Top Czech Business News - Prague Daily Monitor

Car maker Škoda Auto raised operating profit by 40.6% year-on-year to around CZK 5.9 billion in the first half of 2010, the company said yesterday.

Energetický a průmyslový holding (EPH) netted CZK 522 million on CZK 7.22 billion sales in 2009, revenues from sales of electricity, gas and heat at nearly CZK 4 billion, Lidovky.cz reported yesterday.

Education Minister Josef Dobeš (Public Affairs, VV) yesterday said he would not lower teachers' pay and therefore his ministry will save maximally CZK 1.5 billion by end-2010, a mere half of what it is supposed to save according to an austerity plan the government approved on Wednesday.

A total of 12,644 new companies were established in the Czech Republic in the first half of 2010, a year-on-year growth of 10%, according to data of Česká kapitálová informační agentura.

The planned cuts of CZK 17 billion in the budget of the State Fund for Transport Infrastructure next year and this year's revenue shortfall worth almost CZK 4 billion may result in halting of most transport infrastructure projects as of August, ministry spokesman Karel Hanzelka told ČTK yesterday.

The cabinet yesterday approved the freezing of expenditures of individual ministries worth CZK 10.2 billion, Prime Minister Petr Nečas told journalists after a cabinet meeting. Despite the opposition by Public Affairs (VV), a minor coalition partner, the center-right government approved the proposal by Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek (TOP 09) unanimously.

Nine largest shoe retailers saw their sales fall to CZK 6.3 billion last year from a record CZK 6.7 billion posted in 2008, according to TextilZurnal.

Insurance companies collected premiums worth CZK 76.4 billion in H1, up by 8.1% on the year, the Czech Insurers' Association told ČTK yesterday.

The number of self-employed people in the Czech Republic grew by 20,447 year-on-year to 977,623 in the first half of 2010, the Czech Social Security Administration (CSSZ) said yesterday.

The budget cuts Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek (TOP 09) requires from the Interior Ministry clash with the coalition agreement, Interior Minister Radek John (Public Affairs, VV) said yesterday.

Movie theaters reported record CZK 747 million sales in the first half of this year, CZK 195 million higher than a year earlier, and the number of cinema goers increased from 5.623 million to 6.608 million.

State-owned forest company Lesy České republiky raised gross profit to CZK 1.773 billion in the first half of this year from a CZK 55.6 million profit seen a year earlier, LČR Spokesman Zbyněk Boublík told ČTK yesterday.

The largest Czech telecommunications firm Telefonica O2's net profit fell by around a fourth to CZK 4.3 billion in H1 and revenues dropped by 7% to CZK 27.7 billion, according to analysts' estimates.

The number of foreigners with a business licence increased in the Czech Republic by nearly 6,000 on the year to 89,445 at the end of June and by around 1,700 compared to the end of last year.

Spending on food in the Czech Republic fell by CZK 359 per person year-on-year to CZK 22,212 on average owing to a drop in prices, according to a Report on the State of Agriculture for 2009.

The shopping gallery Galerie Butovice in Prague is the first outlet centre in the Czech Republic to have been forfeited to a bank, ING bank of the Netherlands, as the original owner failed to repay the loan, the daily Mladá fronta Dnes reported Friday.

The Finance Ministry will send out a proposal to ministries and other institutions financed by the state budget to cut their spendings, Lidové noviny reported Friday.

The Czech anti-trust office UOHS has uncovered the country's first case of a cartel within public tenders and imposed a 4.9-million-crown fine on five firms that sought orders from the Czech military, UOHS chairman Petr Rafaj told journalists Thursday.

Around 300 shopping centres of different sizes and formats have been operating in the Czech Republic, according to a survey conducted by the company Incoma GfK this year.

Further environmental commitments would threaten the competitiveness of the Czech economy, Environment Minister Pavel Drobil said on Thursday. The ministry is to radically change its position on European climate protection policy. Drobil said he would be "conservative" in the discussion on the possible lowering of the EU limit for CO2 emissions.