Business News

In this week’s Business News: confidence slips for second month in row; retail rental prices flat or declining; Tesco to temp internet shoppers in Prague; PSE gets international upgrade; and Škoda Auto unveils 10 year production plan.

Confidence slips for second month in September

Photo: Štěpánka Budková

Czech economic confidence slipped slightly in September for a second month in a row. The overall confidence indicator slipped to 91.7 points from 92.5 points in August. Confidence had been growing steadily throughout the year until it fell for the first time in August. The index stood at 78.8 points in September 2009.

High street rental charges start to slide

Good news for those shopping for a top high street retail location in the Czech capital: Prague retail rents have fallen to 27th place in a global ranking this year from 22nd in 2009. The survey by international real estate consultants Cushman & Wakefield still puts Prague as the most expensive retail rental location among the four former Soviet bloc countries in Central Europe. Prague rents are almost twice those of Warsaw and four times as much as Bratislava. The consultant’s expert for city centre rents and leases says companies are no longer willing to pay through the nose for top sites in Prague. But he says there are still many big retailers lining up to get a foothold in the capital.

Tesco to roll out Internet shopping in Prague

But the country’s third biggest retailer Tesco says it wants to launch Internet sales in Prague next year. The Czech capital has been targeted for the Internet experiment in 2011 alongside Shanghai and Poland. Internet sales have already been a hit in Britain where online sales grew 14 percent so far this year. Sales of food, clothes, as well as music and film downloads are offered by Tesco there. Tesco operates 140 outlets in the Czech Republic, 14 years after entering the market.

Prague Stock Exchange joins ranks of ‘advanced emerging’ markets

It has been a pretty uneventful year for the Prague stock exchange with no major new listings and much talked about initial public offerings still where they’ve been for a while ― in the pipeline. But one piece of good news has come the exchange’s way this week in the form of an upgrade in the exchange’s rating by international index creator and marketplace evaluation company FTSE. The company has upgraded Prague from a ‘secondary emerging’ to an ‘advanced emerging’ market along with Turkey and Malaysia. The markets rating agency said this was a reward for changes in investment practices and regulations.

Škoda Auto rolls out ambitious expansion plan

The new head of Škoda Auto has rolled out the target of doubling annual production to 1.5 million cars within 10 years. The biggest Czech car maker is expecting to produce 750,000 this year at domestic and foreign plants and sell 770,000 cars. Board chairman Winfried Vahrland says increased production is needed to keep pace with sharply rising demand in countries such as China, India and Russia. He says some of the new Škoda production should be sited in these countries. The expansion road map also sees the Czech carmaker coming up with new models such as a small utility vehicle.