Czech Republic

By Martin Vladimirov Czechia, on April 7, has the infrastructure, reserves and access to other suppliers that it needs to stop importing Russian oil. Three years after Russia's invasion of Ukraine on a large scale, the Czech Republic has continued to delay a strategic shift despite viable alternatives. According to a Center for the Study of Democracy analysis, Czechia imported Russian crude oil worth 1.5 billion euros in 2024. The volume was down 30% compared to 2023. However, this wasn't due to a proactive strategy to phase out Russian crude. It was mainly the result of 3 major disruptions in...

By Martin Vladimirov Czechia, on April 7, has the infrastructure, reserves and access to other suppliers that it needs to stop importing Russian oil. Three years after Russia's invasion of Ukraine on a large scale, the Czech Republic still delays this strategic change, despite having viable alternatives. According to a Center for the Study of Democracy analysis, Czechia will import 2.7 million tonnes of Russian oil in 2024. This is estimated at 1.5 billion euros. This is a 30 percent decrease in volume from 2023. However, this was not the result of a proactive policy aimed at phasing out Russian...

The Czech energy group EPH is controlled by billionaire Daniel Kretinsky. As part of its efforts to diversify access to funding, the company announced that it raised its first Japanese lending facility worth 80 billion Japanese yen (527 million dollars). EPH announced in a Monday statement that the so-called Samurai Loan matures in Febuary 2030, and will pay an interest margin 160 basis points above the Tokyo overnight average (TONAR) rate. The loan was coordinated by SMBC Group. In a press release, Vice-Chairman Pavel Horsky stated that "we are pleased to have raised our first Samurai loan. This is an...

Czech Republicbased turbine producer Doosan Skoda Power launched a preliminary public offering on Monday, seeking to raise 2.53 billion crowns ($ 105. million) by offering up to a 3rd of its shares in a Prague. listing. The company, whose supreme moms and dad is South Korea's Doosan. Corp, serves consumers including energy groups CEZ. , EPH and Orlen, and earned a profit of 559.3. million crowns on revenue of 4.8 billion crowns in 2023. The offer will consist of existing and brand-new shares, with the. price range set at 220-260 crowns per share, the company said. Last rates is expected...

Agents of European Union countries failed on Friday to approve a 15th package of sanctions on Russia, that included an extension for the Czech Republic to import Russian oilbased items coming mainly through Slovakia, diplomats said. Two member states blocked the passage over an argument about extending the time provided to European business disinvesting from Russia, diplomats said. EU members will come back to the package later. The plan also includes sanctions on tankers carrying Russian oil. Within the plan was a debate on extending an EU exemption allowing the Czechs to continue importing diesel and other products originated from...

The Czech Republic expects to end consumption of Russian oil in July next year after an upgrade to a transalpine pipeline enables it to ramp up shipments from the west, the deputy chairman of the state pipeline company MERO stated on Thursday. The nation currently sources half its oil requires from Russia but has actually been seeking to end those purchases following Russia's. invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and an EU restriction on the majority of imports of. Russian oil. The Czech Republic anticipates to start increasing shipments of. petroleum from the west in the 2nd quarter of next year...

An offer agreed in 2023 for Czech billionaire Pavel Tykac's Sev.en Global Investments to take a 51% stake in coal miner Coronado Global Resources from the Energy & & Minerals Group (EMG) has actually failed as a. regulative due date ended, the companies included said on. Tuesday. Metallurgical coal miner Coronado Global Resources. has 3 mining complexes in Australia and the United States. and has annual coal production of 16 million metric heaps. EMG has ended the agreement because of certain. conditions not being satisfied by the Outside Date (including. receipt of Foreign Financial investment Regulatory Board regulative. approval), EMG...

A Czech billionaire who turned a local energy company into an international business empire after the fall of the Berlin Wall is now banking on selling lotto tickets in locations like Chicago and London to drive worldwide growth. Karel Komarek, the second-richest Czech behind the widow of Petr Kellner and ahead of deal maker Daniel Kretinsky, is pushing lottery operator Allwyn as a flagship for his KKCG financial investment group, telling : Development in lottery-led entertainment is definitely crucial to our broader group technique. Allwyn is currently Europe's greatest lotto operator, running nationwide plans in Italy, Austria, Greece and elsewhere....

