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CTK's Business News in Brief(Czech News Agency Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) State saves quarter of costs on construction project contracts Prague The Czech state has saved about one quarter of the planned costs on contruction project contracts, as prices of projects have decreased by the same percentage, according to an analysis carried out by companies CEEC Research and Ness and the Chamber of Public Contract Administrators (KAVZ). The state and municipalities have saved Kc100m in construction project contracts so far this year. Contracting authorities save 19 percent on average in these contracts. "Some project companies involved in segments such as road construction as willing to offer dramatic discounts so as to avoid layoffs of their experts," CEEC Research head Jiri Vacek said. Ceska posta to abolish tens of director positions Prague Czech staterun postal service operator Ceska posta (CP) will abolish tens of director positions by the end of the year, thanks to which it will save Kc16.5m in wages and taxes, CP head Martin Elkan said in today's issue of the daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD). According to MfD, up to 70 director positions will be abolished. The employees will be offered cheaper positions. In addition, CP will reduce the managerial car fleet by one quarter. ERU asks deputies to return energy bill to govt for reworking Prague ERU regulator head Alena Vitaskova asked deputies to return the energy bill to the cabinet for revision at a seminar in parliament on Monday saying the office criticises the shape of an ERU council, to be created, fearing politicising of the regulator's work. The draft is on the agenda of a parliamentary session that starts today. The council is to have 5 members with a fiveyear term of office, one of them to be its chairman with a threeyear term at most. The government is to appoint and dismiss the members including the chairman at the proposal of the industry and trade minister. The ERU head is now appointed by the president. Slovak bank appeals decision on Czech firm's insolvency Ceske Budejovice, South Bohemia Slovak bank Vseobecna uverova banka (VUB) has filed an appeal to Prague's high court over insolvency proceedings with Czech company Heavy Machinery Services. VUB, one of the creditors of Heavy Machinery Services, whose previous names were Legios and Industry plant LG, said a decision by Ceske Budejovice's court on the firm's insolvency in March this year was manipulated. The firm then launched restructuring. Judge Josef Simek, who was dealing with the case, told CTK on Monday he rejected accusations of manipulating the case. Legios owes Kc3.3bn to 322 creditors. VUB's claim is worth Kc350m. Construction of new terminal at Pardubice airport delayed Pardubice, East Bohemia Construction work at the airport in Pardubice, used mainly by Russian clients, was to begin in autumn but the project of a new terminal will be delayed as the firm East Bohemian Airport (EBA) will have to call a new tender, EBA director Michal Cervinka told CTK today. Builders offered higher prices than a maximum of Kc305bn expected by EBA, Cervinka said. Conditions of the tender were set about a year ago and in the meantime the situation in the building market has changed, he said. The project might be launched in spring next year, according to Cervinka. Half of Czech ski areas to keep ski pass prices unchanged Prague About 50 percent of large ski areas in the Czech Republic will keep their ski pass prices in the forthcoming winter season the same as last year, the Association of Mountain Resorts of the Czech Republic (AHS) said at a press conference today. On the other hand, a total of 36 percent of ski resorts are going to raise prices. Only 14 percent of ski resorts are going to reduce prices. Czech ski resorts have made investments worth hundreds of millions of crowns in their infrastructure before the start of the winter season. The average price of a oneday ski pass for adult in 28 large Czech ski areas is expected to grow from Kc550 to Kc556. vr,tam/er Civil service law is condition for use of EU funds Slechtova Prague/Brussels The European Commission will not approve the individual operational programmes specifying the conditions for using EU subsidies in 20142020 unless the civil service law takes effect in the Czech Republic, Regional Development Minister Karla Slechtova said today. "... the EC again emphasised that the Czech Republic must comply with all its obligations as a precondition for getting approval for the programmes," Slechtova told CTK. The EC's spokesman Jakub Adamowicz told CTK in Brussels today that the adoption of the civil service law is the socalled preliminary, or "exante", condition for using money from EU funds. The socalled Action Plan specifying the parameters of the conditions can be used if a law is still in a political process, Adamowicz said. The EC plans to comment on the talks it is holding with the Czech Republic about the individual operational programmes in the course of November, he added. EC not to send waterway subsidies to CR till 2016 SFDI head Prague The European Commission demands that inland water transport be excluded from the Operational Programme Transport II, which is being prepared now, until at least 2016, State Transport Infrastructure Fund (SFDI) head Tomas Cocek told journalists today. The Czech Republic will not receive any EU subsidies for inland waterway transport until it resolves the problem of reconstructing the navigation lock on the Elbe river in Decin, north Bohemia, Cocek said at a press conference, organised by the Association of Building Entrepreneurs. The country is still holding talks with the EC about the conditions of using EU subsidies to finance transport infrastructure, but the talks are being blocked mainly by a dispute about water transport. The text of the operational programme could be changed and waterways could be financed with EU subsidies only if the Czech Republic is able to prove that it is ready to start to build the Decin lock, Cocek said. CVUT, Kulickove srouby Kurim win best cooperation award Prague The Czech Technical University (CVUT) in Prague and company Kulickove srouby Kurim have won the fourth annual contest Best Cooperation of the Year 2014, organised by the Association for Foreign Investment (AFI) and the US Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic (AmCham), AFI said today. CVUT and Kulickove srouby Kurim cooperated on the development of a project called motion thread mechanism. The goal of the contest is to award a prize to a project of best cooperation between companies and research institutions. A total of 22 projects competed for the award. Record number of offices to be completed in Prague this yr Prague A recordlarge area of offices will be completed in Prague this year up to 150,000 square metres, according to the latest study of company Professional, an alliance member of BNP Paribas Real Estate. In JanuarySeptember this year alone, 92,300 square metres of offices were completed, compared with 85,000 square metres completed a year earlier. The rate of empty area reached 14.2 percent in the third quarter. The biggest office project completed this year are two stages of City West in Prague Stodulky of investor Finep with total area of 24,000 square metres. At the moment, 283,000 square metres of offices are under construction in Prague and 56,700 square metres are to be completed this year. Harmonising founding documents with Civic Code is a problem Prague Up to a quarter of companies have not yet managed to harmonise their constituting documents with the new Civic Code and some 56 percent of companies paid over Kc10,000 for the process, according to a survey of association of entrepreneurs and managers APM and agency Inbox CZ. Nine out of ten owners of companies consider the whole process useless. "We have lately been encountering many negative reactions to the paperwork related to some duties stemming from the new Civic Code. Even thus, the results of the survey are an unpleasant surprise for us," said APM chairman Radek Babek. The survey was made among 754 respondents from the ranks of owners of companies and higher management. Companies were supposed to complete the process by endJune 2014. 02 lays off almost 500 people in , now is hiring staff Prague Biggest domestic telecommunication company O2 Czech Republic laid off almost 500 people in the first half of this year and the number of its employees dropped to 5,144, but then started to hire staff in the second half, according to information from the company. O2 has a new owner, group PPF, which announced its entry in the company exactly a year ago. O2 is undergoing restructuring under PPF's management to raise effectiveness and secure more flexible decisionmaking. The process includes cuts in medium management and services and hiring of people for client services. "We are currently hiring up to 80 new employees monthly," O2 spokesman Martin Zabka told CTK. TMobile CR to supply telecom services to RWE Prague The Czech branch of telecoms operator TMobile will supply telecommunication services to the RWE group in the next six years, for which RWE will pay over Kc0.5bn, according to information from both companies. RWE has so far been buying services from several companies, including O2, Ceske Radiokomunikace and Dial Telekom. Usovsko EKO defends Farmer of the Year victory Prague Company Usovsko EKO is the winner of the Farmer of the Year competition, the same as last year, followed by AGROS Hana, which has defended its second place, and cooperative Zemedelske druzstvo Hnojice, according to the competition's results announced in Prague's Slovansky dum today. The thirteenth annual competition was organised by publishing house Profi Press and weekly Zemedelec. The agricultural companies are evaluated by economic indicators. The winner got a cheque for Kc150,000 and the second place was awarded with a cheque for Kc100,000. Lorry maker Tatra to sell some 840 vehicles this year Koprivnice Lorry maker Tatra will sell around 840 vehicles this year, 15 percent more than planned, and around a quarter of them are Tatra Phoenix whose version with engine meeting the toughest emission standard Euro 6 Tatra presented at its testing grounds today. Since the introduction on the market in 2011, Tatra has already sold nearly 500 Phoenix lorries. It sold 215 of them last year and expects to sell roughly the same number this year. In the production of vehicles Phoenix, Tatra cooperates with Dutch lorry maker DAF, a member of concern Paccar which supplies engines for the vehicles. Student Agency to add further PragueVienna connections Brno Czech longdistance bus transport operator Student Agency has decided to strengthen its PragueVienna lines and will add three connections via Znojmo to the current eight connections via Brno as of December 15, Student Agency said in a press release today. Travel from Prague to Vienna via Znojmo, southern Moravia, will be half an hour shorter. "We are reacting to longlasting customer demand... We have decided to introduce a new route because it is faster," Student Agency bus transport head Ivana Kasicka said. Slovak antitrust office OKs Abris's acquisition of AAA Auto Bratislava Slovak antitrust office PMU has permitted the private capital fund Abris Capital Partners to take control over usedcar dealer AAA Auto Group, PMU told CTK today. The acquisition has already been approved by the Czech antitrust office UOHS. According to information released earlier, Abris Capital Partners, based in Poland, will take over around 95 percent in AAA Auto Group for EUR220m (over Kc6bn). AAA Auto operates 34 used car dealerships in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Russia and Hungary Slovak house, flat prices continue falling in Q3 Bratislava Prices of houses and flats in Slovakia continued falling in yearonyear terms in the third quarter of this year, staying near longterm lows, the Slovak Central Bank (NBs) said today. The price per square meter of houses and flats in Slovakia stood at EUR1,215 on average in Q3. In yearonyear comparison, prices in Q3 fell for the fifth quarter in a row. In comparison with Q2, when the prices hit a sevenyear low, the prices in Q3 were slightly higher. "The falling and stagnating average prices of housing and improving incomes of Slovak households on average have contributed to the fact that accessibility of housing has improved in recent years," NBS analysts said. According to NBS, housing is now the most accessible in Slovakia's modern history. In comparison with the boom in 2008, prices of houses and flats in Slovakia are more than one fifth cheaper at present. tam,kou,fs/er |