The companies for production of ice-cream, chocolate and diary products insist the regime for import of dry milk from the EU to be lightened, because it is the main raw material for their products. The customs conditions and quotas for this year will significantly increase the prime cost of the products and this will reflect to the end consumers' price, and also will decrease the exported quantities, stated from the companies. This will mainly hit the "big players" on the market, among which are Delta, Nestle, Kraft Foods, Danone, etc. When the companies import raw material from EU and third countries they have granted tariff quota of 3 thous. tons for which they pay no customs duty. The alleviation, however, will operate from July 1, 2005, and the quota for the period July 2004 - June 2005 has already been used in the autumn of the last year. Through the rest time, the customs duty is 64 per cent of the imported raw material. This significantly raises the cost of the Bulgarian production and makes it not-competitive.
Source: Dnevnik (13.01.2005)

NSSI announced the top 20 most loyal employers with a personnel of 500 to 1000 people for 2004, insuring a total of 39 148 men with an average insuring income of BGN 562. The company is included in the list.
Source: Other (08.02.2005)

Kraft Foods Bulgaria will invest BGN 1 mln in the production at its factory in Svoge, near Sofia, of chocolate products for export to Scandinavia, Mr. Christoph Wenisch, executive director of the company, said. The goods will be shipped in the second half of 2005 with annual target set at 500 tons. Kraft Foods Bulgaria said advertising and marketing spending will increase by 25 per cent in 2005. The company spent BGN 6.9 mln on TV ads last year to rank as the nation's no.6 media-buyer, shows data of TNS/TV Plan.
Source: Dnevnik (22.02.2005)

Top 50 of the biggest TV advertisers for 2004 ¹ Advertiser Budget Media Agency Ad agency 1 Procter&Gamble 21 242 380 MediaSZenith Grey Worldwide, Ideo Saatchi & Saatchi 2 Coca-Cola Company 10 275 520 Zenith Advertising and Communications McCann Erickson, Noble Graphics Creative Studio (Cappy) 3 Unilever 9 025 378 Ogilvy&Mather (MindShare) Lowe Swing, Ogilvy&Mather (Êàëèàêðà, Dove) 4 Nestle 8 149 189 Huts/Spot Thompson, Universal McCann DDB Sofia, Huts/Spot Thompson, McCann Erickson 5 Wrigley's 7 297 027 Graffiti BBDO Graffiti BBDO 6 Kraft Jacobs Suchard 6 903 153 Ogilvy&Mather (MindShare) Huts/Spot Thompson, Ogilvy&Mather 7 Golden Brayan (Lepten Gold) 6 173 438 8 Mtel 5 897 292 Marketing communication, Argenta Demner, Merlicek&Bergmann 9 Brewinvest 5 849 143 Graffiti BBDO, Huts/Spot Thompson, Ogilvy&Mather (Zagorka, Ariana) Graffiti BBDO, Huts/Spot Thompson 10 Henkel 5 520 428 DDB Sofia DDB Sofia, Graffiti BBDO, TBWA\ Sofia 11 Ficosota Syntez 4 970 075 OptiMedia Bulgaria K+K advertising è marketing 12 Vinprom - Peshtera 4 693 035 MediaSZenith Euro RSCG Sofia (Black ram, 6-th Sence), Huts/Spot Thompson, NewMomentNewIdeas, Ogilvy&Mather (Persona), TBWA\Sofia 13 Globul 4 615 093 SUN Media Fresh Club Advertising, MAG Adveretising, Noble Graphics Creative Studio (b-connect) 14 SIS Industries 4 382 658 Directly DDB Sofia, Lowe Swing (Savoy Golden Club Whisky), Noble Graphics Creative Studio, Ogilvy&Mather (Karnobatska grozdova) 15 Carlsberg (Shumensko, Pirinsko) 3 518 033 Zenith Advertising and Communications Publicis MARC Advertising (Pirinsko), Noble Graphics Creative Studio (Øóìåíñêî) 16 Interbrew 3 450 446 Universal McCann Euro RSCG Sofia (Kamenitza), Lowe Swing 17 Danone 3 466 172 The Champions/Y&R Euro RSCG Sofia, The Champions/Y&R 18 Germanos 2 931 369 DDB Sofia DDB Sofia 19 Beiersdorf 2 527 190 Piero 97 Cress, TBWA\ Sofia 20 SC Johnson 2 484 396 Mediamark/ZenithOptimedia 21 Berlin Chemie 2 401 455 Ogilvy&Mather (MindShare) 22 Colgate Palmolive 2 237 982 Argent, Marketing communications 23 Laboratoires Garnier 2 223 132 Mediamark/ZenithOptimedia Publicis MARC Advertising 24 Allianz Bulgaria Holding 2 011 387 Graffiti BBDO Graffiti BBDO 25 Chipita Bulgaria 1 701 405 DDB Sofia Huts/Spot Thompson 26 Glaxo SmithKline 1 665 346 OptiMedia Bulgaria, Universal McCann Grey Worldwide, K+K Advertising and marketing, Ogilvy&Mather (Panadol) 27 First Investment Bank1 650 880 Marketing communications Grey Worldwide, KIWI Advertising, Ogilvy&Mather 28 DZI/ Roseximbank 1 540 325 Directly TBWA\ Sofia 29 Aroma 1 527 822 The Champions/Y&R The Champions /Y&R 30 Clairol 1 457 598 MediaSZenith Leo Burnett Sofia 31 Master Foods 1 410 198 Grey Worldwide Graffiti BBDO, TBWA\Sofia 32 Diltour 1 399 094 Ogilvy&Mather (MindShare) N/A 33 Agrima Holding 1 396 913 Graffiti BBDO Graffiti BBDO 34 Rubella 1 300 820 Zenith Advertising and Communications 35 Ficosota 1 203 150 OptiMedia Bulgaria K+K Advertising and Marketing 36 Schwarzkopf 1 174 482 DDB Sofia DDB Sofia, TBWA\Sofia 37 Gillette 1 110 959 Ogilvy&Mather (MindShare) Ogilvy&Mather 38 Bank DSK 1 067 627 Business Data/FCB, Mediamark/ZenithOptimedia Mediamark, Interpartners, Publicis MARC Advertising 39 Stambouli 1 059 612 Piero 97 Cress 40 BTC 1 033 679 MediaSZenith NewMomentNewIdeas 41 Ellite Bulgaria 965 244 Directly, Argenta N/A 42 Maccar 952 237 Directly N/A 43 Ricochet 925 605 Argent, Marketing communicatios 44 Allied Domecq 917 918 Mediamark/ZenithOptimedia, Ogilvy&Mather (Tullamore Dew) Euro RSCG Sofia (Finlandia), Publicis MARC Advertising (Ballantine's), Ogilvy&Mather (Tullamore Dew) 45 McDonald's 912 427 DDB Sofia DDB Sofia 46 Alexandra Films 889 414 Directly, Piero 97 N/A 47 Sinhron Invest 868 596 SUN Media N/A 48 L`Oreal 806 011 Universal McCann McCann Erickson 49 The Boots Company Pls. 786 813 McCann Erickson McCann Erickson 50 Sarantis Bulgaria 782 956 Marketing communication N/A
Source: Capital (12.03.2005)

