resort Albena, telco BTC, drug maker Sopharma, Industrial Holding Bulgaria and fuel retailer Petrol have made their debut in the DJ STOXX EU Enlarged Total Market Index which provides a broad coverage of companies across the ten member states which joined the European Union on 1 May 2004: Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia and on 1 January 2007: Bulgaria and Romania. The index will have 11 Romanian components with 5.29 per cent weighting versus 0.85 per cent for the Bulgarian companies. According to the current country weightings, the top is occupied by Polish, Hungarian and Czech companies with Latvia at the bottom. Bulgaria comes in 9th while Romania is 6th. The index covers approximately 95 per cent of the free float market capitalisation of the represented countries with a variable number of components. Curiously, two of the new STOXX EU Enlarged TMI components - BTC and Industrial Holding Bulgaria, are not part of the blue chip index of the Bulgarian stock exchange. Source: Dnevnik (29.01.2007) |
| | Local real estate investment trust Exclusive Property said it will raise its capital from BGN 0.5 to 8 mln through the Bulgarian stock exchange. Bulgarian law obliges REITs to perform an initial capital increase by at least 30 per cent to BGN 0.65 mln with no limit on the size of the enlargement. If the Exclusive Property capital raise is successful, it will be the biggest initial capital raise performed by a local REIT. The company will issue 7.5 mln rights each eligible to subscribe one new share. The timeframe for the rights trading and subscription are yet to be announced by the Bulgarian bourse. Exclusive Property, licensed in November 2006, will invest in office buildings and luxury residential developments. The REIT already has several ongoing projects, including an office building on Sofia's Todor Alexandrov boulevard. The residential developments of the company will be sited in Sofia's upmarket districts like Iztok and Lozenets and will be marketed to the diplomatic corps. Exclusive Property is co-owned by Fimiko (70 per cent), BenchMark Fund 2 (22 per cent) and Doverie Obedinen Holding (8 per cent). Source: Dnevnik (29.01.2007) |
| | The privatization strategy for the privatization of Bulgarian Stock Exchange will be ready within 2 months, yesterday reported the Director of the Exchange Ms. Bistra Ilkova. Afterwards it has to be approved by the Government. According to Ms. Ilkova there are no reasons the privatization not to be finished until the end of the year. Now the Government holds about 44 per cent of the capital of the Exchange. There are numbers of foreign exchanges that are interested. Source: Sega (29.01.2007) |
| | Ognyan Donev, executive director of Sofia-based drug maker Sopharma, has acquired 2.37 per cent in Doverie Obedinen Holding (DOH), beefing up the stake in the diversified holding company he controls directly and indirectly to 5.47 per cent, said the Bulgarian stock exchange. The average price at which DOH traded on Fri prices the 311,383 transacted shares at around BGN 1.73 mln. DOH, which has no majority shareholder, has rallied over 120 per cent over the past 3 months. The holding company posted a consolidated profit of BGN 5.29 mln and sales of BGN 118.2 mln in Jan-Sept '06. Source: Dnevnik (29.01.2007) |
| | The local Real Estate Fund Bulgaria has acquired 104 properties comprising a total of 72 ha or arable land in the Dobrich, Varna, Silistra, Razgrad, Ruse and Vratsa regions, the company said in a filing with the Bulgarian stock exchange. The farmland portfolio of the company now stands at over 3,300 ha. Real Estate Fund Bulgaria recently announced the purchase of a land plot near the ferry port in Vidin, on the Danube, which will be developed into a logistics center. Source: Dnevnik (29.01.2007) |
| | Local insurance and reinsurance company Armeec posted a premium income of BGN 60 mln for '06, up from BGN 40 mln a year earlier. The assets of the company are up to BGN 62.7 mln. According to Rumen Georgiev, chairman of the managing board, Armeec has a 6% market share. The insurer is 83.57 per cent-owned by CCB Group Asset Management, a Chimimport company. Source: Dnevnik (29.01.2007) |
| | Real estate investment trust Park has successfully raised its capital to BGN 9.72 mln, the Bulgarian stock exchange said on Monday, January 29. Investors paid up just over 4.52 mln of the 5.2 mln new shares issued by the company. The new shares have a nominal value of 1 lev and issue price BGN 1.1. The capital hike, the REIT's third, raised BGN 4.972 mln. The minimum subscription target was 2.6 mln shares. Park announced it has signed a notarised for the purchase of a 8,879 sq m plot in Sofia's Malinova Dolina residential district. The company recently said it plans to build a mixed-use center on a 4,275 sq m site in Sofia's Gorublyane borough. The complex will feature 4,816 sq m of car showrooms and a 11,088 sq m office component. The development will have a total built-up area of 19,000 sq m which includes a 200-car two-level underground parking lot. The company has signed a preliminary purchase agreement for the site at EUR 2.75 mln. Work on the 18-month project is expected to begin in April. In late 2006, Park said it will pay dividend after the successful completion of its Villa Park project in the Santa Marina residential complex in Sozopol, on the Black Sea. Source: Dnevnik (30.01.2007) |
| | The Bulgarian Stock Exchange Monday registered for trading 5 securities issues. Four of them will start trading on January 31. The new issuances include the new shares floated by Toplivo, the Bulgarian distributor of construction materials, solid and liquid fuels, the issues of 2 special purpose vehicles co-owned by the Central Co-operative Bank and the share offering of pawn shop operator Sofia Commerce. Toplivo successfully hiked its capital from BGN 4.3 mln to BGN 5.4 mln, raising BGN 9.75 mln in fresh cash which will be invested in the reconstruction of existing and the construction of new gas service stations, the acquisition of new liquid fuel and propane-butane filling stations and of new warehousing facilities. The stock of the company has rallied some 90 per cent from last may after majority shareholder Synergon Holding lowered its stake from 85 per cent to 74.45 per cent as a result of the capital raise. The 2 new funds arriving on the bourse - CCB Real Estate Fund and Capital management, are controlled indirectly by holding company Chimimport. Both funds are co-owned by CCB Group Asset Management (70 per cent) and insurer Armeec (30 per cent). CCB Real Estate Fund will invest in real estate properties while Capital Management will invest in the securitisation of leasing and bank loan receivables. Sofia Commerce is the first Bulgarian company to issue preferred shares. The share sale raised BGN 2 mln in October 2006. The company floats 400,000 shares on the bourse. A new issue will also be added to the bond market on Wednesday. The EUR 5 mln paper was issued by Alma Tour BG and matures in 2011. Source: Dnevnik (30.01.2007) |
| | Bulgarian pharmaceuticals company Tchaikapharma is considering offering 5 per cent of its capital to investors through the local stock exchange. The nation's financial regulator Mon approved the prospectus for the secondary offering of 5.299 mln shares with a nominal value of BGN 1 and issue price of BGN 5. Tchaikapharma is a subsidiary of drug distributor Commercial League National Pharma Center, said Ivailo Boev, head of Tchaikapharma's legal department. Commercial League has listed on the local bourse a BGN 5 mln issue of corporate bonds and is preparing for an offering of shares. Tchaikapharma is 96 per cent-owned by Tihomir Kamenov. The initial 5 per cent free float could be increased if the market is keen, said Boev. Tchaikapharma operates plants for the packaging of drugs in Varna and Plovdiv. A third facility under construction in Sofia will house both packaging and drug production operations. Source: Dnevnik (30.01.2007) |
| | Net profits at Emka, the Sevlievo-based cable maker, shot up 80 per cent y/y to BGN 3.351 mln in Q4 '06 on higher revenues. Sales rose to BGN 54 mln from BGN 30.79 mln a year earlier. Operating costs also posted a significant gain, going up by 75 per cent y/y to BGN 52.57 mln in Q4 '06. The company features in the broad BG40 index of the local stock exchange and in the Dnevnik 20 index. Source: Dnevnik (30.01.2007) |
| | We will create a regional stock-exchange centre, where each capital market will remain independent, the CEO of the Athens Exchange, Spyros Capralos, said after a meeting with representatives of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE). The Bulgarian government has not yet decided whether to sell its stake in the BSE, it emerged after talks with foreign minister Ivaylo Kalfin. We are interested in other markets in the region, too, such as Romania, Capralos added. Building a common Bulgarian-Greek trade platform will be useful for all countries. It is important to have cooperation between relatively equal partners, otherwise the smaller bourse could be taken over, the general director of the Athens Exchange, Gikas Manalis, said. Source: Pari (31.01.2007) |
| | Toplivo, the Bulgarian distributor of construction materials, solid and liquid fuels, said sales rose to BGN 287.6 mln at end-'26 versus BGN 250.9 mln a year ago. Net profit rose to BGN 5.1 mln from BGN 3.67 mln a year earlier. The company, majority-owned by Synergon Holding, owes BGN 5.47 mln to connected enterprises and BGN 15.7 mln to banks and financial institutions. Source: Dnevnik (31.01.2007) |
| | The Bulgarian bourse has cleared investment intermediary Ug Market to act as market maker for real estate investment trust Activ Properties from Feb 1. The market maker will ensure price fluctuations remain within a margin no bigger than 5 per cent and will maintain a volume of 1,000 shares per trading session. Over 230,000 Activ Properties shares have changed hands since the beginning of the year in 21 separate transactions. The REIT is the second public company with a market maker after insurer Euroins. Source: Dnevnik (31.01.2007) |
| | The end-'06 revenues of local drug maker Biovet more than doubled y/y to BGN 124.8 mln but net profit plummeted 90 per cent to BGN 127,000 on higher operating costs. Sales increased to BGN 74.47 mln from BGN 55.9 mln at end-'05. Non-current liabilities stood at BGN 42.249 mln, including BGN 2 mln in debts to connected enterprises and BGN 38.092 mln in loan dues. Source: Dnevnik (31.01.2007) |
| | Monbat, Bulgaria's biggest producer of car batteries, will embark on a EUR 21.75 mln investment exercise that will increase car batter output from 1.2 mln to 2.55 mln annually by 2008. The investment resource will also finance the construction of battery recycling plants in Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania. Monbat plans to fund the 2007-2008 investment program with a 10-year EUR 12 mln bank loan and EUR 2 mln in working capital financing while contributing EUR 7.75 mln of own funding. The investment spending is expected to double sales and triple net profit by 2009. In 2006, Monbat spent EUR 980,000 to increase the capacity of its plant in Serbia. The investment estimates do not include Dobrich-based battery market Start acquired by Monbat in 2006. The deal is yet to get a nod form the local anti-trust authority. Monbat plans to export 95 per cent of its production through 2009, up from 87 per cent in 2006, said Atanas Bobokov, chairman of the company's managing board. Monbat posted net profit of BGN 7 mln by end-2006, up from BGN 4.4 mln a year earlier, show preliminary figures reported to the Bulgarian stock exchange. Sales jumped 65 per cent to BGN 76.8 mln. Source: Dnevnik (01.02.2007) |
| | EnerSys, the world's largest manufacturer, marketer and distributor of industrial batteries, is seeking the approval of the nation's financial regulator to buy back 35,057 shares in local industrial battery producer Energia at BGN 42.50. Together with Energia majority shareholders Energia 97 and Energia Consult, the U.S. company controls 90.13 per cent of the Targovishte-based outfit. The move aims to delist Energia form the Bulgarian stock exchange. Source: Dnevnik (01.02.2007) |
| | Investors now can choose from four new instruments plus the additional shares issued as part of Toplivo's capital raise. The stocks of Sofia Commerce Pawnbrokers, CCB Real Estate Fund and Capital Management, and the bond issue of Alma Tour were listed for trade on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) on Wednesday. We have plans for two residential buildings in Sofia and Varna, the CEO of CCB Real Estate Fund, Vihren Slavchev, said. Alma Tour will use the raised funds to finance two new construction projects in Bansko and Sofia. Bank expansion has made the securitisation of receivables and extremely promising business, Capital Management CEO Vladimir Malchev said. Source: Pari (01.02.2007) |
| | Bulgarian mining and processing company Kaolin said '06 profit rose 8 per cent y/y to BGN 8.22 mln. Net sales jumped 24 per cent to BGN 84.5 mln with expenses posting a similar gain to BGN 72 mln, show the non-consolidated financial report of the company. The management of the company said in late '06 it was preparing to float a 20 per cent on the local stock exchange. Kaolin's capital will be hiked once before the float to BGN 20.42 mln and then again to BGN 30 mln with its bourse debut. Source: Dnevnik (05.02.2007) |
| | One in ten companies pay dividends
The decision of a company to pay dividends to its shareholders can be prompted by many reasons: from the lack of attractive investment options to the desire to advertise itself and increase investors' interest in the stock. But the magic key is to be looked for in the shareholding structure, because it is the general meeting that has the final say on whether or not to distribute dividends. When there are two or more big shareholders it is natural to expect that the payment of dividends will be the main form of profit distribution, BenchMark's Petko Valkov told the Pari daily. That facilitates the control over the company's cash flows, he explained. But when there is one majority owner, the dividend-payment policy of the company is more difficult to predict. According to a Pari daily's survey, a tenth of the public companies in Bulgaria pay dividends. The current taxation policy in Bulgaria benefits people with capital gains. While dividends are charged a 7-percent tax, earnings from stock-exchange deals are exempt from tax. An additional burden is the fact that dividends are part of a company's profit that has been already imposed a tax, Stara Planina Hold's investor relations director, Nikolay Mitankin, commented. The dividend-payment policy of a company is an important factor when taking a stock purchase decision. Therefore the timely provision of such information to investors is essential. However, that does not always happen in Bulgaria. Source: Pari (06.02.2007) |
| | The Vienna Stock Exchange will also be bidding for the state's 44-percent stake in the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE), Michael Buhl, executive director of the Austrian exchange. The Vienna Stock Exchange also plans to place a bid for a 50-percent stake in the Ljubliana Stock Exchange, Buhl said. BSE signed a memorandum for co-operation with the Vienna Stock Exchange in March 2006. The document envisages the exchange of information and the inclusion of Bulgarian stocks in an index of Central and Southeastern European blue-chip companies. Source: Pari (08.02.2007) |
| | The stock transactions on the Bulgarian bourse doubled in volume y/y top 40,000 in Jan while their combined value rose to 407 mln levs from 214 mln levs a year ago. The upside was not limited to trading volumes with most stock indices notching up record highs. The total market cap of the bourse now stands at over 17.5 bln levs. Source: Dnevnik (09.02.2007) |
| | Local company TIM Club, co-owned by Chimimport executive directors Marin Mitev and Ivo Kamenov, has bought a 53.85% stake in Capital Management, a special purpose vehicle for the securitisation of receivables, from CCB Asset Management. Capital Management, co-created by CCB Group Assets Management and insurer Armeec, trades on the Bulgarian bourse since Jan 31. Source: Dnevnik (09.02.2007) |
| | The shareholders of Invest Property, the Vratsa-based real estate investment trust, have approved the purchase of a disused 43,200 sq m industrial lot in the southern part of the Vidin industrial park. The REIT plans to modernise the industrial tract, revise the masterplan, cut it up into smaller parcels and sell them on. The 3.2 mln lev purchase, which is yet to be finalised, will be loan-financed. The company also plans a residential development in Vratsa and the rezoning and consolidation of 11 properties on the city outskirts. Source: Dnevnik (09.02.2007) |
| | The management of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) has approved a new line-up of the SOFIX, the index tracking the public corporations with the biggest market cap, increasing its components to 16. The move, cheered by the local investor fraternity, comes shortly after the SOFIX underwent an update in early February when tobacco monopoly Bulgartabac Holding, cigarette maker Blagoevgrad BT and sea resort Sunny Beach were dumped from the index. The BSE has decided to include in the SOFIX as of February 26 telecom BTC, Industrial Holding Bulgaria, fuel retailer Toplivo, Bulgarian American Credit Bank and real estate investment trust Elana Agricultural Land Opportunity Fund. Car battery maker Monbat will join the index on April 2. The BSE has also tightened the SOFIX component eligibility criteria. The market cap requirement is hiked from BGN 2 mln to BGN 50 mln and a requirement for a 10 per cent free float is introduced. The bourse has removed the requirement for the shares of each issue to be transacted at not less than 20 per cent of all trading sessions for the last 3 months. Each component will be required to have a minimum annual trading volume of 1,000 transaction with a combined value of at least BGN 5 mln. There is no change in the rule for a minimum of 500 shareholders. The bourse has also introduced a 15 per cent cap on the weight of each SOFIX component, a restriction that had so far kept BTC out of the index. It was feared the BGN 3 bln market cap of the telecom would distort the index readings. The restriction is likely to be applied to Chimimport soon which has reached a market cap of BGN 1.446 bln. With the latest additions, the combined market cap of the index is nearing BGN 10 bln. At its meeting last Friday, BSE decided to drop from the SOFIX Varna-based shipyard Odessos, saying the index was in danger of being overrun by companies affiliated with a single business conglomerate. Odessos was admitted to the index earlier this month. Source: Dnevnik (12.02.2007) |
| | The secondary trade in shares of Eurohold Bulgaria, established through the merger of Eurohold and Starcom Holding, will start on Wednesday on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE). The stock will be traded on Segment A of BSE's unofficial market. A total of 50,002,586 shares with BGN 1 par value each will be offered for trade. Eurohold Bulgaria specialises in the acquisition, management, assessment and sale of stakes in Bulgaria and enterprises. The company also specialises in bond management and sales, assessment and sales of patents and funding of companies. The portfolio of the new public company will comprise of 28 enterprise, including insurance company Euroins. Source: Pari (12.02.2007) |
| | The offering of units in Synergon Profit starts on Monday, February 12. The mutual fund is managed by Bulgaria's Synergon Asset Management. The size of the issue is not limited, the price of a unit is set at BGN 10. The fund will follow an aggressive policy and invest mainly in Bulgarian stocks. The Financial Supervision Commission has given permission to the fund to invest in foreign stocks traded on international markets as well. Part of the assets may be invested in fixed-income securities, such as treasury bills and bonds and corporate and municipal bonds, to reduce the risk. Another mutual fund of Synergon Asset Management, Synergon Prestige, will start unit offering on February 19. The fund will have a low-to-balanced risk profile. Synergon Asset Management is owned by Synergon Holding (90%) and Bistra Ilkova, CEO of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (10%). Source: Pari (12.02.2007) |
| | Bulgarian holding company Chimimport has acquired for an undisclosed amount a 23.08 per cent stake in local real estate investment trust CCB Real Estate Fund. The holding, which was previously not among the REIT's shareholders, now controls 76.92 per cent of CCB Real Estate Fund through connected entities. CCB Real Estate Fund, launched in Oct '06, will invest primarily in completed buildings in the bigger Bulgarian cities and in out-of-town holiday complexes. Source: Dnevnik (12.02.2007) |
| | A Mar 26 general meeting of shareholders will vote on a proposal to delist DZI Bank. It is not yet clear how many minority shareholders took up on the tender offer pitched by EFG Eurobank Holding. The buyback was triggered by legislative requirements after the Luxembourg-based company bought a majority stake in the Bulgarian bank. Source: Dnevnik (12.02.2007) |
