BIZ WEEK
HIGHWAY • Swedish construction firm Skanska won a
1 billion Kc ($ 44.1 million) contract to build a highway in the Czech Republic in the first quarter of 2005. The Czech National Highway Administration will provide nearly 25 percent the project's financing, with the EU Cohesion Fund providing 76 percent.
PROFITS • Carmaker Skoda Auto, a unit of Volkswagen AG, nearly doubled its 2004 pretax profit to 4.82 billion Kc and said Feb. 25 it planned to expand its production base. Skoda currently makes three lines: the small Fabia, the midsize Octavia and the Superb limousine. It plans to expand its portfolio in 2006 with a new model named Yeti, based on its Roomster prototype.
PLANT • Belgium's Meister Group plans to build a new plant 270 kilometers (168 miles) southeast of Prague to produce high-precision parts for the automotive and aerospace industries. Jana Viskova, a spokeswoman for the government agency CzechInvest, said Feb. 25 the producer of mechanical components plans to invest more than 350 million Kc in its Kunovice plant.
CARS • The first cars rolled off the production line of the new Toyota Peugeot Citroen Automobile (TPCA) plant in Kolin, Central Bohemia, Feb. 28. The plant should be operating at full capacity, turning out 300,000 units annually, or one car per minute, within a year, according to the company director.
PURCHASE • Oil refinery Unipetrol ordered for the third time this year a 1 million barrel supply of crude oil from The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR). In 2003 and 2004 Unipetrol bought about 15 percent of its crude oil from SOCAR. The oil was shipped to the company's refinery in Kralupy.
DEBT • The volume of loans provided to households grew 2.8 billion Kc in January to 317.4 billion Kc, the Czech National Bank said Feb. 28. Experts estimate that household debts will continue to rise, also due to a wider use of credit cards. Household deposits redeemable at notice grew by 952 million Kc while one-day deposits increased by 13.5 billion Kc.
DISPUTE • The dispute between financial group PPF and CSOB over some 7 billion Kc and one-third of insurer Ceska pojistovna stock may be resolved soon as the government and the two financial institutions appear to be ready for an out-of-court settlement, Hospodarske noviny reported Feb. 28. No details about the settlement have been made public yet.
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