The National Social Security Institute announced the list of the first quarter of 2005 top 50 most loyal employers with a personnel of 500 to 1000 people, insuring a total of 39,278 people with an average insurance income of BGN 575. The company is included in the list.
Source: Other (09.05.2005)

Information of the top 50 most loyal employers with an average personnel of 500 to 1000 people, insuring a total of 38,668 employees with an average month income of BGN 602. The information is for the first half of 2005. The company is included in the list. 1 Umicore Med JSC - Pirdop 35 Hydraulic Elements and Systems JSC - Yambol 36 Heat Supply-Rousse SPJSC - Rousse 44 Stamboliyski Paper Factory JSC - Stamboliyski
Source: Other (08.08.2005)

Bulgarian exports to USA surpass imports The current trade regime between Bulgaria and USA is regulated by the Agreement on Trade Relations Between the United States of America and Bulgaria (1991), according to which the two parties receive the better of national treatment or most-favored-nation (MFN) treatment, by the Generalized System of Preferences – GSP) and by the Agreement on WTO. A treaty concerning the encouragement and reciprocal protection of investment exists between Bulgaria and USA. This treaty was updated in 2004 through one additional article – with a view of Bulgaria’s forthcoming EU accession. According to data by the Ministry of Economy, the bilateral trade between Bulgaria and USA in 2004 total USD 763.5 mln, which represents a growth of 18.5 per cent y/y. The balance is positive and total USD 116.7 mln, which represents a growth of 100.3 per cent. Bulgaria exports to the US mainly textile and clothing, iron and steel, tobacco, mineral oils, furniture. Imports consist mainly of oil, appliances, tobacco products. Over the period 199202003, USA was ranked ninth by foreign direct investments in Bulgaria worth a total of USD 345.5 mln. The biggest US investors in Bulgaria are American Standard (producer of sanitary faience), Aliko (Post bank), Kraft Foods (chocolate factory in Svoge), McDonalds, Seaboard Overseas (Vinprom-Rousse), News Incorporated, etc. The inflow of tourists from the USA has increased over the period 1996-2003 – from 7135 to 31 126 people. In 2004, a new rise in the number of US tourists was registered. Their number reached 56 951. Since 1995, an American Chamber of Commerce has been functioning in Bulgaria. It has more than 200 corporate members. Since November 1991, the Bulgarian American Investment Fund (BAIF) has been functioning in our country. It was established by the virtue of the Law on Support of Democracies in Eastern Europe. The fund has a capital of USD 57 mln. In 1006, BAIF created the Bulgarian American Credit Bank (BACB). So far, BAIF and BACB have invested over USD 70 mln on almost the whole territory of Bulgaria, mainly in tourism and SMEs.
Source: Sega (17.10.2005)

The National Social Security Institute's Top 50 of the most law-abiding employers with personnel between 500 - 1000 employees, insuring a total of 38 244 people with average insurance income of BGN 608 during January-September 2005. The company is included in the list. 1. Umicore Med JSC - Pirdop 34. Heat Supply-Rousse SPJSC - Rousse 43 Stamboliyski Paper Factory JSC - Stamboliyski 40 Hydraulic Elements and Systems JSC - Yambol
Source: Other (24.11.2005)