SLOVENIA
State assets holding reports EUR 36.6m in H1 net profit
Slovenian Sovereign Holding (SSH) generated EUR 36.6m in net profit in the first half of the year, which compares to EUR 42.6m reported by the state asset custodian after the same period last year.
Source: STA
Adria Airways in the red again
The Slovenia-based carrier Adria Airways slipped back into the red, posting a net loss of EUR 5.4m last year. In 2016, the company was in the black due to the sale of its brand, while last year's negative result is attributed to rising fuel prices. Revenue was up by 1.7% to EUR 159.2m.
Source: STA
INTERNATIONAL MARKETS
Dow jumps more than 100 points as Apple rises; Europe ends under pressure; ECB, BoE hold fire on interest rates
Stocks rose on Thursday as Apple shares recovered from losses in the previous session. Investor sentiment was also boosted as fears of rapidly rising inflation were tempered. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 147.07 points to 26,145.99 to post a three-day winning streak with Apple contributing the most to the gains. The S&P 500 climbed 0.5 percent to 2,904.18, led by a 1.2 percent gain in tech. The broad index also rose for a fourth straight day. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.8 percent to 8,013.71 as Alphabet rose nearly 1 percent. Apple shares gave the broader equity market a boost as well as they rose 2.4 percent. Thursday's move comes after a 1.2 percent drop Wednesday as the unveiled three new iPhones. Stocks in Europe reversed earlier gains by Thursday's close to finish lower, as investors digested fresh news out of the central banking sphere. The pan-European STOXX 600 closed down 0.15 percent, with the majority of sectors falling into negative territory. In individual stock news, Michelin jumped over 3.5 percent after it confirmed its guidance for the year. At the other end, Rubis shares tanked 10.58 percent, after reporting its latest first-half results. In Europe, the focus is on monetary policy with three meetings taking place during Thursday's session. First off, the Bank of England (BoE) decided to hold fire on raising interest rates Thursday, with all rate-setters voting unanimously to hold rates at 0.75 percent, as expected. In Frankfurt, the European Central Bank decided to kept its benchmark interest rates unchanged Thursday, which was widely expected. During mid-trade, the Turkish central bank announced that it had increased its benchmark rate to 24 percent, a hike of 625 basis points from the previous rate of 17.75 percent.
Source: CNBC
SERBIA
Confectionery industry in Serbia makes surplus for the first time
The confectionery industry in Serbia made a surplus for the first time and in the first six month of 2018 the realized surplus ranged between EUR 9 million and EUR 10 million while the export grew by 18,9 %, Serbian Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications said. He added that that the import dropped by 2% and assessed that confectionery industry had a perspective because Serbian confectioners were not only competent but had more affordable goods of excellent quality compared to the competition from the EU.
Source: Ekapija
Tender for Petrohemija by the end of the year
Tendering for privatization of HIP Petrohemija from Pancevo will be opened by the end of the year and to repeat the call for tender for Metanolsko-sircetni kompleks a.d. (MSK) from Kikinda, the State Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Dragan Stevanovic announced yesterday. He said that the government was looking for a partner for Petrohemija for some time now and added that so far the Ministry didn`t receive any offers from potential buyers.
Source: Ekapija, Ilirika
British American Tobacco buys remaining shares in Vranje factory
British American Tobacco (BAT), headquartered in London, has bought the remaining shares it didn’t own in the BAT factory in Vranje and thus increased it's ownership interest from the former 88,16% to 99,16%, BAT Vranje subsidiary stated. According to the BAT official statement published in the Belgrade Stock Exchange, the company bought the rest of the shares at the price of RSD 1,020 per share on the basis of new bid for takeover, which was completed on September 10, 2018.
Source: Ekapija
