Top Czech Business News - Prague Daily Monitor

The government will appoint Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek as the country's governor in the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) next Wednesday, according to a material for the cabinet meeting.

A group of companies Penta Investments and Zátiší Catering Group have won a tender for debt clearance at the Congress Centre (KCP) in Prague, deputy mayor Milan Richter told journalists after a meeting of the KCP board.

Power producer ČEZ has bought 25% of Poland's black-coal fired power plant Elektrocieplownia Elcho, becoming its full owner, the company said on its website yesterday.

The value of investments the Czech Republic received through the CzechInvest agency fell to CZK 7 billion in H1 2010 against CZK 10.5 billion a year ago.

Waste generation decreased by 6.3% to 24.2 million tonnes last year, the volume of dangerous waste remained almost unchanged at 1.51 million tonnes but its share of total output rose from 5.9 to 6.2%, according to data of the Czech Statistical Office.

The Transport Ministry was wasting money on a number of useless and overpriced services, including purchase of furry teddy bears and flower watering, daily Mladá fronta Dnes reported yesterday.

Agricultural trade deficit deepened to CZK 16.6 billion in H1 this year and the year-on-year increase amounted to CZK 1.3 billion, according to data of the Czech Agricultural Association.

Developer ECM Real Estates Investments deepened its loss to EUR 41.1 million (around CZK 1.03 billion) in H1 against a loss of EUR 18.6 million in the same period a year ago, the firm said yesterday.

Building societies signed almost 293,000 new contracts on home-building savings with clients in the first half of this year, a year-on-year growth of around 12,000, the Finance Ministry announced on its website.

The Czech Republic is a heaven for non-transparent firms, the daily Lidové noviny reported yesterday.

The number of private pension insurance clients in the Czech Republic grew to 4.47 million in H1, up by 80,000 against the end of 2009, the Finance Ministry said yesterday.

Penzijní fond České pojištovny, the largest pension fund by client numbers, saw H1 profit soar by 116% on the year to CZK 557 million and assets managed by the fund rose by 12% to CZK 52.2 billion at end-June, the fund told ČTK yesterday.

Fortuna Entertainment Group, the biggest betting operator in central Europe, generated EUR 192 million (CZK 4.76 billion) revenues in H1 this year, up 12% on the year.

Jiří Švorc is new CEO of Roads and Motorways Directorate, replacing Alfred Brunclík who was removed from the post yesterday, Transport Minister Vít Barta announced.

Confidence in the Czech economy decreased by 0.8 point in August on the month, the composite confidence indicator 16.3 points higher compared to a low comparative base in Aug 2009, the Czech Statistical Office (CSU) said yesterday.

Alternative power suppliers acquired tens of thousands of new clients in the Czech Republic in H1, as many people turned away from main players on the market such as ČEZ, Pražská energetika and E.ON.

The Finance Ministry wants to issue state bonds worth CZK 148.2 billion to cover most of last year's state budget deficit, according to a draft bill the ministry submitted for comment procedure last week.

Developer Orco most likely got out of loss in Q2 this year, its net profit reaching about EUR 66.8 million, according to analysts polled by ČTK yesterday.

Analysts polled by ČTK expect the mining firm New World Resources, owner of Czech black-coal miner OKD, to return to profit in Q2.

Fuel prices at Czech gas stations continued to drop in the past week, with the average price of top-selling petrol Natural 95 down by 4 hellers at CZK 31.60 a litre and the price of diesel-oil down by 8 hellers at CZK 30.57 per litre on Sunday, according to data of the CCS company.