| | Sopharma Logistics, controlled by Bulgarian drug maker Sopharma, will double its capital from BGN 2.743 mln through the issue of new shares with a nominal value of BGN 1 and issue price of BGN 1.2. The exercise, due to kick off on Feb. 19, could generate as much as BGN 3.3 mln in fresh cash. The minimum subscription target is 1.4 mln new shares. Source: Dnevnik (12.02.2007) |
| | Agrofinance, a special purpose vehicle targeting arable land, will try to raise as much as BGN 39 mln from the local capital market, the company said in a filing with the Bulgarian stock exchange. The outfit will offer for subscription 35.75 mln new shares with an issue price of BGN 1.10 each. If the hike, the company's second, is successful, it would raise BGN 39 mln while bringing capital from BGN 0.65 mln to BGN 36.4 mln. Source: Dnevnik (12.02.2007) |
| | The Bulgarian bourse has given the go-ahead to the issue of Eurohold Bulgaria, formed after the merger of Eurohold and Starcom Holding, to start trading from Feb 14. The BGN 50 mln capital of the new holding company is divided into shares with a par value of BGN 1 each. The managers of Eurohold Bulgaria said the free float of the company should reach 25-30 per cent by the end of the year. Source: Dnevnik (12.02.2007) |
| | Energomontazh of Kozloduy acquired 8.19% of the capital of Energy and Energy Economies Fund (EEEF) special purpose vehicle (SPV), the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) said. A total of 53,250 shares in EEEF changed hands in the deal. Enemona is a majority owner of EEEF with a 69-percent stake. Ecoinvest Holding owns a 23-percent stake in the SPV. EEEF plans to carry out a capital raise operation in June. Source: Pari (13.02.2007) |
| | Local drug maker Tchaikapharma moved closer to a bourse listing with the registration by Bulgaria's Central Depository of its BGN 5.3 mln share issue. The financial regulator approved 3 weeks ago the public offering prospectus of the company. Tchaikapharma plans a secondary offering of shares. The majority owner of the company has said it will aim for a free float of 5 per cent. Source: Dnevnik (13.02.2007) |
| | When the government decides to offer its 44.4-percent stake in the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) for privatization, OMX will take part in the bidding, OMX vice president Henry Bergstrom said. Our position is that the bourse should look for a strategic partner; that will guarantee the relative independence and the future development of the capital market, BSE executive director Bistra Ilkova told the Pari daily. Currently the state cannot take a good price for the BSE and many experts think that the privatisation should be put off by a couple of years. From 2007 the BSE will start paying taxes and dividends. Source: Pari (13.02.2007) |
| | Bulgarian drug maker Sopharma will start manufacturing 2 of GlaxoSmithKlein's Flixodite asthma formulations for adults and kids, the Bulgarian stock exchange announced Tuesday, February 13. GSK has already transferred the relevant licensing rights. The two companies' first collaboration was the anti-depression drug Paroxat dating back to 2004. At the time, Sopharma said the project will lay the foundations for a continuous partnership with GSK in the development of products for the treatment of respiratory diseases. Sopharma, which manufacturers 160 drug forms, posted a 28 per cent decline in profit to BGN 22 mln in 2006, shows the non-consolidated financial report of the company. Operating costs rose 10 per cent to BGN 130 mln while operating income was reported at BGN 156 mln. Sales stood at BGN 136.8 mln. Source: Dnevnik (14.02.2007) |
| | Two foreign investment banks have spoken with the Bulgarian stock exchange (BSE) in connection with plans to offer financial instruments based on the local blue chip index, SOFIX. The Bulgarian bourse withheld the names of the banks at their request. The BSE said the banks in question intend to style their products after the SOFIX-based open-end certificate launched recently by ABN AMRO. The market fortunes of 8 Bulgarian stocks - Sopharma, DZI, Bulgartabac, Albena, Orgachim, Neochim, CCBank and Biovet, are tracked by an Erste Bank certificate. The BSE specified the 2 banks mulling SOFIX derivatives are not among the 27 non-native investment outfits that have notified the Bulgarian financial regulator of plans to enter the local market. Dnevnik found that the notifications from some of the interested companies, including Morgan Stanley, Panmure Gordon&Co. and Numis Securities Ltd., were filed as a matter of routine and they do not intend to start marketing their products immediately. Source: Dnevnik (14.02.2007) |
| | The sale of stakes in Bulgartabac Holding's subsidiaries on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) is the more effective privatisation method as a better price for the company will be achieved, Hristo Lachev, CEO of the tobacco holding said. The buyer will also avoid commitments for future investments and guarantees for the rights of the employees if the tobacco companies are bought on BSE. Five subsidiaries of Bulgartabac have been sold so far. The procedure for the sale of Yambol BT will start by the end of the week. The factories in Vidin and Haskovo were declared insolvent. The documents for the registering of Bulgartabac's subsidiaries in Smolyan, Gotse Delchev and Kardjali for sale on BSE are ready. Source: Pari (14.02.2007) |
| | Bulgaria's financial regulator Wed approved the secondary offering prospectus of White Lagoon, a wholly-owned unit of local tourism company Albena. White Lagoon, a resort located 9 km north of Balchik, on the Black Sea, has a capital of BGN 4.3 mln and should start trading on the Bulgarian bourse after the registration of its shares. Albena's net non-consolidated profit fell 19 per cent to BGN 13.9 mln in '06 with net sales adding 6.15 per cent to BGN 88.95 mln and operating costs rising 13 per cent to BGN 71.175 mln. Source: Dnevnik (15.02.2007) |
| | Local special purpose vehicle FEEI said it paid BGN 3.671 mln to purchase receivables worth BGN 5.088 mln in Feb '06-Jan '07. Receivables under contracts with efficiency service companies (ESCOs) accounted for 96 per cent of the value of purchased receivables; the remaining 4 per cent were receivables under contracts for energy efficiency investments in the industrial sector. The operations of the company are financed from its initial capital raise and a EUR 3 mln bond placed in Nov '06. FEEI is co-owned by Enemona, Ecoinvest and Energomontazh AEK-Kozloduy. Source: Dnevnik (15.02.2007) |
| | The interest to our capital market continues with full power. Two weeks after the directors of the Greek stock exchange were here, for meeting with BSE, now the Polish arrive too. Representatives of the Warsaw Stock Exchange, leaded by the executive director Ludvig Sobolevski, will be here the next week to meet representatives from BSE. Interest to the BSE have till now showed the German, Italian, Polish and Greek bourses. Source: Pari (15.02.2007) |
| | Synergon Holding, the Bulgarian diversified holding company, said it has paid BGN 22.3 mln for a 15,000 sq m land plot in Sofia's Mladost 1A borough for the construction of a mixed-use public building. The company also plans to build a balneology and rehabilitation center. No further details were immediately available about the two projects. Synergon's investment program for 2007 is worth over EUR 18 mln. In addition to the two property developments, the holding also plans to set up abroad units for trade in heating and construction materials and to amp up investment in its subsidiary Toplivo, a company that distributes heating and construction materials. The investment spending will be financed with an upcoming capital raise. Synergon plans to hike its capital from BGN 14.12 mln to BGN 18.4 mln through the issue of 4.236 mln new shares with a nominal value of BGN 1 and issue price of BGN 7. Two unnamed holding companies will go public in 2007, supervisory board chairman Bedo Doganian says in an interview posted on the company's website. The holding was on track for consolidated net sales of BGN 318 mln in 2006, improving by BGN 13 mln year-on-year, showed preliminary estimates. Net profit was seen slightly up to BGN 11 mln versus BGN 10.3 mln a year ago. Synergon Holding is the majority owner of 24 commercial corporations and controls equity stakes in another 4 companies. Source: Dnevnik (19.02.2007) |
| | Bulgarian equity fund Advance Equity Holding, a Karoll company, has set up a real estate investment trust under the name Project Estate, the Bulgarian stock exchange said. The new outfit, launched with a capital of BGN 0.5 mln, will focus primarily on commercial, office and business properties, said Hristo Valev from Karoll Finance. The fund will purchase vacant lots and farm out the building contracts. The finished buildings will either be sold off or leased. Project Estate will target a minimum annual return of 7-8 per cent, said Valev. The Advance Equity Holding portfolio includes System for Electronic Payments Bulgaria (SEP Bulgaria), a company developing a phone-based payment solution for the local market, a 34 per cent stake in local gas supplier Enesy and 100 per cent stakes in Energy Invest, a renewable energy company, Energy Effect, an energy efficiency company, and agricultural company Agro Terra North. Source: Dnevnik (19.02.2007) |
| | FairPlay International, the Bulgarian property developer, has transferred its 6.27 per cent stake in special purpose vehicle Agro Finance to its arable land fund FairPlay Agrarian Fund. The 40,816-share package was transacted at a price of BGN 1.49 per share on February 5. Agro Finance is one of the fledgling special purpose vehicles specialising in arable land properties. It has invested BGN 2 mln in arable land plots in different parts of the country. In early February, Agro Finance said it was embarking on a second capital raise from BGN 0.6 mln to BGN 36.4 mln. FairPlay Agrarian Fund, 99.37 per cent-owned by FairPlay International, was launched in November 2006 with a capital of BGN 24 mln. It has accumulated a portfolio of 4,350 ha of arable land. Source: Dnevnik (19.02.2007) |
| | Greece's Leaf Tobacco A. Michailidis has acquired Sandanski BT after filing the only bid for the Bulgarian tobacco processing factory, the local stock exchange announced. The Greek company paid BGN 2.3 mln for the 99.94 per cent stake in Sandanski BT held by local tobacco monopoly Bulgartabac Holding. Leaf Tobacco A. Michailidis is a tobacco trader with strong foothold in Bulgaria. The next Bulgartabac unit that will go under the hammer is tobacco processing plant Kardjali BT. Source: Dnevnik (19.02.2007) |
| | Alfa Index Top 15, Bulgaria's first index fund, returned 46.88 per cent in the first 6 months of its operation, said the fund's managing company Alfa Asset Management. The fund's assets were reported at BGN 615,000 by early February 2007. The Alfa Index Top 15 investment portfolio is structured on the Dnevnik 20 index which tracks the nation's top 15 companies in terms of liquidity and market cap. The fund is awaiting a nod from the financial regulator to change the numerical in its name to 20 as it portfolio was recently extended by 5 components. Source: Dnevnik (19.02.2007) |
| | Media Systems, the nation's biggest producer of blank DVDs and CDs, has the approval of its shareholders to distribute 90 per cent of its '06 profit as dividend. The company will pay out BGN 393,000 in dividend or BGN 0.1966 per share. Operating income was reported at BGN 10.5 mln with operating costs at BGN 9.97 mln in '06. Sales topped BGN 9.2 mln. DVD output is seen increasing 9 per cent in '07. Source: Dnevnik (19.02.2007) |
| | The initial public offering of shares in M3 Communications Group on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) will become a fact no earlier than October 2007, said Maxim Behar, owner and CEO of the company. The free float of the company, however, remains undisclosed at this point. The offering of stock options to the company's managerial team is also being considered, Behar said. The move is expected to increase the motivation of M3 Communications' employees, according to Behar. M3 Communications posted BGN 3 million turnover and BGN 300,000 net profit in 2006. Behar forecasts a 25-percent year on year increase for 2007. Source: Pari (20.02.2007) |
| | First Investment Bank (FIBank) and Corporate Commercial Bank are poised to be listed on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE). The two financial institutions, however, refused to comment on the matter. The Central Cooperative Bank (CCB), the Bulgarian American Credit Bank (BACB) and Economic and Investment Bank (EIBank) are the only banks traded on BSE at present. The move is expected to be successful for the two banks provided the good performance and the development of the banking sector lately. Furthermore, the number of foreign investors interested in BSE has increased considerably over the last few years. Source: Pari (20.02.2007) |
| | The local First Investment Bank (FIBank), Corporate Bank and Investbank are considering listing on the Bulgarian stock exchange, Dnevnik learned from market sources. Financial news portal investor.bg Monday reported that FIBank and Corporate Bank will list in 2007, citing sources from local investment intermediaries. No one at the 3 lenders in question was commenting Monday. They all said statements for the press was forthcoming on Tuesday. In related news, it emerged that 20 per cent of FIBank's capital have a new owner. The Bulgarian stock exchange said Growth Management Ltd. and Hillside Apex Fund Ltd. each unloaded 10 per cent stakes in the lender through investment brokerage FIBH. The name of the buyer was not immediately disclosed. Source: Dnevnik (20.02.2007) |
| | The delisting of DZI Bank and DZI Insurance from the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) will reduce the market capitalisation of the bourse by BGN 1.1 billion. The banking and the insurance sectors on BSE will suffer the hardest blow as they will lose one company each. DZI Insurance has BGN 705 million market capitalisation, accounting for two thirds of the market capitalisation of the sector. Euroins and Bulstrad will remain the only insurance companies traded on BSE after DZI's delisting. DZI Bank's market capitalisation amounts to BGN 400 million. Central Cooperative Bank (CCB), Economic and Investment Bank (EIBank) and the Bulgarian American Credit Bank (BACB) will remain the only banks listed on BSE after DZI Bank's delisting. The overall market capitalisation of BSE's banking sector stands at 2.625 billion at present. BSE's market capitalisation, however, has grown by 3 billion to BGN 15.3 billion over the last two months. Source: Pari (20.02.2007) |
| | Synergon Prestige, a contractual fund organised by Synergon Asset Management, Tue started selling share units to the public. The fund will pursue a low to mid-risk investment strategy and will target mainly debt instruments and, to a lesser extent, equities. Synergon Asset Management, a Synergon Holding company, has already launched one mutual fund, the balanced to high-risk Synergon Profit. Source: Dnevnik (20.02.2007) |
| | The local Corporate Bank has official confirmed it is considering listing on the Bulgarian stock exchange. The final decision will be taken at a general shareholder meeting to be held on an undisclosed date in early March. Another local lender, Investbank, also confirmed it is planning to list on the bourse but could not give a concrete timeframe. Dnevnik a.m. reported Monday that First Investment Bank was also tipped as a likely bourse listing. The bank has once again refused to comment on the reports. Central Co-operative Bank, Economic and Investment Bank and Bulgarian American Bank are the local lenders currently listed on the bourse. DZI Bank is also traded on the stock exchange but the majority owner is taking steps to delist the lender. The combined market cap of the listed banks currently stands at BGN 2.6 bln. Source: Dnevnik (21.02.2007) |
| | Bulgarian real estate investment trust Park said it has earmarked BGN 61,000 of its '06 profit for dividend payments. The company posted a profit of BGN 0.885 mln last year. As much as BGN 0.6 mln came from the sale of apartments in the REIT's Park villa in the Santa Monica holiday complex. Property developer FairPlay Int'l, a Park shareholder, is the main investor in the Santa Monica project. Source: Dnevnik (21.02.2007) |
| | We are ready to buy the entire or part of the state-owned 44-percent stake in the Bulgarian Stock Exchange, Ludwik Sobolewski, president of management board of the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE), said. Another option considered by WSE is setting up a regional stock exchange along with BSE, according to Sobolewski. WSE is also interested in the privatisation of the Ljubljana Stock Exchange, Sobolewski confirmed. WSE, which is 98% state-owned, is yet another candidate buyer for BSE. Other candidates include the likes of Scandiavia's OMX, Greece's Hellenic Exchange Holdings, Germany's Deutsche Boerse and Italy's Borsa Italiana. BSE's market capitalisation rose by 103.7% year on year to USD 26 billion in 2006. The market capitalisation of WSE grew by 58.9% to USD 119 billion for the period. Source: Pari (22.02.2007) |
| | J.G. BT, the former cigarette production and packaging equipment unit of Bulgarian tobacco monopoly Bulgartabac, will inject BGN 7.8 mln in its printing operations this year, the company said in a filing with the Bulgarian stock exchange. The resource will be invested in prepress and offset printing equipment expected to become operational in the first half of 2007. J.G. BT, acquired by Baranko EOOD, a subsidiary of Cyprus-registered offshore outfit Baranko Co. Limited, manufactures multi-color labels and paper and carton packaging for the cigarette, food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. The Plovdiv-based factory has 3-year contracts with local cigarette makers Blagoevgrad BT, Plovdiv BT, Sofia BT and Stara Zagora BT for the supply of printing materials and cigarette filters. J.G. BT posted sales of BGN 37 mln in Q4 2006 and a profit of BGN 0.803 mln. Source: Dnevnik (22.02.2007) |
| | The shares of Eurohold Bulgaria, which would be traded on the Stock exchange and are off the majority owner, reached 15 %, the Executive Director of the investment intermediary Eurofinance Simeon Petkov announced. This happened after another 2.5 mln shares were offered on an auction yesterday. The total turnover of the bourse auction was about BGN 8.668 mln. The shares of Eurohold Bulgaria have been traded on the unofficial market of BSE since February 14th. About 185 000 shares were traded on the regular bourse session yesterday at a medium price of BGN 3.76. The accomplished results on the auction can be determined as very good for the issuer, Christo Dzhenev, broker in Intercapital Markets said. The free shares of the company will be increased up to 30 % after the increase of the capital and the majority owner Bulgarian Holding Corporation wont subscribe a part of the attributed new shares. It would decrease its share in this way. Everyone,, who was a shareholder in Eurohold, which does not exist anymore, could take 8 new shares from the new holding for one old share. The shareholders of Starcom, which was not a public company will take 5.83 new shares. Source: Dnevnik (22.02.2007) |
| | The minimum price for the upcoming secondary stock offering of Black Sea resort White Lagoon has been set at BGN 22 per share, shows the prospectus of the company approved by Bulgaria's financial regulator. The offering, which values the resort at BGN 94.6 mln, will consist of 4.3 mln shares with a nominal value of BGN 1 each. The resort consists of 2 hotels with a total bed capacity of 79 double rooms. The assets of the company were valued at BGN 4.2 mln in 2005. White Lagoon, owned by tourist company Albena, has forecast a decline in revenues for the next two years after posting three consecutive years of revenue growth. 206 net profit is estimated at BGN 42,000, down from BGN 81,000 a year ago. Source: Dnevnik (23.02.2007) |
| | The potential buyer of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange should be with a market capitalization and an annual turnover of at least EUR 500 bln, said BICA in a letter to the Finance Minister Plamen Presharski. After a few meetings some main topics about BSEs privatization are still not specified. BICA insists that the Government should not sell the Exchange at any offered price. Despite the great results over the last few years, Bulgarian capital market remains small so it is not so interesting for the major investors. Source: Monitor (23.02.2007) |
| | Sofia City Court registered changes for Bulgarian Stock Exchange Sofia JSC: dismisses as executive director (executive member of the Board of Directors) Mr. Georgi Asenov Draychev; lists as executive director (executive member of the Board of Directors) Mrs. Bistra Nikolova Ilkova, who will represent the company as executive director (executive member of the Board of Directors) and Mr. Viktor Tenchev Papazov. Source: State Gazette (23.02.2007) |
| | The capital raise of local real estate investment trust Serdika Properties will kick off Mar 5. The company will enlarge its capital of BGN 0.5 mln by the law-prescribed minimum of 30 per cent through the placement of 150,000 shares with a nominal and issue price of BGN 1. The subscription period expires on Apr 12. Serdika Properties is co-owned by Kontrakt Sofia (70 per cent) and DZI General Insurance (30 per cent). Source: Dnevnik (26.02.2007) |
| | Kremikovtzi with a new bank credit of EUR 18 mln.
