SLOVENIA
Telekom planning drop in profit, revenue next year
Telecoms operator Telekom Slovenije expects to post EUR 40.9m in net profit this year and EUR 755.3m in operating revenue, the company said in a press release following a supervisory board meeting on Monday. The supervisors also approved a 2019-2023 strategic business plan, entailing EUR 30.3m in net profit for next year.
Source: STA
Industrial output keeps expanding
Slovenia's industrial output in October was 2.5% above the September figure and 4% higher year-on-year, while in the first ten months of the year industry expanded by 6% year-on-year, fresh statistics show.
Source: STA
We are spending an increasing amount of money on end-of-the-year shopping
In December 2017 retail trade was 14.0% higher than the average monthly result in 2017. At the same time, retail trade in December has been constantly growing. Compared to December 2016 retail trade in December 2017 went up by 5.1% and compared to December 2015 by 7.4%.
Source: SURS
INTERNATIONAL MARKETS
Dow erases 500-point drop and closes higher in another wild session on Wall Street; European markets close nearly 2% lower and sterling slips to 21-month low as UK pulls Brexit vote
Stocks rose on Monday, erasing sharp losses from earlier in the day, as shares of technology companies posted strong rebounds across the board. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 34.31 points higher at 24,423.26, erasing a 507-point drop. The S&P 500 rose 0.2 percent to 2,637.72 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 0.7 percent to 7,02.52. Shares of Apple initially fell after a Chinese court granted Qualcomm an injunction against the iPhone maker. It is unclear how the injunction will impact Apple's sales in China, however. Qualcomm says the order bans Apple iPhone imports and sales in China. Apple, meanwhile, says it only impacts sales of phones running an older operating system. European stocks slipped on Monday afternoon, falling on worries over slowing economic growth and after a Brexit vote in U.K. parliament was been delayed by Prime Minister Theresa May. The pan-European Stoxx 600 finished provisionally down by around 1.8 percent with all sectors and major bourses in negative territory. Germany's BASF SE was a poor performer in the chemicals sector, slipping more than 4 percent after the company slashed its forecast for profits in 2018 late last week. Looking at individual stocks, Air France KLM rose toward the top of the European benchmark during early afternoon deals. It comes after the airline reported better-than-expected traffic figures for November, prompting shares to rise over 1.6 percent. However, the Paris-listed company is still down around 30 percent year-to-date.
Source: CNBC
SERBIA
American fund looking to buy 20% of Telekom and Komercijalna Banka each – Ripplewood Advisors sends offer to Serbian government?
According to unofficial information available to Danas, Collins’ Ripplewood Advisors investment fund, formerly Ripplewood Holdings, gave offers for the state shares of 20% in Telekom Srbija and Komercijalna Banka each through the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications. As Danas learns, the offer is valid for 120 days and it seems that the authorities lean toward accepting it. This could kickstart the privatization of perhaps the two most valuable state companies.
Source: Ekapija
Construction of pipeline connecting Serbia to TurkStream may begin in March 2019
The works on the construction of the gas pipeline in Serbia from the Bulgarian to the Hungarian border, which will supply Serbia with the gas from the TurkStream pipeline, might begin between March 1 and 15, and the realistic plan is for the entire job to be done by 2020, stated Dusan Bajatovic, the director of Srbijagas. He said for TV Prva that the project would not be financed by the state, but by companies interested in a long-term rent of the 403-km pipeline's capacities. The pipeline, Bajatovic said, is of national interest and everything is being done in line with EU regulations, that is, the Serbian Law on Energy, which integrates the Third Energy Package.
Source: Ekapija
Serbia invites bids for sale of 28.5% stake in Jubmes Banka
Serbia's finance ministry is inviting binding bids for the sale of 28.51% shareholding interest in Jubmes Banka [BEL:JMBN], the ministry said on Monday. Interested investors will be able to apply until January 24 for accessing the confidential data room of Jubmes Banka, while the deadline for submitting binding bids is April 9, the finance ministry said in a notice published on its website. The Serbian government plans to sell 82,225 ordinary shares of Jubmes Banka.
Source: b92
Free trade agreement Serbia-Eurasian Economic Union to be signed during Putin’s visit
The free trade agreement between Serbia and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) should be signed during the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin in early 2019, Rasim Ljajic, the Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications of Serbia, said on Friday, December 7, 2018. We have been negotiating about this agreement for over two years. So far, we have agreed on more than 80% of the contents of the new, more modern agreement on free trade. Around 6-7 tariff lines remain that we haven’t yet reached agreement on, but we are having intensive negotiations about them – Ljajic said following a session of the Mixed Committee for Economic Cooperation of Serbia and Azerbaijan.
Source: Ekapija
