SLOVENIA
SBITOP lost less than half a percentage point
The index of the most important companies in Slovenia, the SBITOP index, lost almost half of a percentage point on Friday on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange. Among the shares of the index, Gorenje's shares fell the most, which fell 3.51 percent.
Jozef Kausich new CEO of Intesa Sanpaolo
At the head of Intesa Sanpaolo Jozef Kausich is the new CEO from February. He took over from Giancarla Mirando.
INTERNATIONAL MARKETS
Eurostat confirmed lower January inflation in the euro area
The inflation rate in the euro area reached 1.3 percent in January, which is 0.1 percentage point less than in December, according to the second assessment by the European Statistical Office Eurostat. In the EU, inflation was 1.6% in January, which is as well 0.1 percentage point less than in December. In Slovenia, it was 1.7%, which amounts to 0.6 pp lower inflation than in December.
The German budget last year with more than 36 billion euros of surplus
The German budget last year reached 36.6 billion euros of surplus, which is 1.8 billion less than the original estimate, according to a German news agency dpa. A high surplus was indicated already in the first half of the year.
SERBIA
NIIS: NIS rescheduled earnings report for 1st March
NIS (NIIS), integrated oil&gas company, announced that it will delay presentation of earnings report for 1st March, on 14:30h. Initial date was on Tuesday, 27th February, after the market close. We expected the company’s net profit for FY 2017 to recover near 2014 level, which implies amount of around RSD 25-26bn, up 78% y/y. The company expects to see it in a similar range - RSD 23 to 24bn. The recovery in net profit arrives on the back of higher crude oil price and good cost control at the company.
Source: NIS, Ilirika
KMBN: Komercijalna Banka reported RSD 7.18bn in 2017 pre-tax profit
In 2017 Komercijalna Banka (KMBN) reported a profit before tax of seven billion and 187 million dinars, about 61 million EUR. Net profit for the same period amounted to RSD 8.1bn, including over RSD 1bn in tax gain. The result is better versus RSD 8bn loss form 2016. As stated by the bank, realized profit is a result of improved quality of loan portfolio, resolved issue of bad loans from the past, in accordance with a new regulatory framework, increase in operating profitability in every-day business, cost-cutting measures and improvement of efficiency. Management expects good performance for this year as well.
Source: KMBN, Ilirika
NBS: Annual inflation in January at 1.9%
According to the Serbian Statistical Office, consumer price growth equaled 0.3% in January 2018. Monthly inflation movements were mostly affected by the seasonal decline in the prices of clothes and footwear, and the rise in the prices of fresh vegetables, cable TV services, travel packages and petroleum products. Annual inflation in January fell to 1.9%, mainly due to the high base on account of one-off price hikes of certain products early last year (fruit and vegetables, cigarettes and energy). Core inflation (consumer price index excluding food, energy, alcohol and cigarettes) also fell in January, to 1.2% y-o-y, its new historic low.
Source: NBS