Black Sea Trade and Development Bank has allotted an EUR 18 mln credit to the metallurgical plant Kremikovtzi, banks officials announced. The credit is set for 7 years and the funds will be used for modernization of the processing capacity of the plant. This bank loan will help Kremikovtzi to improve the quality of its products according to the international quality standarts., said Villas Jamnis a chief executive director of Kremikovtzi. A few days ago NEK partially stopped the electricity power supply to the plant because of unpaid bills. On the very next day Kremikovtzi paid all its February debts of BGN 2.1 mln and the power supply was immediately resumed. At the end of last year Kremikovtzi posted a loss of BGN 266 mln in its report introduced to the Bulgarian Stock Exchange. A year ago the loss was BGN 201.6 mln. The revenue from sales of the metallurgical giant exceed BGN 1 bln but its liabilities also exceed this level. A major reason for this financial results are the Eurobond emission of last year that totals BGN 630 mln ,which are also included in the balance. Source: Dnevnik (26.02.2007) |
| | The Bulgarian Association of Licensed Investment Intermediaries (BALII) supports the fast sale of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE), it emerged after a meeting with representatives of the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE). The strong foreign interest, including from WSE, gives BALII grounds to believe that the privatisation procedure for BSE should be sped up. The Central Depository, which is an important part of the Bulgarian capital market, should also be privatised, according to BALII. At the same time, the Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association (BICA) opposed the sale of BSE at any cost. BICA insists that a strategic investor, willing to develop BSE, should be sought. BSE's new owner should have a market capitalisation and annual turnover of at least EUR 500 billion and membership of at least 10 of the 20 largest investment banks in the world, according to BICA. Source: Pari (26.02.2007) |
| | The secondary trade in the shares of Health & Wellness special purpose vehicle (SPV) will start on Wednesday on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE). The issue of the SPV was registered on Segment A of BSE's unofficial market. The SPV will offer 97,500 shares with BGN 10 par value each. The Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) issued in November 2006 a licence to the SPV allowing it to invest in real estate the funding raised through the capital market. The financial watchdog also approved the prospectus of the SPV for the issuing of 22,500 shares. Aquafinance is a majority shareholder in Health & Wellness with a 40-percent stake. The SPV acquired in January 29,000 sq. m of land near Batak for EUR 434,820 and issued five-year bonds for BGN 7 million in February. Source: Pari (27.02.2007) |
| | Alfa Developments, a wholly-owned unit of Alfa Finance Holding, has acquired a 82.1 per cent stake in the local Pirinhart paper mill, shows the weekly bulletin of the Central Depository. The company picked up the 70.83 per cent and 11.28 per cent stakes dumped by former shareholders Valfin and Zweta which cashed out of Pirinhart. The paper mill narrowed its loss to BGN 0.342 mln in '06 from BGN 1.021 mln a year ago. Source: Dnevnik (27.02.2007) |
| | Were interested in the privatization of the BSEs state share, as were even ready to buy further, in case there are shareholders willing to sell', Spiros Kapralos, president of Athens Exchange and CEO of Hellenic Exchanges Hellex Group said. Thus the latter has joined the list of financial institutions wooing BSE-Sofia, where there are the names of OMX, the Italian stock exchange, the stock market in Vienna and Euronext. Source: Pari (28.02.2007) |
| | EnerSys, the world's largest manufacturer, marketer and distributor of industrial batteries, and local companies Energia 97 and Energia Consult Tuesday sweetened their tender offer to the minority shareholders of Energia AD, the producer of industrial batteries located in Targovishte, Bulgaria, said the local stock exchange. The 3 companies improved their offer for 35,057 shares to BGN 49.57 per share from BGN 42.50. EnerSys, Energia 97 and Energia Consult have signed an agreement for joint equity management which triggered the Energia buyout bid. As a result of the agreement, EnerSys owns directly a 0.03 per cent stake in Energia and a 90.10 per cent stake through connected entities. In January this year, EnerSys said the total purchase price for the Energia transaction was expected to be approximately EUR 13 mln including all transactions costs and adjustments. Source: Dnevnik (28.02.2007) |
| | Local insurance company Euroins has forecast a 15 per cent increase in Q1 premium income to BGN 11.8 mln. The forecast is based on the company's performance in Jan '07 when premiums added up to BGN 4.5 mln in comparison with BGN 3.9 mln a year ago. Euroins posted a premium income of BGN 52.5 mln for '06 for a market share of 4.4 per cent, shows the unaudited financial report of the company. Motor insurance policies generated BGN 35 mln of the premium total last year. Source: Dnevnik (28.02.2007) |
| | Special purpose vehicle Sopharma Imoti has raised BGN 5.85 mln from its capital raise, said the Bulgarian stock exchange on Tue. The capital of the company is doubled to BGN 11.7 mln. The cash raised by the capital hike will be invested in new pharmacies and drug storage facilities. The company operates 20 pharmacies after the purchase of 5 outlets in Sofia a couple of days ago. Source: Dnevnik (28.02.2007) |
| | The Financial Supervision Commission ordered that fibres producer Rilski len Samokov should not place more than half of its assets for sale. Companys shareholders will attend to a meeting today and one of the topics that the Board of Directors of the Samokov-based company wanted to discuss with them was the sale of these assets. The reason why the Commission decided to take these measures is because the company has not provided any written parameters of the sale. This is why the Commission considers that thus companys shareholders will not have a clear view over this sale and will not be able to make a right decision. At the end of 2006 Rilski lens assets are valued at BGN 6.3 mln more than half of which are lands, buildings and equipment. Companys income has shrunk twice since last year from BGN 4.7 mln to BGN 2 mln while its total loss has reached BGN 515 000 compared to a negative net result of BGN 317 000 in 2005. The major shareholders of Rilski len are Trud and Capital Holding 21.73%, Rilenatex 67.6% and Dimitar Mashev 1.14%. Companys capital is BGN 442 000 and throughout the last year there is not even a single transaction with its shares. Source: Dnevnik (28.02.2007) |
| | Bulgaria's anti-trust authority Wednesday said it has greenlighted the acquisition by Monbat, the nation's biggest producer of car batteries, of a 67 per cent stake in BAT Holding, the owner of another local producer of car batteries, Dobrich-based Start. The takeover, agreed in late 2006, was conditioned on the deal securing regulatory approval. The Commission for the Protection of Competition said the takeover will ensure Start will be provided with an investment resource for equipment, recruitment and staff training. Monbat plans to invest BGN 0.7 mln in the Dobrich-based plant and open 79 new jobs. Monbat controlled 38.5 per cent of the domestic market for car batteries in 2006, followed by Elhim Iskra with 23.5 per cent and Start with 13.5 per cent. Imports made up the remaining 24.5 per cent of the market. In late January 2007, Monbat announced its investment program for 2007-2008 which made no reference to Start. The Dobrich plant may now be incorporated in the investment plan after the favourable regulatory ruling. According to the original plan, Monbat will fund the investment operations with a 10-year EUR 12 mln bank loan and EUR 2 mln in working capital financing while contributing EUR 7.75 mln of own funding. The investment spending is expected to double sales and triple net profit by 2009. Monbat posted an end-2006 net profit of BGN 7 mln, up from BGN 4.4 mln a year earlier, show preliminary figures reported to the Bulgarian stock exchange. Sales jumped 65 per cent to BGN 76.8 mln. Source: Dnevnik (01.03.2007) |
| | FIA Bulgaria, 68.68 per cent-owned by Greece's FIA Corporation, will offer 700,000 share with a nominal value of BGN 1 on the Bulgarian stock exchange. The prospectus for the secondary offering of the company was approved Wednesday by the Bulgarian financial regulator. FIA Bulgaria and the local Hadjidimovo municipality have a set up a joint venture for the construction of a villa community and a tech park near the village of Koprivlen, South-western Bulgaria. According to local newspaper Stroitelstvo Gradat, the Greek investors have slated BGN 10 mln for the complex which will be located on the road to the Greek border. The development, due for delivery in 2009, will feature 100 houses, hypermarket, sports and parking facilities and a center for medical tourism. FIA Corporation is active in real estate, investment products and the distribution of medical equipment. Source: Dnevnik (01.03.2007) |
| | Toplivo, the Bulgarian distributor of construction materials, solid and liquid fuels, said profits swelled by 40 per cent to BGN 5.065 mln in 2006 with annual sales hitting BGN 285 mln. Operating costs were up to BGN 281.74 mln from BGN 249 mln a year ago. In early Feb, news agency SeeNews reported that Toplivo planned to invest some BGN 20 mln over then next 2.5 years with half of the resource coming a capital raise performed in late '06. Source: Dnevnik (01.03.2007) |
| | The state-owned majority stakes in Balkancar Erma and Balkancar ZFI will be offered for sale at a centralised public auction on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE). The state-owned stakes in 103 other companies will be sold on BSE as well. The state holdings amount to less than 1% of the capital of 73 of the companies. The sale will start in the beginning of March. The highest minimum price of BGN 1.37 million will be asked for the majority stake in Balkancar-Pleven. State-owned stakes will be sold in a total of 14 public companies, including the likes of Hydraulic Elements & Systems, Himmash, Unipack, Emka and Druzhba Glass. A total of 14,890 million shares in Hydraulic Elements & Systems will be offered at a price of BGN 305,000. Source: Pari (01.03.2007) |
| | Most of the heavyweight holding companies traded on the Bulgarian stock exchange posted a revenue increase in 2006, show their consolidated financial reports. The heftiest gains were reported by the 3 biggest holding companies. Former privatisation funds Synergon Holding, Doverie Obedinen Holding and Industrial Holding Bulgaria each recorded full-year revenues in excess of BGN 100 mln. Standout Synergon posted revenues of BGN 347 mln mainly due to the performance of subsidiary Toplivo. Doverie Obedinen Holding erased a year-ago loss of BGN 3.164 mln to finish BGN 3.648 mln in the black in 2006. Revenues at Stara Planina Hold also rose but the company's profits almost halved due to an accounting adjustment. Albena Invest, Zlaten Lev Holding, Favorit Hold and Holding Varna A all posted revenue declines for 2006. Source: Dnevnik (02.03.2007) |
| | Talking about money is a delicate issue. It is even more delicate when that concerns the remuneration of top managers. But when the talk is about the CEOs of public companies, the veil of secrecy should not be that thick. Unlike other businesses, public companies are obliged by law to regularly provide information that is essential for investors and influences their decisions. No matter how delicate that information might be. Labour costs are included in the financial statements of public companies but it is not always clear what part of the amount covers the remuneration of the management. The Pari daily asked 18 companies for more information but only four of them replied and only one provided a breakdown of its labour costs. The Pari daily has good reasons to make the enquiry. They are contained in Ordinance No. 2 of September 17, 2003 concerning the prospectuses for public offering of securities and the disclosure of information about public companies and other issuers of securities, though the provisions are obligatory only for the companies listed on the official segments of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange. According to the ordinance, the registration document that is submitted together with the audited annual statements of public companies shall specify the remuneration of each member of the management and controlling bodies, including cash and non-cash payments. The Corporate Management Code also provides for publicity of the information. According to Section III, the rules for determining the remuneration of senior managers and the amounts paid to them shall be published on the website of the company. Many companies still consider this information confidential. But they should be aware that salary expenses are something that interests investors, the investor relations director of Monbat, Daniela Peeva, said. Source: Pari (02.03.2007) |
| | Bulgarian media jocularly compare the sale of the state-owned stake in the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) to the process of seeking a suitable bridegroom. On a more serious note, BSE's relations to future buyer resembles a marriage of convenience rather than a business deal. Capital market players, however, are still divided over the criteria that the future buyer should meet. Most brokers support the idea that the state-owned stake in BSE should be sold to a large-scale stock exchange, which automatically leaves the Athens and Warsaw bourses out of the race. Their stance is backed by the ongoing globalisation and the fact that a co-operation with a smaller partner would only slow down BSE's development. Deutsche Boerse and OMX seem to be the most preferred candidate buyers by this group of professionals. A smaller number of brokers believe that it would be better for BSE to merge with a smaller stock exchange, matching its own size. The Athens and Warsaw stock exchanges seem to be the preferred partners by this group of professionals. They fear that the liquidity and the market capitalisation of Bulgarian companies will not meet the high criteria of the foreign markets, if BSE is acquired by a large-scale buyer. Some even suspect that BSE's sell-off may be rather politically than market driven. Source: Pari (02.03.2007) |
| | Sofia-based pharmaceuticals company Sopharma said net profit fell 25 per cent to BGN 23.8 mln in '06 despite a 50 per cent increase in sales to BGN 197 mln. The booked value of the group's property holdings, machinery and equipment rose to BGN 113 mln from BGN 86 mln a year earlier, shows the consolidated financial report. The market cap of the drug maker is just shy of BGN 1 bln, at BGN 970 mln. Source: Dnevnik (02.03.2007) |
| | Last week ended up with serious waverings for both Exchange indexes of the Stock Exchange. They both started the week with transactions of the new representatives of both indexes. Markets situation became worse in the middle of the week when foreign investors were very cautious influenced by world collapses on the capital market. In the final reckoning the SOFIX managed to finish the week reaching levels from 1306,64 points unlike BG40, which entered upon a new negative stage. Source: Sega (05.03.2007) |
| | The shareholders of First Investment Bank (FIBank) have approved the listing of the lender on the local stock exchange, the bank said in a filing with the Bulgarian bourse. No further information on the listing was immediately available. The talk in the local investor community is that the bank's capital of BGN 100 mln will be raised by 15 per cent through an IPO. At present, the biggest shareholders in the bank are Tseko Minev and Ivailo Mutafchiev with 31.83 per cent stakes. In mid-February, Growth Management Ltd. and Hillside Apex Fund Ltd. each unloaded 10 per cent stakes in the lender. FIBank will be the 5th bank to list on the local bourse after Economic and Investment Bank, Central Co-operative Bank, Bulgarian American Credit Bank and DZI Bank. The new owner of DZI Bank, Eurobank EFG Holding, is currently trying to buy out the minority shareholders in a bid to delist the lender. The market cap of the publicly traded Bulgarian banks adds up to BGN 2.5 bln or 15 per cent of the overall market cap. Local lenders Investbank and Corporate Bank are also mulling bourse listings. FIBank boosted assets by 24.8 per cent to BGN 3.148 bln in 2006 to move up a notch to the no.5 spot in terms of assets. Credits extended to non-financial institutions increased 28 per cent to BGN 1.755 bln. The deposits of non-financial customers jumped 40.9 per cent to BGN 1.66 bln. Net profit was up 36.34 per cent to BGN 29 mln. Source: Dnevnik (05.03.2007) |
| | An Apr 18 general meeting of shareholders of the Bulgarian American Credit Bank will vote on a proposal for a dividend of BGN 0.75 per share for '06. The lender logged a profit of BGN 33.6 mln last year, allocating BGN 24.2 mln to reserves and another 9.4 mln for dividend payouts. Source: Dnevnik (05.03.2007) |
| | The repercussions from the global stock decline were felt on the Bulgarian market on Monday when local equities shed BGN 350 mln of their value. The combined market cap of the Bulgarian public corporations shrank by 1.6 per cent to BGN 18.2 bln. Each of the 3 main stock indices fell 2 per cent. The data of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange shows that clients of investment intermediaries and banks doing business with foreign portfolio investors in Bulgaria accounted for a substantial portion of Monday's sell-off. The investor exodus was due to the region-wide stock market downturn, said Stoyan Nikolov, a broker with First Financial Brokerage House. The Romanian stock market is already 9 per cent down. News agency Bloomberg estimates that the stock indices in key emerging markets Poland, Hungary, Russia and the Czech Republic retreated by 1 per cent to 5 per cent. The correction in Bulgarian stock prices, which market watchers said was inevitable after the record gains posted at the beginning of 2007, started in late February and predated the global downswing. Bulgaria's recent EU entry emboldened foreign investors looking to get into the market. The ensuing rally, however, has been driven by small investors for the past month or so after the big guys were done loading up, said Konstatin Abrashev, portfolio manager at BenchMark Asset Management. The market is overvalued and was overdue for a correction, said Abrashev. Most analysts said it would take a couple of months before the dust settles and the scale of the correction becomes apparent. The slippage is still mostly technical due to the overall market decline and the taking of capital gains, said Nikolov, noting the absence of any downward pressure on stock prices from recent earnings reports. Source: Dnevnik (06.03.2007) |
