Summary of economic news released by SITA on June 6
Gas Storage Company Nafta Increased its Sales in 2005
Natural gas storage company Nafta, a.s. closed last year with a taxed profit of SKK 1.26 billion according to Slovak accounting standards, while the taxed profit was SKK 489 million in 2004. "The company benefited from a positive development of prices on the crude oil and gas market," said the company. The firm posted sales of SKK 3.5 billion in 2005, which is up nearly 24 percent. The company further informed that on Monday shareholders decided on payment of SKK 1.12 billion from the profit in dividends, which is 89 percent of last year's profit. Shareholders will thus get a dividend of SKK 134.5 per share, the company representatives informed SITA.
ZIPP Construction Company Plans a Profit of SKK 300 Mln. in 2006
Construction company ZIPP Bratislava, s.r.o plans to earn a profit of SKK 300 million this year. Total revenues should amount to SKK 6.3 billion and total costs should reach SKK 6 billion. The company posted a profit of SKK 388.8 million last year on total revenues of SKK 6.256 billion and total costs of SKK 5.837 billion.
CSOB Poistovna Insurer Closes Last Year SKK 217.1 Mln. in the Red
CSOB Poistovna insurance company closed last year SKK 217.1 million in the red. It also ended in negative territory in 2004, when it showed a loss of SKK 103.3 million. The company representatives ascribe worsened result to the mandatory car liability insurance campaign from the autumn of 2004. The company also expects its economic results to worsen this year. "After an agreement with our shareholders, we covered these losses by increasing share capital by SKK 388 million last May to the current SKK 838 million," head of the company's marketing department Radovan Kohut told SITA.
Brewery Pivovar Saris Ends Year 2005/2006 SKK 19 Mln. in the Red
Pivovar Saris brewery, a member of the SAB Miller group, reported sales of SKK 2.213 billion in the past fiscal year ending on March 31, 2006. The company thus managed to boost sales by 17 percent y/y. Despite higher sales, the brewery made a loss of SKK 19 million in the monitored period. The company representatives ascribe the negative financial result chiefly to increased capital investments and tough conditions on the Slovak beer market. Pivovar Saris invested SKK 162.3 million in the past financial year.
Projects Requesting SKK 65.55 Bln. in EU Co-Funding Passed by June 5
The volume of approved applications for the European Union's (EU) structural fund support reached SKK 65.549 billion up to June 5. These applications relate to 3,872 projects. The Ministry of Construction and Regional Development received 11,685 applications from Slovak entities amounting to SKK 193.375 billion. Contracts worth SKK 50.242 billion in 2,992 projects were signed and the value of 2,590 projects being implemented is SKK 43.325 billion, reads a structural fund report released by the Construction Ministry.
Welding Operations Services to Get Investment Incentives in Slovakia
Welding Operations Services Slovakia, s.r.o., Nitra could receive investment incentives of SKK 46.9 million from the government. This stems from a proposal to provide investment stimuli elaborated by the Economy Ministry. State aid comes from regional aid in the form of tax relief on corporate income tax.
SkyEurope Airlines Reports Capacity Use Drop in May
Slovak low-cost airline SkyEurope Airlines transported 216,246 passengers in May, up 44.2 percent y/y, which is a 6.6-percent increase from April. Capacity use however worsened by 8.8 percentage points y/y to 70.5 percent. The company explained that behind the drop lies a reduction in irregular flights and a large increase in usable capacity. The carrier registered 66.8-percent growth in the number of transported passengers to 2.172 million people and a 2.6-percentage points improvement in capacity use to 76.2 percent in the last twelve months including May this year.
Rolling Stock Firm ZOS Trnava with SKK 2.442 Bln. Sales Last Year
ZOS Trnava, a.s., a company engaged in maintenance, repair, and manufacturing of rolling stock, reported sales of SKK 2.442 billion for last year, which is a decrease of 13.1 percent y/y. Production costs amounted to SKK 2.015 billion, representing a y/y drop of 7.9 percent. The firm generated added value of SKK 675.2 million in the monitored period, down SKK 105.7 million y/y.