Russian energy giant Gazprom faces various legal battles with European purchasers and transmitters of Russian gas, as an outcome of the political fallout following the Kremlin's decision to send its soldiers into Ukraine in 2022. Gazprom has actually launched procedures at Russia's St Petersburg and Leningrad Area Arbitration Court, threatening the European companies with fines if they continue lawsuits outside Russia. Nevertheless, some European business have actually stated that did not acknowledge the court's authority. Following are numerous essential legal cases: RUSSIAN COURT PROCEDURES * Gazprom in March 2024 lodged a claim of more than $900. million versus Polish companies...

The following are the top stories on the business pages of British newspapers. has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their precision. The Times - Beatrice Offshore Windfarm Limited, a wind farm backed by SSE, the London-listed energy group, has actually agreed to pay 33.1 million pounds ($ 42.2 million) in redress after Ofgem found that it had charged excessive rates to decrease its output. - Ithaca Energy's veteran Executive Chairman Gilad Myerson stepped down on Tuesday, as the company announced a new line-up of executives to lead the company after the closing of its purchase of...

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has actually urged the European Union to lower prices as soon as possible, which he identified a crucial political challenge ahead of European parliamentary elections. Anger at falling living standards is shared by countless Europeans and is expected to damage assistance for mainstream parties in the June 6-9 elect the 720 lawmakers of the EU assembly. In a May 18 letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the Greek conservative leader stated that inflation had actually highlighted issues in the performance of the markets which led to disparities in rates of essential items...

Severni Energeticka, part of the Sev.en energy group, will suspend mining at its CSA website and lay off 485 workers by July, the Czech brown coal miner stated on Thursday. The business is because of decide on terminating operations at the mining site in the coming months. It has actually said previously it expected CSA's closure in between 2024 and 2026. Mining will be ended in a controlled manner in the next few months, Severni Energeticka Chief Executive Petr Lenc stated. For now it is an suspension of mining. If a requirement appears for our coal in electricity or heat...

The CEO of Czech chemicals manufacturer Draslovka, Pavel Bruzek Jr., said that the company expects to earn more than a quarter of its total gross income in five years due to a growing demand for sodium-ion battery. In recent years, the company has grown and derived most of its revenue from U.S. operations. It has partnered with Natron Energy this month to supply Prussian Blue material for their batteries. Prussian Blue is made by Draslovka from sodium cyanide. It's a product that it produces in both the United States and Czech Republic. Bruzek said late on Friday that a Czech...

ContiTech, a division of German auto parts supplier Continental, will close four plants, and reduce the size of two more, according to a company announcement on Thursday. This will affect 570 employees. The group is aiming for more than 7,000 cuts in its restructuring plan, which it has been working on since over a month. It aims to save 400 million euro ($417 million), a dollar a day by 2025. ContiTech will close its factories in Bad Blankenburg and Stolzenau, as well the combined sites of Frohburg & Geithain in Germany. The company also said that production at its Hannover-Vahrenwald...

Workers at Thyssenkrupp's steel unit are demanding clearness from coowner Daniel Kretinsky over his strategy for the division, a leading labour agent stated, adding the billionaire's failure to respond did not bode well for future cooperation. I am very open with regard to the concern of financiers, stated Knut Giesler, who heads the IG Metall union in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, where Thyssenkrupp is based. But I am opposed if it is unclear what the objective is, Giesler, who also works as the deputy chairman of Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe's (TKSE) supervisory board, informed Reuters. Kretinsky earlier this year...

An expert opinion on the monetary requirements of Thyssenkrupp's. crisishit steel department has actually provided a positive view on its. ability to continue as a going issue, the parent company said. on Sunday. Thyssenkrupp said in a written action to a Reuters question. that on the basis of the report, the moms and dad company had made a. funding commitment to protect the liquidity of the steel. service for the next 2 years. This suggests that there is now clearness relating to the. funding scenario of the steel division, said the business in. its written reaction, confirming a report in...