| | Bulgarian company ProWave SPJSC, a Tetra network operator, said it is in talks to sell itself to Italian communication systems suppliers Selex Communications. The news was confirmed a ProWave source on condition of anonymity. The 100 per cent take-over, already communicated to the Bulgarian telecom regulator, should be wrapped up by the end of March. The move was prompted by disagreements between the company owners and managers and the failed cap-for-equity talks with a Czech and an Austrian funds. Selex Communications was tapped by ProWave last year to supply the necessary Tetra network equipment. The telecom regulator Monday said there was a delicensing procedure against ProWave in progress. The carrier has failed to pay the frequency fees for 2006 and the first quarter of 2007, said the watchdog. ProWave was sent a letter to the finance ministry, requesting that the outstanding payments are rescheduled. According to the carrier, the investment in the Tetra infrastructure so far totals EUR 2 mln. Initially, ProWave intended to spend EUR 30 mln on the network in the first 3 years of development. ProWave was the only bidder for the Tetra licence auctioned by Bulgaria's telecom regulator in 2004. The company was granted the permit, which expires in 2019, on a non-competitive basis. Source: Dnevnik (06.03.2007) |
| | A week after the global stock exchange turmoil erupted, positions on BSE-Sofia followed suit and went down the slope, too. The leading index SOFIX plummeted 2.38%, while broader BG40 posted a drop of 2.67%. Shares of most public companies were on the downturn, causing a series of closings on the red. Source: 24 chasa (06.03.2007) |
| | Sviloza, the Svishtov-based cellulose and synthetic fibres plant, has successfully raised its capital to BGN 39.9 mln, said the Bulgarian stock exchange. As many as 128 individual investors and 10 legal entities subscribed and paid in 25,096,910 new shares with issue price of BGN 1 each. Sviloza issued a total of 33,290,170 new shares. The minimum subscription target was set at 25 mln new shares. The proceeds will be used to triple output capacity and retool production technologies. Initially, Sviloza was aiming only to double its production capacity to 110,000 tons a year but further studies showed that target could be exceeded. The project is co-funded by the EBRD (EUR 18 mln) and the Nordic Investment Bank (EUR 10 mln). In early February, Sviloza said it was in talks to secure EBRD financing for the construction of a new paper mill. The cost of the project is seen at EUR 160-200 mln. Source: Dnevnik (07.03.2007) |
| | Bulgarian bakery goods maker Nilana will decide within a month whether or not to list on the local stock exchange, online media outlet SeeNews reported on Tue, Mar 6. Nilana, which operates 2 bread plants in Sofia with a combined daily capacity of 0.015 mln loafs, is developing a distribution deal with Romanian supermarket chain Mega Image, said SeeNews. Nilana sales posted a 10 per cent y/y increase to BGN 18.5 mln in '06. Source: Dnevnik (07.03.2007) |
| | Market drop due to external factors, not IPOs. For quite a long time the Bulgarian Stock Exchange has been suffering from shortage of quality stocks to attract investors' capitals. But since recently it has been suffering from shortage of confidence as well. That has been prompted by external factors arising from the crisis on the world capital market. The myth that investors can gain a lot of money in no time from IPOs appeared after the legendary offering of giant Chimimport. The mania was further fed by Monbat. But exorbitant stock prices may have a negative effect on new issuers. They may fail to have their issues subscribed and that may entail long-term complications, Petko Valkov of BenchMark commented. The price should be determined by the market. A lot of companies have announced plans for IPOs. These include Kaolin, Enemona, Tchaikapharma, Bulgaria's first TETRA operator, Net Info.BG, Todoroff winery, M3 Communications. Three banks are also expected to become public companies: First Investment Bank, Investbank, and Corporate Bank. The setting of a reasonable minimum price is crucial for successful placement, TBI's Svetoslav Velinov said. Source: Pari (07.03.2007) |
| | Energia AD, the producer of industrial batteries based in Targovishte, Bulgaria, said a spike in the price of key input materials like lead and polypropylene slashed earnings in 2006. Net profit fell for a third year in a row to BGN 20,000 in 2006 from BGN 118,000 in 2005. Revenues rose over 20 per cent to BGN 29.2 mln, the same year-on-year growth margin as expenses which came in at BGN 29.134 mln. The Energia minority shareholders are currently mulling over a tender offer pitched by EnerSys of the U.S. and local companies Energia 97 and Energia Consult. EnerSys, Energia 97 and Energia Consult have signed an agreement for joint equity management which triggered the Energia buyout bid. Energia will be delisted if the buyoy is successful. Source: Dnevnik (08.03.2007) |
| | Special purpose vehicle Sopharma Imoti, part of the Sopharma group, said it has bought 13 pharmacies in Bulgarian capital Sofia. Sopharma Imoti purchased another 5 pharmacies in Sofia last month and now their number in the companys portfolio is 32 with locations also in Blagoevgrad, Bansko, Gotse Delchev, Vratsa and Popovo. The SPV is targeting a total number of 80 outlets which will be leased out not only as pharmacies but for general retailing purposes as well. The company plans to expand its scope of investment operations to include the development of office and commercial buildings. Sopharma Imoti successfully raised its capital to BGN 11.7 mln in late February 2007. The assets of the SPV, which posted a loss of BGN 36,000 for 2006, are valued at BGN 6.42 mln. Source: Dnevnik (08.03.2007) |
| | Oil company Lukoil has filed a BGN 90 mln claim against fuel retailer Petrol, alleging recurring breaches of the fuel distribution agreement between the two partners. Lukoil contends that, over the past 4 years, Petrol deliberately delayed payments due under the concession agreement between the two companies. Petrol has lodged a countersuit also alleging delayed payments on Lukoil's part. The fuel retailer, the nation's biggest, said it notified in writing Lukoil Bulgaria on February 13 that it should settle an outstanding payment of BGN 84 mln within the ensuing 20 business days. A failure to comply would result in litigation, said Petrol. Lukoil has denied the existence of any Petrol claims against them. The first signs of friction between the two companies appeared in early 2005 when Lukoil discontinued fuel supplies for Petrol over outstanding payments totalling BGN 35 mln. Under the existing agreement, Petrol retails liquified fuels produced by Lukoil and the two companies split the profits after Petrol has deducted costs. Source: Dnevnik (09.03.2007) |
| | Bulgaria's scheme established to compensate investors in the event of an investment firm's inability to repay money or return assets held on their behalf has so far accumulated some BGN 1.6 mln, Dnevnik learned from Mileti Mladenov, chairman of the fund's managing board. The fund, which expects to amass another BGN 1 mln by the end of '07, currently reimburses up to 90 per cent of the loss but no more than BGN 24,000. The compensation cap will gradually increase to EUR 20,000 by '11. The fund reserves are formed from contributions paid by investment companies. Source: Dnevnik (09.03.2007) |
| | Trade in 26 companies listed on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) was suspended at the end of last week following their failure to provide financial reports for the fourth quarter of 2006. The Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) allowed trade in 15 of the 26 stocks to resume on Thursday. Trade in the remaining nine companies continues to be suspended. Chimco was among the companies whose trade was restored on BSE. The stock of the company appreciated by 14.29% on Thursday after trade resumed. Source: Pari (09.03.2007) |
| | Special purpose vehicle Real Estate Fund Bulgaria has sold 7 properties in the vicinity of the Sofia International Airport, abandoning plans for the construction of an industrial park. The unzoned properties form a lot with an area of 1.45 ha. The value of the deal, ex transaction costs, is EUR 2.11 mln or 145 euro/sq m. The properties were acquired in 2005 at 45 euro/sq m. Source: Dnevnik (09.03.2007) |
| | The biggest stock exchange in the world the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has expressed interest to the privatization of BSE, said the Minister of Economy and Energy Mr. Rumen Ovtcharov after the meeting with its President Ms. Catrin Keeny. Mr. Ovtcharov explained that they agreed to keep in touch in the process of preparation of the strategy of privatization of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange. It is now being worked out by an expert group in the Ministry of Finance, explained from there. The Americans except for being interested in BSE, have declared their wish Bulgarian energy companies to be listed on the NYSE. Source: Pari (12.03.2007) |
| | Synergon, the Bulgarian diversified holding company, said it plans to list in 2007 on the local stock exchange two of its subsidiaries, Grand Hotel Plovdiv and Energy Delta. Grand Hotel Plovdiv will likely be renamed to Synergon Hotels or Synergon Tourism. The company owns Novotel Plovdiv, part of international hotel group Accor, in the city of Plovdiv and the Evropa, Glarus and Iskar hotels in Black Sea resort Sunny Beach. Energy Delta, another tourism company in the Synergon portfolio, is active in spa, balneology and rehabilitation tourism and owns properties in the Smolyan area near ski resort Borovets. Synergon Holding supervisory board chairman Bedo Doganian told pazari.dnevnik.bg in an interview that the company may increase the free float of Toplivo, its listed fuel trading subsidiary, from 25 per cent to 30-35 per cent by staying out of an upcoming capital raise. Toplivo, which also trades in construction materials, is on track for a 2006 full-year profit of BGN 10 mln, said Doganian. The company posted a consolidated profit of BGN 5 mln and revenues of BGN 287 mln in 2005. Synergon is in the process of raising its capital from BGN 14.12 mln to BGN 18.4 mln through the issue of 4.236 mln new shares with a nominal value of BGN 1 and issue price of BGN 7. The bulk of the proceeds will be invested in a multi-functional building in Sofia's Mladost borough. The building will house the offices of all of Synergon's Sofia-based companies. The remainder of the proceeds will be spend on the expansion of Toplivo and Energy Delta. Synergon Holding is the majority owner of 24 commercial corporations and controls equity stakes in another 4 companies. Source: Dnevnik (12.03.2007) |
| | Two new companies - Black Sea resort White Lagoon and special purpose vehicle Alfa Credit, will start trading on the Bulgarian stock exchange on Tue, Mar 13 after the bourse registered their shares on the unofficial segment of the market. The White Lagoon secondary stock offering consists of 4.3 mln shares with a nominal value of BGN 1 each. The Alfa Credit stock offering is worth BGN 650,000. The SPV will securitise credits and credit portfolios of banks and non-banking institutions. Source: Dnevnik (12.03.2007) |
| | Navigation Maritime Bulgare, Bulgaria's state-owned maritime carrier, said '06 net profit fell more than twofold y/y to BGN 18.8 mln. Operating costs rose to BGN 432.8 mln from BGN 414 mln a year ago. The value of the company's transportation vessels was booked at BGN 730.7 mln while overall assets fell below BGN 1 bln. The carrier, which is facing privatisation, disposed of assets worth BGN 21 mln last year. Source: Dnevnik (12.03.2007) |
| | FIA Bulgaria, 68.68 per cent-owned by Greece's FIA Corporation, will offer 700,000 share with a nominal and issue price of BGN 1 on the Bulgarian stock exchange, shows the offering prospectus approved by the local financial regulator. FIA Bulgaria and the local Hadjidimovo municipality have a set up a joint venture for the construction of a villa community and a tech park near the village of Koprivlen, South-western Bulgaria. The development, due for delivery in 2009, will feature 100 houses, hypermarket, sports and parking facilities and a center for medical tourism. Source: Dnevnik (12.03.2007) |
| | ERG Capital 1 and 2, real estate investment trusts incorporated by the Bulgarian American Enterprise Fund will seek shareholder approval at general meetings set for April 24 and 25, respectively, to distribute their profit for '06 as dividend. ERG Capital 1 has proposed to distribute last year's BGN 597,600 profit as a dividend of BGN 19.92 per share. The ERG Capital 2 proposal is for a dividend of BGN 21.27 per share. The company intends to pay out as dividends its entire '06 profit of BGN 734,000. Source: Dnevnik (12.03.2007) |
| | An Apr 27 general meeting of the shareholders of Biovet, the local pharmaceuticals company, will vote on a proposal to avalise a EUR 4 mln promissory note issued by the drug maker's majority owner Huvepharma. The beneficiary note, issued as a loan collateral, is the Citibank branch in Sofia. This is the second promissory note issued by Huvepharma that will be avalised by Biovet. In '06, the shareholders of the pharmaceuticals company approved the provision of an aval for an 8 mln euro Citibank revolving credit. Source: Dnevnik (12.03.2007) |
| | The Stock exchange presented four new companies. White lagoon and Alfa credits shares are registered for trade from today. Health and wellness securities were registered in the end of February, while Bross holdings shares are already being traded. Source: Darik Radio (13.03.2007) |
| | The initial public offering of Enemona, the Bulgarian engineering company, will mostly probably happen in late June, Dnevnik learned from Prokopi Prokopiev, head of corporate policy. The IPO will be pushed to early September if the June target is missed due to procedural factors, he said. The upcoming capital raise of the company will be put to a vote at an April 13 general meeting of shareholders. The free float is seen at 15 per cent to 20 per cent or 0.9-1.2 mln shares. The IPO size and date will be advised by the issue managers, Elana and United Bulgarian Bank, said Prokopiev. The IPO proceeds will be spent on Enemona's investment program and on making the company more attractive for investors and a more eligible borrowers of long-term financing, said Prokopiev. The company also plans to increase its capital to BGN 100 mln over the next 5 years. Enemona, based in Kozloduy, on the river Danube, posted revenues of BGN 55.8 mln in 2006. Profit rose to BGN 4 mln from BGN 1.36 mln a year ago. Source: Dnevnik (14.03.2007) |
| | Austria's Duropack AG has bought 135,160 shares from minority shareholders in Duropack Trakia Papir, the Pazardjik-based producer of paper and corrugated board, to increase its stake in the company to 94.43 per cent. The majority owner intends to delist the paper mill. Duropack raised its stake to 90.25 per cent in late '06 after buying the 42.41 per cent stake of Schneider&Schneider Rechtsanwalte OEG. Source: Dnevnik (14.03.2007) |
| | A decision for transforming Enemona into a public company and listing part of its capital for trade on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) will be taken by a general shareholders' meeting on April 13, 2007. The shareholders will also approve a capital raise from BGN 6 million now to BGN 100 million over the next five years. Enemona is expected to be listed in May, when the company will offer 20% of its shares on the BSE. The board of directors will ask shareholders to be given the right to determine the size of the issue. Source: Pari (14.03.2007) |
| | Varna-based diesel engines plant Vamo will be demolished and replaced by a shopping mall. The information was confirmed on condition of anonymity by representatives of the Varna municipality. Seven new shareholders entered the plant in mid-Jan. The executive director of the biggest of the new shareholders - Business Park Zapad with a 23 per cent stake, said he was unaware of the mall project. The Vamo plant, located on the city fringe in the vicinity of Business Park Varna, comprises several land plots with a combined area of 150,000 sq m. Source: Dnevnik (15.03.2007) |
| | Company HES, the Yambol-based producer of hydraulic components and systems, will raise its capital from BGN 2,619,830 to BGN 3,039,003 through the issue of 419,173 new shares, the company said in a filing with the Bulgarian stock exchange. Six months ago, HES tapped company reserves and undistributed profits from prior years to enlarged its capital tenfold. The company, majority-owned by Stara Planina Hold, posted a net non-consolidated profit of BGN 1.761 mln for '06, up from BGN 1.378 mln a year ago. Source: Dnevnik (15.03.2007) |
| | The state strategy for the sale of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange Sofia should be ready by mid-April, Minister of Finance Plamen Oresharski said. Later on the program will be sent for approval to the Ministry of Finance. The latter is planning to sell the state stake in BSE by the end of 2007. According to Oresharski a future strategic investor can well halp the local capital market on its way of integration with market within the EU, as well as modernize its trading platform. The state-owned share of 44% will most probably be an object for bidding on behalf of six foreign stock exchanges, as OMX, Deutsche Boerse, Athens stock exchange, the stock market in Warsaw, the Vienna capital market and the stock exchange in Milan have so far declared their interests in the bidding for BSE-Sofia. Source: Pari (19.03.2007) |
