Business News

In Business News this week: Bulgarian competition watchdog accuses Energo Pro of abusing dominant position on market; Pig breeding in severe crisis; Minister for Foreign Affairs says staffing to be boosted to deal with Ukrainian job seekers; New World Resources fails to announce first quarter results; Seznam hits new turnover and profit figures.

Bulgarian competition watchdog accuses Energo Pro of abusing dominant position on market

Photo: European Commission

Bulgaria's competition watchdog has accused the Czech power distributor Energo Pro of abusing its dominant position in the electricity market. The Commission for Protection of Competition said that Energo Pro's refusal to sign a long-term contract to purchase electricity generated from renewable sources at a price set by Bulgaria's energy regulator was unjustified. Earlier this week the commission also accused the local unit of the Czech power utility CEZ of abusing its dominant position and acting against the interests of consumers.

Pig breeding in severe crisis

Pig breeding in southern Moravia is reported to be down by 11 percent in the first quarter, according to the Czech Statistics Office. Pig breeding has suffered a serious setback due to severe competition within the EU, low meat prices and the Russian embargo. Pig farms around the country have been reducing animal numbers and are now only able to cover half of the country’s port consumption.

Minister for Foreign Affairs says staffing to be boosted to deal with Ukrainian job seekers

Photo: suphakit73 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Minister for Foreign Affairs Lubomír Zaoralek has said that officials will this year be able to process around 5,000 Ukrainians seeking jobs in the Czech Republic. The minister said staff at the consulate in Lvov would be boosted in the next weeks and officials would also be added in Prague so that visa applications and other procedures could be dealt with. Around 5,000 applications from workers, around four times the total for last year, could be handled in 2016, he added. Employers have criticized the slow pace at which Ukrainians are being brought into the Czech Republic to fill jobs since a new programme was introduced in November last year. The Ministry of Industry and Trade last week said 69 Ukrainians were involved in the new project and 40 had or were in the process of getting work permits as a result.

New World Resources fails to announce first quarter results

New World Resources (NWR) said Wednesday that it is not in a position to announce first quarter results. The results were due to be announced on May 18. NWR, the biggest shareholder in the Czech hard coal mining company, OKD, said results could not be made public as planned due to the filing for insolvency made last week for the mining company. Trading of NWR shares have been suspended on London, Prague, and Warsaw exchanges. An insolvency manager for the mining company, which employs around 10,000 in the Moravia-Silesia region, has already been appointed.

Seznam hits new turnover and profit figures

Photo: Kristýna Maková

Turnover and profit for the Czech Republic’s biggest Internet search engine company Seznam rose by around 10 percent last year. Turnover climbed by 9.0 percent to 3.41 billion crowns and profit before tax by 10 percent to 1.25 billion compared with 2014. Both figures are new records. Income related to Seznam’s search related ads was up more than 20 percent year-on-year. Those ads represent around 40 percent of the company’s overall ad income.