Independent professionals looking into the financial needs of Thyssenkrupp's steel business have actually taken a favorable view on its capability to continue as a going concern, Germany's Der Spiegel publication reported on Sunday. Citing educated sources, Der Spiegel reported that the steel company has financial security for at least for 2 years. There was no instant remark from Thyssenkrupp Steel when called . In September, Thyssenkrupp commissioned two external reports to take a deep take a look at the steel business's short- and long-term monetary health and needs. Previously this month, Thyssenkrupp said it had documented the value of its...

Spanish steelmaker Celsa has sold its mills in Britain and Norway to Se.ven GI, the Czech mutual fund said on Thursday, validating an earlier report on news site El Confidencial. A spokesperson for Se.ven GI, owned by billionaire Pavel Tykac, decreased to state just how much the fund had actually spent for the assets after El Confidencial, citing market sources, said the cost tag was 600 million euros ($ 632.10 million). Celsa, Spain's biggest privately owned industrial group, has been working on offering its foreign possessions considering that February under a restructuring strategy. However, its Polish system, its biggest foreign...

Reserve banks stay eager purchasers of gold to diversify their reserves for financial or strategic factors, agents of 3 central banks told the London Bullion Market Association's annual conference in Miami on Monday. Raised need for gold from reserve banks underpinned the rate of the non-yielding gold when the worldwide interest rates were high in 2022-2023 and after that decreased with this year's 28%. spot gold price rally. China's reserve bank kept back on buying. gold for a 5th straight month in September. In spite of the gold rally, representatives of reserve banks of. the Czech Republic, Mongolia and Mexico...

Thyssenkrupp called Ilse Henne as chairman of its steel department's supervisory board on Thursday as part of a management shuffle at the system after the previous leadership departed in the middle of a deepening dispute over the future of the steel company. Henne prospers Sigmar Gabriel, who revealed he was stepping down last month in addition to several other members of Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe's (TKSE) management and supervisory boards. The move developed a major management vacuum at a time when Germany's top steelmaker urgently requires a brand-new service plan. At the core of the clash is the concern over how...

All Brazilian gold imports by Germany and 71% by Italy originate from locations of the Amazon where unlawful mining is widespread, a think thank said on Tuesday, requiring increased European scrutiny. All 1.3 tonnes (2,866 pound) of gold that Germany imported from Brazil in 2023 originated from the state of Amazonas, a study by Sao Paulo-based Instituto Escolhas utilizing federal government data revealed. Italy imported 356 kg (784.85 lb) of Brazilian gold last year, including 254 kg from the states of Pará and Sao Paulo, stated the report called Europe's Risky Gold. Wildcat gold mining, referred to as garimpo in...

There are alternatives to maintain some operations at Czech steelmaker Liberty Ostrava, Czech government ministers stated on Thursday, as a capacity buyer provided plans for secondary production. Liberty Ostrava, part of the Liberty Steel group owned by commodities magnate Sanjeev Gupta, has actually begun a sale process and gone into insolvency proceedings after facing difficulty last year when weak need led to its blast heater shutting. It got in a debt moratorium in December pending restructuring efforts however said last month weakening market conditions prevented it from performing turnaround plans. The Czech government has actually been looking for methods to...

Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky has agreed there will be no redundancies as a result of a planned joint endeavor with German corporation Thyssenkrupp's steel division, the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung paper reported on Saturday. Representatives for Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe (TKSE), which utilizes 27,000, and for Kretinsky in Germany were not instantly available for remark. An arrangement protecting work potential customers, prepared by TKSE's supervisory board, has actually been signed by top management and by Kretinsky, the paper said, naming group CEO Miguel López and personnels officer Oliver Burkhard, in addition to TKSE CEO Bernhard Osburg and TKSE HR officer Markus Grolms,...

Czech steelmaker Liberty Ostrava will begin a sale process and enter into reorganisation procedures under the insolvency act, withdrawing a prepared restructuring it had actually looked for to reverse its organization, it stated on Wednesday. In view of the product threats and uncertainties that Liberty Ostrava is dealing with, the business decided that the most proper course is starting a process targeted at selling its Ostrava operations and withdrawing the strategy of a preventative reorganizing so that it could enter into reorganisation, it said. Liberty Ostrava, part of the Liberty Steel group owned by products magnate Sanjeev Gupta, briefly closed...