| | Petrol, Bulgaria's biggest fuel retailer, confirmed it is being sued by oil company Lukoil for BGN 89.5 mln over the alleged deliberate delay of payments stemming from a concession agreement between the two companies. The Petrol legal team is getting acquainted with the paperwork on the case. The first hearing on the case is scheduled for May 11. Under the existing agreement, Petrol retails liquefied fuels produced by Lukoil and the two companies split the profits after Petrol has deducted costs. For its part, Petrol contends it is owed BGN 84 mln by Lukoil. Source: Dnevnik (19.03.2007) |
| | Bulgaria's First Investment Bank (FIBank) said it will list 9.09 per cent of its capital or 10 mln shares on the Bulgarian stock exchange. The shareholders of the bank have approved a capital increase from 100 mln to 110 mln through the initial public offering of 10 mln shares with a nominal value of BGN 1. The issue price of the shares is yet to be determined. Market sources said the IPO, to be handled by First Financial Brokerage House, may happen as soon as May. The proceeds from the share sale will be invested in lending and card operations and in the expansion of the branch, ATM and POS terminals network. FIBank is the nation's 5th largest lender with assets of over BGN 3 bln. Economic and Investment Bank, Central Co-operative Bank, Bulgarian American Credit Bank and DZI Bank are the other local lenders listed on the bourse. However, DZI Bank is likely to be delisted after being acquired by Greece's Eurobank EFG Holding. Source: Dnevnik (20.03.2007) |
| | The trade volume on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) was a touch above BGN 4.21 million on Monday, half the volume registered late last week and well below the volumes observed a month ago. That may be interpreted as a sign that stock holders are unwilling to sell at the current market prices and that buyers are cautious, Svetozar Abrashev of First Financial Brokerage House commented. That is not yet a factor for a change in the trend; rather, it is a stalemate. Source: Pari (20.03.2007) |
| | The local Corporate Bank said it will float 16.6 per cent of its capital on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange after the shareholders approved the move at a general meeting on March 12. The initial public offering of the bank, scheduled for mid-May, will consist of 10 mln shares. The exercise, lead managed by United Bulgarian Bank, will raise the lender's capital from BGN 50 mln to BGN 60 mln. Pricing information will be available after the Financial Supervision Commission approves the IPO prospectus. Another local lender, First Investment Bank (FIBank), is also preparing for a May IPO. The bank will list 9.09 per cent of its capital. The FIBank and Corporate Bank IPOs will increase the number of listed banks to 6. FIBank, the nation's 5th largest bank with BGN 3 bln in assets, will be biggest lender on the bourse, ahead of Economic and Investment Bank (no.10 in terms of assets), DZI Bank (no.12), Corporate Bank (no.13) and Bulgarian American Credit Bank (no.20). After recently acquiring DZI Bank, Luxembourg-based Eurobank EFG Holding has taken steps to strike the lender from the list of public corporations. Source: Dnevnik (22.03.2007) |
| | Wiener Boerse will make two presentations on April 4 to officials from the Bulgarian bourse, financial regulator, investment companies and finance ministry, showcasing opportunities to intensify co-operation and integration between the two stock exchange operators. The two bourse already have a co-operation memorandum. After it was signed in March 2006, Wiener Boerse included Bulgarian drug maker Sopharma in two of its regional indices: the South-East Europa Traded Index and the CECE Extended Index. In 2006, Wiener Boerse said it planned to include Bulgarian corporations in the New Europe Blue Chip Index but none of them have met the necessary requirements. The Austrian exchange operator is in the frame as a potential bidder for the 44 per cent stake-owned stake in the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE). Bulgarian finance minister Plamen Oresharski recently said the strategy for the privatisation of the BSE should be ready by mid-April while the selection of a strategic partner would likely take up the remainder of the year. Nordic exchange operator OMX, Deutsche Boerse and the Athens and Warsaw stock exchanges have also indicated their interest in BSE. Borsa Italiana is also interested in co-operation with its Bulgarian counterpart. Source: Dnevnik (22.03.2007) |
| | Balkancar Zarya, the Bulgarian manufacturer of rims and wheels for industrial vehicles, Wednesday announced it will create a joint venture with Britain's Watts Industrial Tyres. The new company, based in Pavlikeni, will offer a comprehensive range of industrial tyre and wheel products. It will start operation on May 1, 2007. No further information on the new company was immediately available. An upcoming general meeting of Balkancar Zarya shareholders will vote on a proposal to raise capital from BGN 165,000 to BGN 1.322 mln, sourcing the enlargement from company reserves and undistributed profit. KVK Invest, a 90 per cent shareholder in Balkancar Zarya, pitched a tender offer to the minority shareholders of the company but managed to repurchase only 4,376 of the 21,000 share it was targeting. It is not clear if the majority owner intends to delist Balkancar Zarya. Source: Dnevnik (22.03.2007) |
| | Eurohold Bulgaria and its parent company Bulgarian Holding Corporation have signed an extendable 5-year loan agreement for BGN 6 mln. Eurohold Bulgaria, created after the merger of former privatisation fund Eurohold with Starcom Holding, will invest the funds in its subsidiary companies and in equity acquisitions. The holding is active in finance, manufacture, real state and auto dealing. Source: Dnevnik (22.03.2007) |
| | The Privatization Agency posted over BGN 2 mln turnover on the BSE. Stakes of shares of 33 companies were bought at the very first day of the 15th centralized public tender, carried out on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange - Sofia JSC. Among these are packages from Balkancar-Pleven JSC, TZUM-Shopping & Office Centre JSC, ABB Avangard JSC and others. Source: Sega (22.03.2007) |
| | The capital increase of Bulyard AD, the Varna-based ship-builder, has been registered in court on March 19, said the Bulgarian stock exchange on Thursday, March 22. BSI parent company Industrial Holding Bulgaria subscribed 5.29 mln new shares to keep its stale unchanged at 61.5 per cent. The money raised by the hike, which adjusted the capital of the ship-builder from BGN 24 mln to BGN 32.6 mln, paid for the acquisition by Bulyard of the last 25 per cent share of the capital of Bulyard Shipbuilding Industry (BSI), a joint venture between national maritime fleet NMB and Bulyard, it did not already own. The USD 5.55 mln deal completes Bulyard's 100 per cent take-over of BSI which owns the assets of the former Varna shipyard. Maritime shipping is a key business for Industrial Holding Bulgaria which owns a 61.5 per cent stake in Bulyard. Source: Dnevnik (23.03.2007) |
| | The Prague Stock Exchange (PSE) has entered the frame of potential bidders for the 44 per cent state-owned stake in the Bulgarian bourse, the stock exchange announced in a press release posted on its website. This intention was communicated to the Bulgarian government by the director general of the Prague Stock Exchange Petr Koblic who is taking part in the official visit to the Balkan country. 'We see a great potential in the dynamically developing Bulgarian market that can be, based on our experience, developed even further. The Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) is currently in a phase in which it faces a number of processes and tasks that the Prague Stock Exchange went through just recently. Such experience creates our unique know-how that can hardly be offered by another entity that has not bee through such a phase, said Koblic. 'The Prague Stock Exchange benefited from our own, tailor-made trading system that aside from the standard trading method also offers trading with the participation of market makers. Their activity significantly influences the functioning of the Exchange and brings important liquidity. I am convinced that using the same logic of a system similar to the one of our Exchange would bring the desired benefits to the Bulgarian markets,' Koblic was quoted as saying in the press release. The overall volume of securities trading at the Prague Stock Exchange reached EUR 30.9 bln in 2006. Market capitalisation of the stock market was EUR 57.9 bln. In the same year, the Sofia Stock Exchange reached a volume of EUR 1.7 bln on the stock market with a market capitalisation of EUR 7.8 bln, said the press release. Nordic exchange operator OMX, Deutsche Boerse, Wiener Boerse and the Athens and Warsaw stock exchanges have also indicated their interest in BSE. Borsa Italiana is also interested in co-operation with its Bulgarian counterpart. Bulgarian finance minister Plamen Oresharski recently said the strategy for the privatisation of the BSE should be ready by mid-April while the selection of a strategic partner would likely take up the remainder of the year. Source: Dnevnik (30.03.2007) |
| | The Privatization Agency decreased the minimum prices of two of the companies, that is selling on the 15th centralized public tender, announced BSE. After March 30, orders for Balkancar-Erma and Balkancar-ZFI could be accepted from BGN 970.5 thous. for Erma and BGN 592 thous. for the other company. These are the only two companies from this PAs tender, from which major packages are proposed 67 per cent of the capital of each company. Source: Dnevnik (30.03.2007) |
| | The Prague Stock Exchange (PSE) has entered the frame of potential bidders for the 44 per cent state-owned stake in the Bulgarian Stock Exchange, the stock exchange announced in a press release posted on its website. This intention was communicated to the Bulgarian government by the director general of the Prague Stock Exchange Petr Koblic who is taking part in the official visit in Bulgaria. The market capitalization of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange has increased twice during last year. Source: mediapool.bg (30.03.2007) |
| | The private Bulgarian River Shipping Corporation (BRSC) will distribute 24 free shares per shareholder if a capital raise proposal is approved by the company's May 21 general meeting. If the proposal is successful, which would hike the capital 25 times from BGN 1.158 mln to BGN 28.95 mln, it will result in a share split, boosting the liquidity of company shares. BRSC is controlled by holding company Chimimport which owns 16.58 per cent of the river shipping company directly and another 76.81 per cent through subsidiary Bulgarian Ship Company. This will be BRSC's second capital hike in the past 6 months. In late 2006, the company raised its capital from BGN 895,400 to its current level. Source: Dnevnik (02.04.2007) |
| | Russian oil producer Lukoil said it has secured a court injunction on 1.125 mln shares of publicly traded Bulgarian-based oil products distributor Petrol over an outstanding debt of BGN 1.125 mln owed to its Burgas-based refinery Neftochim by Petrol's owner Petrol Holding. Unless the debt is settled within a week, the shares - making up 1.14 per cent of Petrol's capital, will be sold to cover the Lukoil claim. Petrol refused to comment, saying it has not been notified about the injunction. Neftochim said the injunction measure stems from a payment amount that is different from an earlier BGN 90 mln claim against Petrol brought by Lukoil over breaches of their retail fuel supply agreement. Under the supply agreement, Lukoil supplies 433 of Petrol's stations, while Petrol is obliged to share its gross margin on an equal basis with Lukoil. Lukoil contends that Petrol has withheld payments due under the agreement for the past 4 years while the fuel distributor is countering with an BGN 84 mln claim of its own against the oil company. Last week, ratings agency Standard&Poor's said it has downgraded its outlook for Petrol to negative from stable, following the deterioration of Petrol's relationship with Lukoil. Source: Dnevnik (02.04.2007) |
| | The increase of the investment culture of the owners of small and medium enterprises is the main idea for creation of new bourse segment, which should represent with shares and obligations these companies. This was announced by Bistra Ilkova, director of BSE-Sofia during Bulgaria in the EU new opportunities before business seminar. BGN 15-25,000 is needed for such company to enter the stock exchange. BSE will look for cooperation with the Ministry of Economy and Energy, which should provide for opportunity for financing of medium and small enterprises with purpose of helping of their entering on the stock market. Source: Monitor (04.04.2007) |
| | The total turnover of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange for March amounted to BGN 333.883 mln, versus BGN 495.848 mln a month earlier. BSE-Sofia reached its record result during December 2006, when securities with a total value of BGN 704.597 mln have been traded. 22 trade sessions have been executed in March, and the average day turnover was BGN 15.176 mln, at average 1359 deals a day. Totally 49.21 per cent or BGN 164.3 mln of the month turnover is realized on the Unofficial market of shares Segment A, and respectively BGN 89.825 mln (26.90 per cent) and BGN 42.082 mln (12.60 per cent) are from deals on Block segment and Unofficial market of shares Segment B. Source: Monitor (05.04.2007) |
| | Market capitalization of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange - Sofia for April 11th 2007 is over BGN 18 billion, which is 39% of the gross domestic product for 2006. Comparing to 2005 this share is 20% and in 2001- 3,7%. Gained profit of the Exchange for 2006 has reached BGN 3,38 billion. Both indices SOFIX and BG40 have increased with almost 50% for 2006. In March a total of 22 sessions were realized and the average profit of the exchange was BGN 15,176 million. The stocks of Chimimport were the most liquid emission on the Exchange for the past month with a total of 2,066 transactions. Source: Cash (13.04.2007) |
| | The Board of Directors of Central Depository will be changed almost fully on the general meeting of the shareholders, which is appointed for April 27. This was announced by sources, close to the organizations activity. The intentions of the financial minister Plamen Oresharski and the manager of BNB Ivan Iskrov (the two institutions own 41.9 per cent of the depository) are the number of the members of the managing board to be decreased from seven to five. Their places will only keep Gergana Beremska, director of State treasure and duty Department in MF and Nikolina Micheva, director of Fiscal services Department in the Central bank. All other members the executive director of UBB Stilyan Vatev, chairman of the Board of Directors of BSE-Sofia Viktor Papazov, Mariela Nenova from BNB and the executive director Yuliyan Dinkov, will be changed. On there places will come Kalinka Kirova member of the Managing Board of Bulbank, the Corporate financing executive director of DSK Bank Nikolay Borisov and Lyubomir Hristov, who has been main economist of BNB, later he works in the World Bank and private companies. According to unofficial information, Hristov has been proposed by Viktor Papazov and Andrey Pramov and will probably be executive director. Source: Banker (21.04.2007) |
| | The draft version of the privatization strategy for the Bulgarian Stock Exchange Sofia JSC is ready. After the final version of the document is prepared it will be submitted in the Economic Politics Council. This explained from the Ministry of Finance, which is principal of the Government for its operations on the BSE. The project will include the way of privatization of the state share of 44 per cent of the capital of BSE and the criteria for the strategic investor and it is expected this year the procedure to be activated. Source: ComputerWorld e-Daily (18.05.2007) |
| | The owners of Sofia Airport Centre (SAC) and AutoBohemia are expected to delist the two companies from the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE). Favorit Hold, owner of nearly 99% of the capital of the company, offers BGN 6 for each of the remaining 20,498 shares owned by small stockholders. Tishman Bulgarian Real Property, which owns 99.9% in Sofia Airport Centre, offers BGN 6.78 for each of the remaining 10 shares in the company owned by small shareholders. Chimimport Petrol, which owns an 83.36-percent stake in Electrometal has made a tender offer to the smaller stockholders for 5,377 shares. The price offered by Chimimport Petrol stands at BGN 18.95 per share. Source: Pari (28.05.2007) |
| | At least another 17 corporations will list on the Bulgarian stock exchange by the end of '07, estimates local financial group Elana. That would bring the number of this year's IPOs to 20 which compares with just 4 in '06. The estimate does not include the IPOs performed by special purpose vehicles which number 8 so far in '07 versus 28 in '06. Source: Dnevnik (01.06.2007) |
| | Nordic exchange operator OMX said that despite its announced merger with U.S. electronic stock market NASDAQ it is still interested in the acquisition of the state-owned stake in the Bulgarian Stock Exchange. Deutsche Boerse, Wiener Boerse, Borsa Italiana and the Athens, Prague and Warsaw stock exchanges have also indicated their interest in BSE. The Bulgarian bourse is expected to go private by the end of '07. Source: Dnevnik (02.06.2007) |
| | The nation's financial watchdog has approved changes to the Bulgarian Stock Exchange rules, authorising the bourse to cancel trades resulting from incontestable broker errors. Going forward, the BSE board is authorised to cancel a trade erroneously entered in the system if the request to this end is filed no later than 3 pm on the same business day and the parties to the trade reach mutual agreement that the trade should not have happened. Source: Dnevnik (06.06.2007) |
| | The general meeting of shareholders of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) Thu decided the company should distribute a dividend of BGN 0.25 per share for '06. The planned dividend payouts, the first in the bourse's brief history, will add up to 90 per cent of the '06 profit or BGN 1.467 mln. The privatisation-bound stock exchange is 44 per cent-owned by the finance ministry with the remainder of the equity controlled by investment intermediaries, commercial banks and other minor shareholders. Source: Dnevnik (15.06.2007) |