Kia Launches Second Phase of Recruitment for its Zilina Plant
Korean carmaker Kia Motors Slovakia is starting to recruit operators and supervisors for the second shift in its Zilina-based car assembly plant. Kia Motors Slovakia spokesman Dusan Dvorak informed SITA that Kia will create additional 700 jobs from June and wants to employ up to 2,000 people in its Zilina plant by the end of December. Labor force recruitment for the first shift was concluded in April and Kia currently employs over 1,200 people.
Industrial Output Growth to Slow Down, Following Record March
Results of a survey carried out by SITA news agency show market analysts expect year-on-year industrial output growth from 7.1 percent to 9.8 percent for April. This would mean a deceleration following a record 15.3 percent growth reported in March. "Despite this industrial output should retain an above-average growth rate, driven chiefly by the revitalization of transport means production," said UniBanka analyst Lubomir Korsnak. However, the anticipated deceleration of the year-on-year growth of industrial output is partly a consequence of the [comparative] base effect.
INVESTING: Net Sales of Mutual Fund in the Red Again Last Week
Net sales of open-end mutual funds in Slovakia closed in the red again last week. The Slovak Asset Management Companies Association (SASS) reported that investors withdrew almost SKK 62.5 million on the whole. Bond funds again registered the biggest outflow of funds, when investors withdrew SKK 481.3 million. An additional SKK 319.2 million left from money market funds. Master funds still attract the biggest interest reporting SKK 460.7 million net sales. Equity funds posted net sales at SKK 207.5 million.
MONEY MARKET: Banks Deposit SKK 288 Bln. in Two-Week Repo Tender
Bank bids in the regular two-week repo tender of the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS) on Tuesday totaled SKK 288.28 billion. VUB Banka dealer Andrej Ungvarsky told SITA that the central bank accepted them all. The minimum interest rate was 3.99 percent p.a., the average and ceiling rate in the repo amounted to 4.0 percent p.a. Although SKK 252.095 billion from the maturing sterilization will return to the market on Wednesday, the market should remain in a liquidity surplus and deposit prices should stay above the level of the one-day sterilization rate of the NBS, said Mr. Ungvarsky.
STOCK MARKET: BCPB Gains 0.26 Pct. to 384.35 Points on Tuesday
The Bratislava Stock Exchange (BCPB) strengthened moderately on Tuesday. Shares of Slovak crude oil refiner Slovnaft and VUB bank pushed up the official SAX share index by 0.26 percent or 0.99 points to 384.35 points. Turnover on the BCPB amounted to SKK 15.873 billion compared to SKK 815.243 million on Monday due to direct transfers of government bonds with only SKK 1.334 million in share trading.
FOREX MARKET: Crown Moves in Narrow Band on Tuesday
Trading on the FOREX market was calm on Tuesday, while the exchange rate of the Slovak crown against its referential currency the euro moved in a narrow band of less than ten hallers. Slovenska Sporitelna dealer Vladimir Gajdos stated that the crown opened at 37.730/37.750 SKK/EUR and the exchange rate stood at 37.760/37.780 SKK/EUR before the close of trading. Other regional currencies strengthened moderately, but the Slovak crown didn't respond significantly, said the dealer. The market also failed to respond to news of Vladimir Tvaroska not being appointed as the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS) vice governor. The dealer deems this news of insufficient significance to move the crown's exchange rate.
INVESTING: Pension Fund Assets at Almost SKK 16 Bln. Last Week
The net value of policyholders' assets in six licensed pension fund management companies in Slovakia (DSS) represented SKK 15.96 billion as of June 2. The value of assets in pension funds managed by six DSS increased by SKK 283.6 million week-on-week. Over SKK 10.38 billion was in growth funds, almost SKK 4.9 billion in balanced funds and SKK 681.7 million in conservative funds as of Friday, June 2.