After last year’s economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic, this year domestic banks are experiencing a solid year. Thanks to strong client demand for loans, especially mortgages, as well as lower risk costs, their total profit after tax increased by 30 percent year on year. The positive development was also confirmed by Česká spořitelna’s results published on Tuesday.
The Bank Board of the Czech National Bank raised the key interest rate by 1.25 percentage point to 2.75 percent. This is the most significant increase in rates since 1997. The main reason for the rise in interest rates is rising inflation, which approached the 5% mark in September. Today’s meeting of the council was attended by all seven of its members.
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Not only the large Prague brownfields have been realized after more than ten years of preparations. At the starting line is the largest development project in Moravia, which is the revitalization of a 22-hectare area of the former Zbrojovka Brno. Developer CPI Property Group (CPIPG) will start construction of the first phase of the Nová Zbrojovka project, the so-called southern zone, in February.
Entrepreneurs Daniel Křetínský and Patrik Tkáč continue to increase their share in the Dutch post office PostNL. Their fund Vesa Equity Investment further strengthens the position of the company’s largest shareholder, now holding 20.12 percent of the shares, according to a report to the stock exchange regulator.
As for the entire aviation business, the year 2020 was extremely bad for the Czech ticket search engine Kiwi.com. Year-on-year, the Brno company’s revenues fell from 32.2 billion crowns to 11.6 billion crowns. The company achieved a net loss of more than one billion, while last year it suffered over 140 million.
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One of the largest European e-commerce platforms Allegro will take over the Czech e-shop operator Mall Group and the logistics company Wedo. The Polish giant will pay 881 million euros. The value of the transaction is 925 million euros, ie 23.4 billion crowns, but the debt and other similar items are deducted from it. The sellers are PPF Group, Rockaway Capital and EC Investments.
The government approved the purchase of 72,000 liters of AdBlue for the needs of the components of the Integrated Rescue System in the warehouses of the State Material Reserves Administration. The purchase will be in the form of a public contract, Minister of Industry and Trade Karel Havlíček (YES) informed on Twitter. The government will release seven million crowns for the purchase, which is a supply for three-month consumption.
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Instead of petrol and diesel, more and more Škoda cars will flow electricity. The transition to electromobility moves the entire car industry, the engine of the Czech economy. Its performance will largely depend on whether the transformation from Mladá Boleslav fails or succeeds. “The EU’s decision to prevent the sale of cars with internal combustion engines is the right one. The faster we are able to switch to electromobility, the better. We can’t play it on both sides indefinitely. We get to the point where electric cars will probably be cheaper than cars with internal combustion engines. If this happens, the problem is solved, “says Thomas Schäfer, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Škoda Auto.
The Army of the Czech Republic is starting to work with IT companies to improve its newly built capabilities in cyber security and defense. The domestic branch of the American company Cisco is the first to start supporting its employees in entering active reserves. Thanks to this, well-paid IT experts from the private sector will be able to help soldiers, for example, to protect the critical infrastructure of the state. At the same time, the army gained the opportunity to lead active attacks in cyberspace.
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