| | A total BGN 1.67 million or 90% of the profit booked by the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) for 2006, will be distributed as dividend, it was decided at a general shareholders' meeting. The dividend per share which is to be paid will amount to BGN 0.25. The move should not come as a surprise, Viktor Papazov, chairman of BSE's board of directors told the Pari daily. The dividend which is to be distributed is higher than it was planned initially, Papazov added. BSE's shareholders also decided to allocate 10% of the 2006 profit to the Reserves Fund. Source: Pari (15.06.2007) |
| | Bulgarian bourse graduates to class of developed markets
The Bulgarian capital market reached another milestone in its development Monday when the combined value of the local publicly traded commercial corporations topped 20 bln levs or 40% of the nation's GDP. Analysts said the benchmark hit by the Bulgarian bourse on June 25 sets apart the undervalued stock markets from the more developed ones. The local capital market is still in its relative infancy but the longer-term outlook is solid in light of the fact that many of the nation's corporate powerhouses are still privately owned. Although clearing the 20 bln lev mark was more of a psychological breakthrough and the market could regress, the push indicates that the market is on the right track, said analysts. In their view, the Bulgarian capital market is starting to fit the part of a funding option for the local corporations. In addition, the downward correction witnessed in early 2007 suggests the bourse is plugged into the global stock trends. The market growth is mainly due to the string of bourse listings over the past couple of months and should maintain its pace in view of the spate of corporations that have announced plans to go public. Despite the positive market developments so far in 2007 the bourse continues to struggle with low liquidity. It is also failing to provide ample options to investors with idle cash who have been massively oversubscribing the latest run of IPOs. Source: Dnevnik (26.06.2007) |
| | Trace Group Hold is planning to increase capital from the current 2 mln leva (1.022 mln euros) to 2.2 mln leva (1.124 mln euros). The company will offer 200,000 shares, or 10% of its capital on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange, Miroslav Manolov, company PR told. The information was confirmed by Lachezar Ilchevski, executive director of one of the company's subsidiaries PCI Jsc. The IPO will probably be held in September Manolov also said. The company is currently preparing its prospectus. Simoni Financial Brokerage Ltd will be the underwriter of the emission. Trace Group Hold's revenues from core activity in 2006 stand at 117.902 mln leva (60.282 mln euros), against 113.076 mln leva (57.814 mln euros) a year ago. The company's profit (after taxes) is in the amount of 5.242 mln leva (2.680 mln euros), against 8.15 mln leva (4.167 mln euros) for 2005. Trace Group Hold operates in the construction sector and other related to it activities. The group unites 10 associated companies based in regions of strategic importance for the construction industry in Bulgaria. These are PCI Jsc, Construction Company Trace Jsc, PSF Mostengineering, Trace Burgas, Trace Sofia, Rhodope Trace, Berko Trace, Patstroyengineering and Patno Poddarjane (Road Maintenance) Jsc. Trace Group Hold is a member of the Association of Industrial Capital in Bulgaria. Nikolay Mihailov controls 90% of its capital. The company took part in the second round table, organized by the Bulgarian Stock Exchange in Veliko Tarnovo, and its subsidiary PCI Jsc Stara Zagora was represented at the third round table in Plovdiv. Source: Other (04.07.2007) |
| | BSE doubles capitalisation end-Mar
The market capitalisation of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) reached BGN 18.238 billion by the end of March 2007, up by 101.12% year on year, data of the Financial Supervision Commission show. Four economic subsectors account for 70.95% of the capitalisation. The biggest share, 28.63%, belongs to financial intermediation. It is followed by transport and communications (21.65%), trade and technical servicing (12.12%) and chemical production (8.55%). The number of investment intermediaries reached 86 at the end of March, including 29 banks. The assets of the non-banking intermediaries totalled BGN 3.83 billion. There were 35 mutual funds and 11 investment companies registered. Their assets amounted to BGN 435.29 million, increasing by 258.55% over the past year. Special purpose vehicles registered asset growth of 312.10% to BGN 741.15 million. Source: Pari (20.07.2007) |
| | As a result of the listing of new companies, the market capitalisation of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) has exceeded BGN 20 million or 41% of GDP. The Bulgarian capital market is undergoing dynamic development and if the growth rate is sustained, BSE's market capitalisation may amount to 65% of GDP in 2-3 years, according to forecasts of the Centre for Economic Development (CED). If the forecast is fulfilled, BSE will become one of the well developed European capital markets, according to CED experts. The free float of the public companies should also be raised in order for BSE's liquidity to improve, according to the CED. The fact that only a few companies account for the bulk of stock trade on BSE is a signal for the poor development of the capital market CED experts say. At the same time a sharp decrease in the activity of newly-listed companies may be observed after the initial euphoria of going public. Furthermore, there are significantly overvalued companies listed on BSE according to market players. A steep decline in the stock prices of such companies would have a negative effect on the entire capital market in Bulgaria. Source: Pari (31.07.2007) |
| | Shares of 110 companies will be offered on the 16th Centralized Public auction. Within the auction the Privatization Agency puts up for sale two major packages 67 per cent of Balkancar-ERMA JSC Trun and 67 per cent of Balkancar-ZFI JSC Breznik. The more attractive among the others are: 32 per cent of Balkancar-Ruen JSC Asenovgrad; 30 per cent of Balkancar-ZPDEA G. Kostov JSC Sofia; Sofia Princess Hotel JSC; Bulgarplod - Sofia JSC; Armeec Insurance Company JSC Sofia; KCM S.A. (Combine for Non-ferrous Metals) JSC; Somat JSC; Sopharma JSC and others. 11 of the companies will be offered for non-money payment and 93 per cent for money. Source: Sega (31.07.2007) |
| | Bulgaria's DOM Zdrave will be the first health insurance fund to raise financing on the capital market. The company's management plans to place up to 600,000 new shares at an initial public offering on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange. DOM Zdrave is the first of 13 funds operating in the field of alternative health insurance in Bulgaria. The company manages BGN 20 million. We plan to be part of the stock market not later than November, DOM Zdrave's executive director, Ilko Semerdjiev, said. An extraordinary general shareholders' meeting on September 15 is expected to give the green light to the IPO project, he added. According to the aggregate report for 2006, DOM Zdrave is the second biggest health insurance fund with a market share of 10%. Leader in the segment is Generali Zakrila Health Insurance, which holds 59% of the market. The premium income of the would-be public company amounted to BGN 2.329 million at the end of 2006. Source: Pari (01.08.2007) |
| | Bulgaria bourse, fin regulator move to restrict IPO oversubscription
Bulgaria's financial watchdog and the local stock exchange said they will be collaborating on a raft of measures to update IPO rules in a bid to prevent possible fallout from the massive oversubscription of local IPOs. The Financial Supervision Commission and the Bulgarian Stock Exchange have asked the market players for their input on the issue and the measures that should be taken. Tidal demand for local IPOs has recently way outstripped supply as evidenced by the bourse debuts of water bottling company Devin and IT outfit SBS whose shares were 11 and five times oversubscribed, respectively. In May, the Corporate Bank and First Investment Bank IPOs were 14 and six times oversubscribed. Market analysts said IPO oversubscription is facilitated by the lack of any requirement to deposit the funds needed to cover the share purchase with the respective investment broker prior to the IPO. Another factor for the IPO oversubscriptions is the ample financial resource at the disposal of the local and foreign institutional investors. The assets of the Bulgarian mutual funds topped BGN 500 mln by mid-2007, up from BGN 300 mln at end-2006. The Bulgarian bourse is expected to witness around 20 IPOs in 2007, excluding special purpose vehicles, up from just four in 2006. Local corporations have raised some BGN 300 mln from IPOs so far in 2007 with total oversubscription exceeding BGN 2.5 bln. Source: Dnevnik (01.08.2007) |
| | SFB Capital Market introduced its latest report on the development of the tailoring industry in Bulgaria during the first quarter of 2007. During the reviewed period the up-going output trend continued as compared to Q1 2006 figures the increase is by 19.5%. One of the most negative trends in the sector is that the import is outpacing the export. Pangea JSC Sofia is ranked as number one in the sector on market capitalization basis among all tailoring public companies. The overall liquidity of these companies though is rather low.
The production of Shirts and blouses holds the biggest share and continue to increase. In the export structure, the biggest share is for the Ladies or girls apparel.
For additional information and orders visit http://sfb.bia-bg.com Source: Company information (07.08.2007) |
| | The turnover of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) rose 20 per cent month-on-month to BGN 551 mln in Jul. UniCredit Bulbank accounted for almost half of the turnover, contributing BGN 258.7 mln in bourse transactions. Raiffeisenbank (Bulgaria) EAD was the runner-up with BGN 108.9 mln followed by the Balkan Advisory Company which thanks to clients like Swiss Julius Bear racked up BGN 94 mln in bourse transactions. The total market capitalisation added 9 per cent to BGN 22.6 bln in Jul. Source: Dnevnik (07.08.2007) |
| | The shareholders of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) decided in June to distribute BGN 0.2556 gross dividend per share for 2006. As a result the ministry of finance, which holds a 44-percent stake in BSE, will receive BGN 599,930. Dividend payments will start on August 20 and will continue three months. BSE posted BGN 1.667 million profit for 2006, down by nearly BGN 1 million compared to 2005. Source: Pari (09.08.2007) |
| | A very small part of Bulgarians are active participants in the capital market at this point. A mere 0.7% of adults in Bulgaria have purchased and presently own securities, the results of a survey conducted by Alpha Research show. The survey shows that the acquisition of securities is one of the least popular methods of investment in Bulgaria. Individuals with a monthly income of over BGN 200 are more inclined to investing in securities. Source: Pari (10.08.2007) |
| | The Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) said it will create three new indices in September. The new stock gauges will be launched from a base of 1,000 points. During trading sessions, they will be updated every five minutes. The BG TotalReturn 30 index (BG TR30) will have 30 components and will represent a correlation of their market capitalisation, trading volume, number of transactions in the past year and free float. All BG TR30 components will have an equal weight and should meet the following general requirements: market capitalisation of at least 10 mln levs and free float of at least 250,000 shares. At least 10% of the listed issue should be controlled by shareholders with less than 5% of the general meeting votes. As the name suggests, the BG-REIT index will track the performance of real estate investment trust stocks. The index value for each component will reflect its market capitalisation adjusted by the number of its free float shares. Index components should meet the following general requirements: minimum market capitalisation of 5 mln levs, transaction value of 1.5 mln levs or volume of 750 over the past year and 15% free float. The issue should also have been traded for at least three months. BG-REIT and BG TR30 will be reshuffled four times a year, in March, June, September and December. Source: Dnevnik (20.08.2007) |
| | AIG Investments (via its subsidiary - AIG Capital Partners, Inc.) acquired and purchased 90% of the Bulgarian telecommunication company (BTK) from Viva Ventures and some minor shareholders after receiving approval on behalf of EU and other regulatory bodies. Presently, BTK shares are traded on the Bulgarian stock Exchange. On May 3rd Novator and Viva signed an agreement with AIG Investors saying the latter obtained 65% of BTK as the purchaser was buying the shares for BGN 11.25 (EUR 5.75) each and the total sum that was paid came to BGN 2.112 billion (EUR 1.080 billion). Thus the total value and price of BTK came to BGN 3.249 billion (EUR 1.661 billion). After 2006 dividend of BGN 0.55 (EUR 0.28) per share was paid the price of a single share came to BGN 10.70 (EUR 5.47). Source: Zastrahovatel (21.08.2007) |
| | Eurohold Bulgaria has raised its stake in Formoplast to 87.28% through the acquisition of 38.41% in the Kardzhali-based plastic products maker. Eurohold also holds 1.21% of Formoplast's capital through connected persons. Eurohold's stock price appreciated by 0.17% to an average of BGN 6.00 per share on Tuesday. A total of 39,246 shares in the company changed hands on the day. Formoplast's stock price remained unchanged at BGN 19 per share after 104 shares in the company were traded on the day. Source: Pari (22.08.2007) |
| | Yarn, silk and cotton maker Sirma AD posted BGN 175,000 profit for the first half of 2006, compared to BGN 79,000 booked a year earlier. The net sales revenue of the company went up by slightly over BGN 200,000 to BGN 687,000. Sirma's business costs totalled BGN 660,000 in the first half of 2007, up from BGN 287,000 a year earlier. The financial costs of the Plovdiv-based company went down from BGN 118,000 to BGN 86,000. Veno Holding is the major shareholder in Sirma with a 46-percent stake. Sirma-99 owns 26% of the capital of the company, while 19% are held by a group of individuals. Sirma's stock was last traded on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange on August 1. The stock has appreciated by 15.56% over the last year to an average of BGN 1.56 per share. Source: Pari (23.08.2007) |
| | Animal health products maker Biovet posted BGN 52.163 million net sales for the first half of 2007, an increase of BGN 12 million, compared to the year-ago period. The strong result may be put down mainly to the increase in product sales, which rose from BGN 37.074 million to 49.194 million. The net profit of the Peshtera-based company, decreased from BGN 53,000 in the first half of 2006 to BGN 25,000 a year later. Business costs stood at BGN 51.346 million as at June 30, 2007, up by BGN 13 million year on year. Biovet's stock depreciated by 0.89% on Thursday to an average of BGN 16.77 per share. A total of 1,339 shares in the company changed hands on the day. Huvepharma is a majority shareholder in Biovet with a 75-percent stake. Source: Pari (24.08.2007) |
| | Bianor JSC booked H107 consolidated revenues of BGN 1.512 mln, reporting a 34-percent increase y/y, the company said. Companys consolidated profit for the first half of 2007 is BGN 215,000 or 14 percent more than a year earlier. Years 2007 and 2008 are investment periods for Bianor, but this shall not prevent keeping good rate of groups profit, said Kostadin Yordanov, Bianors CEO. Source: Monitor (24.08.2007) |
| | Bulgaria's Elana Trading will publish profiles and recommendations about companies listed on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange on Reuters' services, the company said. The investment intermediary, which is part of Elana Holding, has signed an agreement to deliver weekly and monthly market analyses, company profiles and other analyses of the Bulgarian financial sector to the international information agency. Elana Trading also provides business information to other leading agencies, such as Bloomberg and Bulgaria's See News. It prepares regular comments, daily and weekly bulletins about the financial markets and analyses intended for Bulgarian and international individual and institutional investors. Source: Pari (28.08.2007) |
| | The net sales of Bulgaria's Moststroy for the first half of 2007 went up to BGN 14.359 million, compared with BGN 7.843 million for the year-ago period, the construction company's consolidated report shows. The increase was mainly due to the jump in net product sales from BGN 7.374 million to BGN 13.622 million. That was the result of Moststroy's delivery of projects connected with the Trakia and Maritsa motorways, Nikola Tsokev of Postbank said. The company's business expenses rose to BGN 14.080 million for the first six months of 2007, compared with BGN 8.399 million a year earlier. Moststroy also managed to cut its loss by nearly 60.60% to BGN 364,000. For the year-ago period, the company netted a BGN 924,000 loss. Nevertheless, the price of the stock has risen by 600.52% for the past twelve months. Source: Pari (28.08.2007) |
| | The net profit of Bulgarian Holding Company (BHC) for the first half of 2007 jumped by BGN 5.5 million to BGN 6.962 million, the holding's consolidated report shows. The profit growth was due to revenue from operations in financial assets conducted by the subsidiaries, BHC said. Part of the revenue resulted from sale of financial assets by the parent company. At the same time the net sales revenue of the holding dropped to BGN 6.288 million from BGN 7.725 million for the year-ago period. Source: Pari (30.08.2007) |
| | Eurohold Bulgaria reported consolidated profit of BGN 6.211 million for the first six months of 2007. The consolidated revenue of the holding since the beginning of 2007 is BGN 91.360 million. The strong financial results may be put down to the synergy developed between the automobile and the financial units of the company. Eurohold Bulgaria's stock appreciated by 2.44% to an average of BGN 6.71 per share on Thursday. Source: Monitor (31.08.2007) |
