Wednesday, 23 April 2014
Business | Business Week/Bloomberg
NWR reaches agreement with government on Paskov mine

New World Resources Plc, the largest Czech producer of coal for steelmakers, agreed to keep its unprofitable Paskov mine open until end-2017 after the government pledged to provide financial aid for the miners. The government will provide CZK 600 million to cover the social costs after the mine shuts down, Industry and Trade Minister Jan Mládek said yesterday at a press conference in Prague.
Business | CIAnews.eu
Trade unions want CZK 9,000 minimum wage by 2015

Trade unions want to raise the minimum wage in the Czech Republic by CZK 500 to CZK 9,000 from January 1, 2015, the chairman of the Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions, Václav Pícl, said after the tripartite talks on Tuesday April 22, 2014.

Business | ČTK
Czech sales of trips to Canada grow after visas cancelled

Czech travel agencies and plane ticket sellers recorded a growth in Czechs' demand for holidays in Canada after visas for trips to the country had been cancelled, with portal Letuska.cz reporting a 70% annual growth in sales of plane tickets to Canada.
Business | ČTK
Prague hotel market reviving

Investmens on the Prague hotel market have revived, their volume reaching EUR 250 million (about CZK 9.4 billion) last year, real estate consulting company JLL has said.
Business | ČTK
ČEZ management does not want to pay out entire profit in dividend

The board of directors of utility ČEZ does not want to pay out ČEZ's entire profit in dividends to shareholders, as was required by Finance Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) in March, and proposed yesterday a dividend of CZK 40 per share for last year.
Business | Radio Prague
Czech industry looks askance as Berlin prolongs aid for heavy energy users

The target of rounding off Europe's internal energy market by the end of the year is a no hoper.

Business | ČTK
EU entry has positive impact on Czech exports

The EU entry boosted Czech exports that made up 59% of gross domestic product (GDP) before joining the EU in May 2004, while in 2013 it was 79% of economic output, data of the Czech Statistical Office have shown.
Business | ČTK
Prague office space lease at 21% of C.Europe's 1.4m m2 in 2013

A record 1.4 million square metres of office space was leased in Central Europe last year, up 8 more on the year, and office space lease in Prague accounted for 21% of the total figure, according to a report by Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) made public Friday.
Business | ČTK
Areva withdraws court appeal after cancellation of Temelín tender

French nuclear company Areva is taking back a court appeal against its elimination from the tender for the expansion of the nuclear power plant Temelín following its cancellation a week ago.
Business | Radio Prague
Czech e-commerce giant says Google 'concessions' would worsen conditions on local market

One of the biggest players on the local e-commerce market warns that European Commission moves to curb Google's dominance in Europe could backfire and worsen the situation on the Czech market.
Business | ČTK
Ministry considers measures to raise competitiveness of big companies

The Czech Industry and Trade Ministry is considering measures aimed at putting large industrial companies at an advantage when it comes to renewable energy payments so as to raise their competitiveness, Eduard Muricky of the ministry said Thursday.
Finance | ČTK
Analysts: Third VAT rate to influence inflation negligibly

The possible introduction of a third value added tax (VAT) rate of 10 percent, on which the ruling coalition parties agreed on Wednesday, will lead to a drop in inflation by 0.1 percentage point, according to analysts polled by CTK.
Business | ČTK
Czech televisions see 20% growth in advertising in Q1

Czech televisions registered a 19.7 percent growth in advertising spending to Kc6.355bn in the first quarter of this year, while advertising spending in press dropped by 6 percent to Kc3.447bn in pricelist value, according to data of the Admosphere monitoring.
Finance | ČTK
Coalition agrees to cut VAT on medicines, books, nappies

The three governing parties Wednesday agreed on cutting the VAT on medicines, books, baby nappies and baby food from 15% to 10% as of the beginning of 2015.
Business | ČTK
Interest rate on mortgage loans falls to record low

The average interest rate on mortgage loans dropped to 2.93 percent in March, the lowest level in the time of the indicator's monitoring, according to Fincentrum Hypoindex data.