Austria's top economic news - April 7

Zürich Versicherung said it raised its premiums in Austria's indemnity insurance market by 5.4% to EUR 369.1m and in life insurance by 5.2% to EUR 170m in 2010. The company's profit, however, decreased to EUR 15.6m from EUR 21.9m for 2009.
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Aluminium group AMAG said it's shares will be priced at EUR 19 apiece during the IPO on Friday. The price, as expected by market observers, stands at the lower end of the announced price range of up to EUR 21. The company will list around 19m shares (down from 22.29m initially planned), 14m of which provided by the current shareholders and the remaining coming from a capital increase.
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Telekom Austria plans to transfer some of its employees, who the company does not need anymore, to other big companies. There, the around 700 people will receive the same salaries and keep their status as civil servants, WirtschaftsBlatt reported, quoting Telekom Austria's workers representatives.
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The five executive board members of Austrian Post AG earned a total of EUR 3.35m for 2010, including EUR 1.51m as bonuses.
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US cafe chain Starbucks will open its 11th cafe in Vienna on April 29. It will be located on the Graben, in the city's centre. The company sees a sales increase of 10% for 2011 in Austria, the same as last year.
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Telekom Austria said it has suspended from work Michael Kolek, a former head of the company's works council. Vienna's prosecutors are currently investigating Kolek in suspicions related to the so-called Hochegger scandal.
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Binding bids for the eastern European unit of Österreichische Volksbanken AG (ÖVAG) are expected until after Easter, Format reported. Russian Sberbank and French Banque Populaire are considered to be the main interested parties in the acquisition process.

Austria's top economic news - April 6

Car parts supplier Polytec posted a net profit of EUR 25.6m for 2010, compared to a loss of EUR 51.4m for 2009. The company booked EBIT of EUR 27.2m, up from a loss of EUR 30.2m. Sales went up 27% to EUR 770.1m. Polytec projects a slight organic increase in its sales for 2011. The company will examine further acquisition possibilities.
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IT services provider S&T will reduce by above 25% the number of its employees in Austria, WirtschaftsBlatt reported. The move, which should be implemented by mid-May, is to affect some 70 employees.
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Wiener Stadthalle, Vienna's top venue for concerts and sports tournaments, will be called in the future Erste Bank Wiener Stadthalle. The renaming comes after Erste Group signed a sponsoring and cooperation contract with the municipality-owned hall.
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Austrian Airlines (AUA) said the current turbulences, including the unrest in North Africa, the natural disasters in Japan and the rising oil prices, will lead to a burden of EUR 30m for 2011. This will mean that the already loss-making air carrier will once again have to tighten its cost control in order to achieve its target for an operating profit for 2011.
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EnerjiSA, the Turkish joint venture of Austria's leading utility Verbund, has taken a loan of EUR 700m for a period of 12 years. The money will be used for boosting the company's power plant potential by 1,000 MW.
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Moody's reduced its long-term credit rating on Österreichische Volksbanken AG (ÖVAG) to Baa2 from Baa1.
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Office furniture maker Bene said it expects to report a 5% fall in its sales for fiscal 2010/11. The company however managed to convert the trend in the second half of the year and expects more revenues for the current fiscal period. The 2010/11 operating result was improved but still remained negative.
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Austria's wholesale prices index rose 0.9% month-on-month in March 2011, Statistik Austria reported. The index grew 12.1% in annual terms.

bTV and its campaigns

It's more than clear, bTV, this guardian of the Bulgarian public opinion, likes campaigns. Of course, all of them are useless and have no real results, but who cares when the only aim is to substitute the real issues before Bulgarians with the false ones.

And here comes the latest one - let's clean Bulgaria for a day! Yes, I know the country is burdened with waste but can we expect that the problem will be solved when we all go and clean before our homes and clean our parks only today. And most importantly, why do we, the taxpayers, should feel guilty that Sofia and the entire country are not clean? Why the dear colleagues from bTV instead of wearing gloves and making fools of themselves do not go and actually do their job? A job which involves making real investigation reports and asking the governors the right questions and seeking the right answers. Of course, it's easier to blame the people that the country is littered, but everyone who has been in Germany during the carnivals knows what happens afterwards - tonnes of garbage which are collected by the utilities.

So instead of campaigning all day long before the cameras, why don't you, the bTV journalists, make investigations on the following subjects:

1. What is happening with the plant for waste processing in Sofia? And what will happen with the waste you are now collecting?

2. How are municipal taxes spent?

3. Why the waste, despite the bins for separate collection, is afterwards collected by one and the same truck and goes at the same place? Isn't this an insult to all caring citizens?

4. Why are Sofia streets washed only once a year? 

5. Why there are so many stray dogs, who spend all day in the garbage bins?

And so on...

Yes, I know, you are actually nowhere near real journalism and I know that now I'm gonna be blamed that I'm too lazy to go cleaning outside, but anyway someone had to tell you this.