| | The total number of indexes on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) will grow to four after the start of the BG REIT and BG Total Return 30 indexes as of the beginning of September. A total of 11 companies specialising in real estate investments will be included in the calculation of the BG REIT index. The names of the companies were announced in the middle of August. The BG TR30 index will feature the 30 companies with the highest return over the recent months. Secondary trade in shares of three the companies, which made the outgoing summer on BSE more interesting than usual, will start in September. Bianor and Specialised Business Systems (SBS) had their latest share issues entered into the public register by the Financial Supervision Commission (FSC). Devin AD is expected to follow suit soon, the FSC said. The starting date for the launch of the secondary trade in Bianor and SBS will by set by BSE's supervisory board. The board will also have to set starting dates for trade in the new shares of insurer Euroins, Industrial Capital Holding and Balkancar Zarya since the FSC has registered the changes in the capital of the companies. The new shares of Industrial Holding Bulgaria, Metizi, Energoremont Holding and Vinzavod Assenovgrad will also be offered for trade in the beginning of September. The forthcoming capital raise operations of Chimimport (BGN 130 to 150 million), Industrial Holding Bulgaria (BGN 26.254 to 43.757 million) and Sparki Eltos (BGN 14 to 16.8 million) will also attract investor interest to the BSE. Rights, issued as part of the capital raise of Chimimport, will be traded between September 10 and 21. No dates have been announced so far for the initial public offerings of new companies in September, but it is also possible that a boom of IPOs may be witnessed in October. We are working on the prospect for initial public offering of shares but I am not sure when our listing is going to be a fact, Stefan Genchev, production director at wide format printing company Billboard Ltd, told the Pari daily. The company, which has BGN 6 million capital, plans to issue 1.5 million shares. Stefan Genchev, production director, Billboard Source: Pari (31.08.2007) |
| | 0.05% of Bulgarias population is already dealing on BSE-Sofia via COBOS Internet platform. This means that one of 2000 Bulgarians has a certificate to use it. According to BSE, there were 3 639 active users by 31st August 230 users more compared with July. Source: Monitor (03.09.2007) |
| | The Bulgarian Stock Exchange starts calculating Sept 3 two new indices, BG TotalReturn 30 (BG TR30) and BG-REIT. BG TR30 will have 30 components and will represent a correlation of their market capitalisation, trading volume, number of transactions in the past year and free float. BG-REIT will track the performance of real estate investment trust stocks. The index value for each component will reflect its market capitalisation adjusted by the number of its free float shares. Source: Dnevnik (03.09.2007) |
| | Besttechnica TM - Radomir JSC reported an increase of 79.93 percent during the week to an average price of BGN 13.57 today, which makes the company the top company by shares increase in the wwek. The maximum price was reached in the last deal for the period BGN 18.58 per share. Source: investor.bg (03.09.2007) |
| | Industrial Capital Holding (ICH) posted BGN 584,000 net profit for the first half of 2007, a twofold decrease compared to the BGN 1.112 million profit booked for the year-ago period. The net sales revenue of the company has decreased slightly from BGN 4.698 million in the first half of 2006 to BGN 4.621 million in the first half of 2007. The product sales revenue of the company went up from BGN 3.678 million to BGN 4.103 million. The financial revenue of ICH went down from BGN 664,000 as at June 30, 2006 to BGN 147,000 a year later. The decrease may be put down to the revenue from dividend, which went down from BGN 507,000 in the first half of 2006 to zero in the first half of 2007. A group of individuals hold 55% of the capital of ICH. Industrial Credit Bulgaria is the second largest shareholder in the holding company with an 18-percent stake. ICH s stock has appreciated by 517.61% over the last year. The stock depreciated by 1.93% to BGN 10.66 per share on Monday. Source: Pari (04.09.2007) |
| | Synergon Holding is to launch the 2006 dividend distribution on September 15. The General meeting of the shareholders passed the pay out of gross dividend to the amount of BGN 0.0726 per share for the year 2006 (net dividend of BGN 0.067518 per share). All the shareholders having accounts opened at an investment intermediary will the paid the dividends by the respective investment intermediary, and the other shareholders in the offices of DSK Bank throughout the country. The dividends shall be distributed by December 15. Source: Monitor (04.09.2007) |
| | The new shares issued as part of the capital raise operations of Euro Ins, Industrial Capital Holding and Balkancar Zarya will be offered for trade on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) on Monday, September 10, 2007. The issues of the three companies were registered by BSE's management on Tuesday. At a general meeting in late June the shareholders of Euro Ins decided to raise the insurance company's capital from BGN 7.5 million to BGN 10 million by using part of the 2006 profit. Euro Ins's free float stands at 29.5%. Industrial Capital Holding's shareholders voted to increase the company's capital from BGN 1.944 million to BGN 7.776 million at the expense of its retained profit. The company has a free float of 55.82%. The capital of Pavlikeni-based Balkancar Zarya rose from BGN 165,257 to BGN 1.322 million following a decision of the general meeting. For the past one year the stock has appreciated by 1,775%, according to BSE information. Source: Pari (05.09.2007) |
| | Kaolin, Sparky Eltos and Euro Ins are the three new companies included in the blue-chip index of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE), Sofix. The changes were approved by BSE's management on Wednesday, September 5. Biovet and DZI insurance company were excluded from the blue-chip team. The Bulgarian Telecommunications Company (BTC) remains part of Sofix for the time being, though its new majority owner has announced plans to delist the company from the public register. After the changes, the number of companies in the index is now 17. These include Albena, BTC, Elana Agricultural Land Opportunity Fund, Industrial Holding Bulgaria, M+S Hydraulic, Monbat, Neochim, Orgachim, Petrol, Sopharma, Bulgarian-American Credit Bank, Central Cooperative Bank, Toplivo, Chimimport and the three new companies. On Wednesday, which was the last business day last week, Sparky Eltos closed at BGN 18.01 per share, up by 0.45%. Euro Ins rose by 0.46%, reaching BGN 17.37. But Kaolin's shares cheapened by 6.30%, closing the week at BGN 15.16. Source: Pari (10.09.2007) |
| | Sofia Stock Exchange Capitalization Hits 25 Billion Levs
On September 5, the total market capitalization of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange - Sofia grossed 25,2 billion levs (1euro=1.95levs). This is 48,2% of the expected GDP, finance experts say. At the end of December the market capitalization was 15,31 billion levs. The shares of twenty-eight new emitents have been registered for trading on the stock exchange since the beginning of the year; fifteen of them belong to special investment purpose companies. Twenty bonds emissions and the shares of seven agreement funds have also been registered at the stock exchange. The shares of 374 companies are traded in at the stock exchange, nineteen of them being on the official market. The overall turnover of BSE-Sofia as of September 5 is 7.06 billion levs, whereas for the whole 2006 it was 3.34 billion levs. Source: Standart (11.09.2007) |
| | Secondary trade in shares of IT companies Bianor and Specialised Business Systems (SBS) started on Monday on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE). Bianor's listing on BSE is part of the growth of the company, executive director Kostadin Yordanov said. The listing is not only a way to raise capital but it also improves the image of the company, Yodanov added. SBS and Bianor are not competing directly in the IT sector, according to Kiril Zhelyazkov, executive director of SBS. The listing of IT companies on BSE, however, is a signal that the sector is gaining momentum, Zhelyazkov added. A lot of companies from the IT sector will follow suit, according to Kostadin Yordanov. A total of 28 new issues were listed for trade on BSE including the issues of 15 special purpose vehicles. Other 20 corporate bond issues were also listed for trade, as well as the units of seven mutual funds. The total number of companies listed on BSE amounts to 374. Nineteen of them are traded on BSE's official market. The market capitalisation of the bourse stood at BGN 25.2 billion as at September 5, which represents 48.2% of the forecast GDP for 2007 and a 64.7-percent increase compared to the end of 2006. Source: Pari (11.09.2007) |
| | The CEO for Bianor, Mr Kostadin Yordanov, launched the secondary trading of the shares of the company at the BSE building. Mr Yordanov said that Bianor will continue being correct with the investment community as it has always been. I believe that will prove trustworthy and show that in Bulgaria the IT business is fast developing, added Mr Yordanov. The company registered 34% incomes growth for the first half of the year and 14% profit growth. Source: Zastrahovatel (11.09.2007) |
| | The auction offer of KBC Insurance Limited for DZI Insurance and Reinsurance Company is valid from Septemer 5th until October 2nd, announced from the Bulgarian Stock Exchange. The assigned investment agent is Bulbrokers. KBC owns 3 134 718 shares, i.e. 81.21% of the capital of the Bulgarian insurer. The auction offer is targeting shares counting 725 282, and the price for a single share is BGN 188.37. KBC has declared that when it is able to take DZI off the list of the public companies, it will. As INSURANCE.BG wrote the auction was approved by the Financial Supervision Commission. Source: Zastrahovatel (12.09.2007) |
| | The consolidated profit of Severcoop-Gamza Holding JSC for the first half of 2007 is BGN 2.693 m compared to a positive financial result of BGN 332,000 last year is shown by the consolidated profit and loss account presented to Bulgarian Stock Exchange - Sofia JSC. Total income of the groups sells is due to the accounted BGN 3.694 m other profit from sells compared to only BGN 464,000 last year. Those actually are the sells of long-term assets of the subsidiaries Emos JSC and Perun JSC. Source: Banker (24.09.2007) |
| | The sale of state-owned 44 percent of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) is to be postponed. In spite of the BSE representatives and investors have been insisting on BSEs privatization for a long time now, presently they stated that the sale-off is now put aside. The reason is that two of applicants for purchasing the local Stock Exchange have filed offers in the tender for trade platform. According to the chair of the Board of Directors of BSE Mr. Victor Papazov, some of the candidates for the state-own share were intending to sell it off later to bigger players. Source: Sega (25.09.2007) |
| | Bulgaria's household appliance retail chain, Zora, will probably get listed on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) in 2008, Georgi Milushev, managing partner of the company, said at the opening of a new outlet in Stara Zagora. The move may be completed in a few months and depends on the talks which are currently being held with several European companies. Several foreign investment funds and commercial chains, which are willing to set foot in Bulgaria, are interested in acquiring Zora, Plamen Stoykov, the other managing partner in the company, said. Zora's turnover is expected to exceed EUR 90 million for 2007, which would represent a 30% year on year increase. The strategy for the development of the company until 2010, which will be adopted by October 12, envisages at least 3.5-fold turnover increase and 7.3% market share. Source: Pari (25.09.2007) |
| | The Bulgarian market should open to foreign capitals. Their access to Bulgarian stocks should be cheaper and more efficient, the chairman of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) board of directors, Viktor Papazov, said at a conference in Sofia. We have received two proposals for a trading platform: from Deutsche Bourse and from Scandinavia's OMX. The choice of a possible strategic partner for the BSE is no longer connected with the need for a platform. The BSE already has enough free resources to invest in such a trading system, Papazyan added. Source: Pari (25.09.2007) |
| | Germany's Deutsche Borse Gruppe has taken the pole position for the upcoming privatisation of a 44% stake in the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) after clinching a deal to supply its Xetra electronic cash market trading system to its Sofia-based counterpart. The new trading system should be operational by the second quarter of 2008. The Xetra platform was chosen over the competing offering from Nordic exchange operator OMX which paves the way for a deal with Deutsche Borse for the state-owned BSE stake. BSE board chairman Viktor Papazov said the German offer was picked on its superior financial merits. Sources told Dnevnik the difference in the financial parameters of the Deutsche Borse and OMX offers was substantial but did not give further details. Papazov has been quoted as saying over the past couple of days that the supplier of the technical solution could be the strategic partner for BSE but not necessarily. In his view, the privatisation of the bourse is no longer a priority since it is now in a position to afford a new trading platform. Source: Dnevnik (26.09.2007) |
| | The number of users of the Bulgarian online stock trade system, COBOS, has reached a fresh peak of 3,964, including individuals and companies, statistical data of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange show. A total of 325 new registrations were made in September, increasing the total users by 8.93% compared with August. Karoll is leader in COBOS certificate sales with 995 clients. It is followed by Elana Trading (668 certificates) and Benchmark Finance (628). The substantial difference with the runner-up makes Karoll the most popular investment intermediary among small investors. Source: Pari (01.10.2007) |
| | Hellenic Exchanges, the holding company that controls the Greek spot and derivatives market, is still interested in the divestiture of the state-owned 44% in the Bulgarian Stock Exchange, Spyros Capralos, the chairman of Hellenic Exchanges and also the chairman of its subsidiary the Athens Exchange (ASE), tells Thomson Financial News in an exclusive interview. 'Initially the government was very keen on privatisation but since then the process has slowed, and just last week the management of the BSE chose to use the trading platform of the German stock exchange, which was disappointing. We are still interested because given the very strong presence of Greek banks and corporations in Bulgaria, since we feel that we too can also contribute very meaningfully to the financial services sector there.' A week ago, the BSE board picked Deutsche Boeorse's Xetra platform over a competing offering from Nordic exchanges operator OMX in a move that many observers said made the German stock exchange a shoe-in for the disposal of the state-owned BSE equity. Source: Dnevnik (04.10.2007) |
| | Vienna Stock Exchange keep ist interest in acquiring 44 percent of Bulgarian Stock Exchange, informed VSE. Globally, both stock exchanges are rather small, but very dynamic players in their sectors, and in case we cross our capitals we would act at the same level as equal partners, pointed out Heinrich Schaller, a member of VSE board of directors. The VSE owners are a stable structure 50 percent Austrian banks and 50 percent listed companies, and that grants the independence, because excludes the option of selling and change of owneership, he added. Source: Darik Radio (17.10.2007) |
| | The Vienna Stock Exchange will bid for the state-owned stake in the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE), it emerged from a press release published on the Austrian stock exchange. In the course of the privatisation process, the Vienna Stock Exchange is still interested in acquiring 44% of BSE. The two stock exchanges are small, but very dynamic and a future merger would make them equal partners, according to Heinrich Schaller, member of the management board of the Vienna Stock Exchange. The two stock exchanges will create synergy pretty fast, according to Schaller, as BSE has decided to purchase the Xetra trading system, which the Vienna Stock Exchange has been using since 1999. Candidate buyers continue to confirm their interest in BSE, even though it is unclear as to when the privatisation procedure will be launched. For the time being, the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) has pulled out of the race. The Athens Stock Exchange and OMX are still willing to bid for BSE. WSE is no longer interested in the Ljubljana Stock Exchange as well and has turned sight to the Romanian capital market. Source: Pari (17.10.2007) |
| | 3 S SOT, Bulgaria's biggest security company, said it plans to list on the local stock exchange. The company is undergoing an internal restructuring and consolidation, said executive director Boris Garvanov. 'Once the process is completed in 12 months, we intend to offer shares on the local bourse.' According to the website of the company, it provides centralised security services by means of technical equipment via monitoring-centers and vehicle patrols, bodyguard services, convoy of valuables and dangerous loads, delivery, installation and support of security systems. 3 S SOT, which posted sales of 27 mln levs in 2006, provides security services to 37,000 sites in over 600 population centers. The company operates a fleet of 300 vehicles and has a market share of around 21%. Source: Dnevnik (23.10.2007) |
| | The forthcoming absorption of EU funds for construction and repair of roads in Bulgaria results in the huge interest of investors at the stock-exchange in road construction companies. "Trace Group Hold" released at the stock-exchange 200,000 shares with a nominal value of 1 levs (1euro=1.95levs) and issuing value of 110,50 levs. The subscription of shares started last Friday. The preliminary data shows that the submitted orders amount to 32 billion levs, which is an oversubscription by 1480 times, informed investor.bg. This is much more than all layouts of Bulgaria's state budget planned for 2008. Recently, the shares of the construction companies of tycoon Vassil Bozhkov, Roads Holding and Moststroy started increasing in price. Source: Standart (29.10.2007) |
| | The Council of Directors of BSE-Sofia decided to take BTC off the SOFIX list. The change will be introduced on the first working day after the decision, i.e. November 7th. By October 29th the market capitalisation of the telecommunications company came to BGN 3 170 637 943. Another decision of the Council is that the stock exchange index is to be calculated in view of the last securities deal part of the basis formation of the respective index. The change will be introduced 14 days after the decision, i.e. November 14th. Source: Zastrahovatel (31.10.2007) |
| | The net assets of the native and foreign collective investment schemes was estimated at at least 1.24 bln levs by October 31, shows data reported to the Bulgarian financial regulator by the asset management companies. The net assets of the local mutual funds alone rose 12% month-on-month to 972 mln levs. In September, the investment schemes added 140 mln levs. Source: Dnevnik (05.11.2007) |
| | The major indexes of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) dipped slightly on Thursday. The Sofix blue-chip index slipped by 0.92% to 1,860.97 points. A total of eleven of the index's constituents closed down on the day. The BG40 index of the most trades stocks on BSE shed 0.69% of its value closing at 568.69 points. The BGTR30 index depreciated by 0.79% to 1,166.71 points. BGREIT was the only index to close Thursday's session with gains. The index advanced by 0.07% to 102.79 points. A total of 58,276 shares in Chimimport traded hands on Thursday. The stock depreciated by 2.48% to BGN 16.14 per share. Zlaten Lev Holding added 24.73% to its value closing at BGN 2.32 per share. Chimco's stock gained 4.17% to an average of BGN 0.25 per share. Sparky Eltos also closed the day on positive turf. The stock appreciated by 1.04% to BGN 16.6 per share. Grand Hotel Varna shed 16.81% of its value closing BGN 9.4 per share. Elhim Iskra was also among BSE's losers on Thursday. The stock depreciated by 1.88% to BGN 7.84 per share. Source: Pari (09.11.2007) |
| | Elana Agricultural Land Opportunity Fund REIT bought 234 400 decares of agricultural land as of the end of October, they announced from BSE Sofia. The medium purchase cost was BGN 198 per decare. At this very moment the lands, which Elana Agricultural Land Opportunity Fund REIT has acquitted, are distributed as it follows: Danube plane - 59 per cent, Dobrudzha and Ludogorie 19 per cent and Southeastern region 22 per cent Source: Dnevnik (09.11.2007) |
| | The Bulgarian pension funds are boosting their exposure to equities and overseas investments and shifting away from government securities, bonds and deposits, shows data released by the Bulgarian financial regulator for the January-September period. Around a third of the pension assets are invested in public corporations or collective investment schemes. The voluntary supplementary pension funds showed the biggest level of exposure as they face less restrictive rules for targeting these types of securities. The supplementary voluntary arms of CCB-Sila, Badeshte and Lukoil Garant have tied up more than half of their assets in equities and collective investment schemes, the biggest level among the supplementary voluntary funds. The universal and occupational pension divisions of the same companies, together with DSK-Rodina, are once again the biggest investors in equities and collective scheme on their respective segments. Source: Dnevnik (09.11.2007) |
| | Cash holdings account for at least 20% of the total assets of Bulgaria's mutual funds, show Dnevnik estimates based on financial data reported to the regulator by September 30. The funds listed on the Bulgarian bourse had some 210 mln levs cash in hand by end-September, up from around 140 mln levs by end-June. Some schemes keep more than 30% of their assets in cash, way above the law-prescribed 10%. Source: Dnevnik (12.11.2007) |
| | The plans of Bulgaria's finance ministry to cut the dividend tax from 7 to 5% from 2008 will have a positive impact on the capital market, a Pari daily's survey among brokers shows. Although that will have a minimum effect, it will be a good sign for the development of the stock exchange and trade. As a whole, most Bulgarian public companies do not have a consistent dividend policy and only a small part of investors will gain from that, Geno Tonev of Yug Market said. According to the chairman of the Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association, Vassil Velev, the lower tax is not of much importance for listed companies, because their ownership is dispersed. It is more important for them to decide whether or not to reinvest their profit. The tax reduction will have almost no effect, because it will be up to BGN 0.02 per BGN 1 of earnings, Nikola Tsokev of Postbank said. Dividend payment is not among the priorities of Bulgarian companies. This is clear from the fact that only 53 of 370 companies paid dividends last year. Most companies are at a stage where they need investment capital and are unlikely to allocate part of the earnings to shareholders, Konstantin Abrashev of BenchMark Finance said. However, that is not the case with special purpose vehicles, which are obliged by law to pay 90% of their operative profit as dividends, he added. Source: Pari (14.11.2007) |
| | The negative trend on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) since the beginning of November has cost investors more than BGN 1.5 billion. At the end of October BSE's capitalisation was a notch below BGN 30 billion. Two weeks later, the stock market was estimated at BGN 27.564 billion. An increase was registered in only three of ten sessions, the biggest of which was on Wednesday. On the first day of November, the blue-chip Sofix index was 1,934 points. Nevertheless, although the trading volume quadrupled and turnover exceeded BGN 30 million, BSE's leading index lost 0.97% of its value to 1,915.63 points. A look at the market statistics shows that a four-day decline is followed by a two-day rise. The first such period was until November 5, when Sofix lost 5.11% of its value. In the two days that followed, the blue-chip index increased by 1.77% to 1,878.24 points. The same pattern was repeated in the following five days, with Sofix falling by 7.37% to 1,743.43 points. The market's bullish performance on Wednesday, November 14, was mainly due to the orders made through the COBOS platform. Source: Pari (15.11.2007) |
| | Local real estate investment trust BenchMark Fund Estates said it has sold one more retail unit in a company-owned shopping center in Plovdiv for 1.2 mln euro without tax. This is the sixth outlet in the center with a new owner. The shopping center was put up for sale in early 2007. The REIT has so far sold 4,390 sq m of the center's retail floor area while another 1,758 sq m are still up for grabs, said executive director Veselin Genchev. Source: Dnevnik (15.11.2007) |
| | The value of the land property portfolio of local real estate investment trust Advance Terrafund is 64 mln levs, the company said in a filing with the Bulgarian bourse. Arable land accounts makes up the bulk of the portfolio with half of the stock located in the fertile North-eastern Bulgaria. The 21,050 ha of arable land in the REIT's portfolio was acquired at an average price of 2,150 levs/ha. Source: Dnevnik (16.11.2007) |
| | Three contractual funds managed by FFBH Asset Management and one run by Karoll Capital Management are set to make their market debut next week. According to their prospectuses, the high-risk FIB Avangard, the balanced FIB Classic and the low-risk FIB Garant will eventually be listed on the Bulgarian bourse but the respective decision has not yet been taken, said FFBH Asset Management executive director Nikolai Kostov. Karoll's Advance IPO Fund will debut Nov 23. It will target offerings of Central and East European public corporations. Source: Dnevnik (16.11.2007) |
| | Shares in the energy holding that Bulgaria will set up in 2008 will be listed on the Bulgarian bourse and on one of the foreign stock exchanges, Bulgarian energy minister Petar Dimitrov said on Monday. The holding will be created through the consolidation of the Maritsa Iztok mining company, thermal power plant Maritsa Iztok 2, nuclear power plant Kozloduy, national power grid operator NEK and Bulgargaz Holding. The initial plans were to consolidate into the holding structure first the power stations and the mines, then Bulgargaz telecom division Bulgartel and NEK's telecom operations and then the gas and electricity transmission operations. Source: Dnevnik (20.11.2007) |
| | Biser-Oliva JSC will come out on BSE with primary public offering of its shares. That became clear from an invitation for General meeting on December 21. The shareholders are to approve the obtaining of a public status. The amount of the present capital increase, which is BGN 7.36 mln according to DAXY register, and the issue price of the shares, are not known yet. Source: Dnevnik (21.11.2007) |
| | The Bulgarian stock exchange Tuesday notched up its biggest one-day decline for 2007 after the main indices slid by around 4%. The blue chip SOFIX fell 3.89% while the broader BG40 gave up 4.80%. This is the second sharp correction in the past week after the indices fell 2% to 3% last Tuesday. Market analysts remained unfazed despite the abrupt sell-off and the downward correction shaping the market in the past month. Source: Dnevnik (21.11.2007) |
| | Bulgarian company Interpred Partner, the maker of the Zebra brand of tissue products, is preparing to list on the local stock exchange, Dnevnik learned from Ivan Belianov, one of the main shareholders. The tentative time of the listing is February-March 2008. The IPO should raise 2-2.5 mln levs, depending on market sentiment, said Belianov. The proceeds will be invested in the expansion of the company's distribution and retail network, in the adoption of a uniform software platform and the development of new products. Source: Dnevnik (23.11.2007) |
| | The local Agria Group Holding reported earnings of 2.319 mln levs for January-September 2007, handsomely beating an earlier full-year earnings forecast of 1.758 mln levs. Sales topped 40.45 mln levs during the review period and should surge to 98.63 mln levs in 2012, said executive director Emil Raikov. Annual profit is seen rising to 9.97 mln levs in 2012. A presentation was held Thursday in connection with the group's upcoming IPO. Bids for the offering of 1.7 mln new shares will be accepted between November 29 and December 3. The bid range is fixed at 9 to 13 levs per share. Source: Dnevnik (23.11.2007) |
| | Enemona, the Bulgarian power engineering company, plans to bow out of the brewing business by the end of 2008. The planned pullout means Enemona will dispose of the 80% stake it controls in local beer maker Lomsko Pivo through subsidiary company Agroinvest Engineering. A step in that direction will be Thursday's offering of 900,000 Lomsko Pivo shares or 20% of the company. A press release by the Bulgarian Stock Exchange indicates that the minimum auction price is set at 3.50 levs. If the offering is bought out, the free float of the beer maker will increase to 40%. Source: Dnevnik (03.12.2007) |
| | Mart Bulgaria AD, the local distributor of vouchers and cards for prepaid mobile phone services, said it will list on the local stock exchange. The prospectus for the secondary public offering of the company will be submitted for review by the nation's financial regulator next week. A public offering of new shares is planned for 2008 to raise fresh cash for investment operations, said Momchil Avramov, board chairman and one of the principal shareholders. Source: Dnevnik (04.12.2007) |
| | Bulgarian River Shipping Corporation will buy new ships
The management of Bulgarian River Shipping Corporation will raise resources for the purchase of new ships, the Executive Director of the company Dragomir Kochanov announced for Dnevnik. Their financing should come from the capital increase of the company in the next five years. An extraordinary general meeting is to be held, BSE-Sofia announced yesterday. The shareholders must authorize the Managing board to continue increasing the capital, which is BGN 28.959 mln., until it reaches BGN 100 mln. Source: Dnevnik (04.12.2007) |
| | Trade on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) is becoming increasingly varied, as companies from different sectors are getting listed. Though financial intermediation and transport & communications accounted for more than two-thirds of the turnover for the past one year, their advantage has been steadily decreasing for the past three months. To a great extent that is due to the sale of the Bulgarian Telecommunications Company (BTC), which has the biggest capitalisation on the BSE. After the finalisation of the deal, only a small volume of shares remained for trade. For the past few months the trade volume of shares of companies dealing with financial intermediation has amounted to a touch above BGN 100 million a month. The only exception was in August, when the turnover exceeded BGN 700 million. The sector's excellent performance on the BSE is mainly due to banks. Two banks have been listed for trade on the BSE in 2007, a third one is expected to become public in early 2008. The stock turnover of companies operating in the processing industry increased from BGN 43 million in June to BGN 107.2 million in October. The trade volume of companies in the construction sector rose from BGN 5.8 million in June to BGN 36.1 million in October. Source: Pari (04.12.2007) |
| | The assets of the mutual funds on the Bulgarian market registered its first monthly decrease since the end of 2005. The correction of BSE Sofia and the Western markets took away about BGN 100 mln from the funds means in November, the monthly statistics of Dnevnik, made on the base of net asset value, according to the data, shown on the BSE, FSC and the companies itself, showed. The decrease is caused by decrease in the yield, as well as by the redemption of shares. Source: Dnevnik (04.12.2007) |
| | The market capitalisation of the stock exchange increased by 34.17% and achieved growth of 148.66% on an annual basis. Financial Brokerage made most of the capitalisation - 33.17%, while the real estate dealings made the highest free float percentage - 36.83%. Foreign participation was greatest in the sector of Manufacture from Non-metal Mineral Raw Materials - 99.29%, followed by the sector of Paper Manufacture, Polygraphy and Publication - 41.78%. Source: Zastrahovatel (05.12.2007) |
| | The indexes of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) sunk on Tuesday after having posted a strong start to the week. The BG40 index of the most traded stocks closed 3.34% down at 529.78 points to become the biggest loser on the day. The Sofix blue-chip index slipped by 1.81% to 1,744.93 points. The BGTR30 index of best performers in total return dipped by 2.27% closing at 1,105.03 points. The BGREIT index of real estate investment trusts closed 1.6% down at 101.6 points.
A total of 1,049,148 shares in Despred traded hands on Tuesday. The stock depreciated by 6.9% to BGN 8.1 per share. Maritzatex's stock price shot up by 28.83% to an average of BGN 15.46 per share. Belovo Paper Mill's stock advanced by 28.06% to an average of BGN 12.87 per share. Elana Agricultural Land Opportunity Fund also ended the day with gains. The stock of the company appreciated by 0.47% to an average of BGN 2.15 per share. The stock price of Unipak of Pavlikeni went up by 2.4% to an average of BGN 199.67 per share.
Kremikovtzi was BSE's biggest loser on Tuesday. The stock price of the steel mill depreciated by 13.18% to an average of BGN 20.69 per share. Moststroy's stock price went down by 6.12% to 2,466.77 per share. Bulgarska Roza Sevtopolis and Orgachim also closed Tuesday's session in negative territory. Source: Pari (05.12.2007) |
| | NEF Telecom Bulgaria, a unit of AIG Global Investment Group, will have to put on hold its plans to delist local telecom BTC after a tender offer failed to redeem the necessary stock from minority shareholders. The official results form the buyback indicate that the majority shareholder managed to repurchase only 3.9% of the capital. NEF Telecom is estimated to have increased its stake in the incumbent telco to 94% from 90% prior to the buyback. Source: Dnevnik (12.12.2007) |
| | The subscription for the IPO of Agria Group Holding JSC Varna was closed successfully, as all the offered 1 700 000 shares were recorded and paid, said the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE). The shares of the company to be trade freely on the BSE, will be 25% of its capital. It is expected the secondary trade to start on the BSE in the end of January, 2008. Source: Monitor (14.12.2007) |
| | Yesterday's unprecedented stock market crash nearly caused a heart attack to the Bulgarian stock market players. Within an hour alone stock prices of a lot of companies have plunged by averagely 10 percent. Moststroy PLC was the most unfortunate, as its stocks dropped by a whole 15 percent. Thus losses hit millions of levs. All players on the market raced wildly to sell their shares first, which gave an excellent chance to the big sharks to buy the low-priced stocks. What caused the hysteria was the news that Allianz's pension funds would withdraw through contractual funds some 40 or 50 million levs (1 euro = 1.95 levs) invested in stock, which is quite considerable a sum given that the turnover at the Bulgarian stock market would never exceed 5-6 million a day. As soon as the market opened doors at 9:30 a.m. this morning, 80% of the listed stocks began to tumble down. The situation resulted in a domino effect that took the rest of the companies down as well. They couldn't withstand the pressure and started selling as well. Thus almost every company lost 5 to 15 percent of its stock value. "There is no room for panic. Indeed, it was a heartrending situation for an hour, but then things turned back to normal," some of the players commented. Source: Standart (20.12.2007) |