In BG Cinemas from April 8

Рио / Rio - The first perfect kid friendly pic for quite a while (Rango doesn't count, while Mars Needs Moms may be considered a notch too scary), Rio comes also with a message. Whether the little ones, or the majority of the (love.net) crowds in Bulgaria, will care that some species are on the brink of extinction is another matter. Certainly they will enjoy the colourful animation (only Gnomeo & Juliet can compare in terms of cuteness lately) and the gags come thick enough. Still, despite slightly better than the overrated (at least in Bulgaria) Ice Age series, the filmmakes from Blue Sky, the animated division of Fox, are still to create a true masterpiece such as the movies of Pixar or even like some of those of Dreamworks. Oh, Rio at least can boast the voice of chalga singer Desi Slava, isn't this cute? (Alexandra) ***1/2
Trailer

Ритуалът / The Rite - The movies of Mikael Hafstroem (1408, Derailed...) have a big problem - though watchable, they can never surpass mediocrity. Unfortunately the latest from the director, despite the presence of Anthony Hopkins (which let's face it is not a quality (Alexander) guarantee), suffers the same fate. Any comparison with The Exorcist will be of no point, and while The Rite has one or two good moments, perhaps a real exorcism (yes, it is a common practice in the catholic world) would be more thrilling. (Alexandra) **1/2

Trailer 

Първичен код / The Source Code - To begin as every other critic in the world, the mentioning of Moon, the excellent debut of director Duncan Jones (son of David Bowie - fact), is inevitable. His follow-up, although bearing the code of Hollywood, all over it, still remains a deeply human and most importantly a personal story. Jake Gyllenhaal is once again superb, while Michelle Monaghan is lovable and Vera Farmiga is among this author's favourites after watching her in Up in The Air. The effects, albeit the tiny budget, are excellent and while the movie may need a little more attention from behalf of the audience, or at least multiple viewings, it is by far the best from the newest movies in our cinemas currently. (A+) ****
Trailer 

MISSED OPPORTUNITY - Hereafter - Although the movie hit the US cinemas last year, it was delayed for our screens for April, which of course meant that the title had no chances to ever arrive here. A note to Clint Eastwood then - don't make movies with Matt Damon - not only they are hated by critics but they never appear in Bulgaria. (Responsible - Alexandra)
Trailer

MISSED OPPORTUNITY 2 - Insidious - The critics across the ocean say it is one of the best horror movies this spring and the audiences also like it. What do we get instead? Chain Mail... (Responsible - Every distributor you can think of)
Trailer 

The ratings:

***** Perfect

**** Unmissable

*** Fun

** So-so

* Stay away

German chart comments - Issue date - 08.04.2011

No changes atop the German singles chart as Bruno Mars' "Grenade" stands there for a sixth non-consecutive week. Lady Gaga is still the runner-up, while Sunrise Avenue bounce back a position to once again claim the bronze medal.
Video Sunrise Avenue

Down in the top 20, new peaks at #12 by Usher's "More", at #14 by Die Atzen & Nena's "Strobo Pop" and at #17 by Katy Perry's "E.T.".
Video Katy Perry

The highest new entry of the week can be found at #19, where David Guetta brings yet another star collaboration, this time in the face of Snoop Dogg. Never having a considerable chart success in Germany, Snoop Dogg's only top ten singles in the country are "Drop It Like It's Hot" (peak #8) and "Signs" (peak #3). In fact, in comparison to "Sweat", there is only one other song that fared better - "Sensual Seduction" that reached #15. And to be honest, if it wasn't the German chart friendly dance remix of David Guetta, "Sweat" would have been a complete flop in the country.
Video

Despite that the performance of "Kidz", the second single released after Take That's line-up includes Robbie Williams once again, was a complete disaster in their native UK, the song enters at #20 in Germany. Previous single "The Flood" had a respectful run although it reached only #12. Perhaps "Kids" relatively good performance was boosted by the band's appearance at the Echo awards and why not also to its qualities as an excellent pop song. And the video is shot in Bulgaria, believe it or not...
Video

Further two new entries in the top 50 - at #43 Linkin Park bring another single in the charts as "Burning In The Skies" comes after the #29 peak of "Waiting For The End". Two positions behind the US rockers, Aloe Black follows his impressively successful "I Need A Dollar" (peak #4) with his second single - "Loving You Is Killing Me".
Video Linkin Park
Video Aloe Blacc

And the remaining new entries with videos:
58 Finger & Kadel - Wahnsinn - Based on the #36 hit of Wolfgang Petry from 1983
Video
60 Fler - Minutentakt
Song
63 Adam Lambert - Sleepwalker - A great song, but still a one-hit wonder...
Video
79 Timati feat. Kalenna - Welcome To St. Tropez (DJ Antoine vs. Mad Mark Remix)
Video
89 Adele - Set Fire To The Rain
Live
90 a-ha - Summer Moved On (Live)
Video

The Album Chart

As expected Herbert Grönemeyer remains on top for a second week, while the second and third positions are also occupied by German artists. At #2 Clueso brings his fourth album, which manages to beat the #3 peak of Clueso's third studio LP, and is quite worth checking out. The latter however cannot be said to BAP, one of the longest standing German bands whose appeal has ever astonished me. Thus, their latest offering enters new at "Halv su wild". Also new to the top ten are Finnish rockers Sunrise Avenue with "Out Of Style", which comes hot on the heels of pilot single "Hollywood Hills". New LPs also at #7 and #8 coming respectively from Within Temptation and Amon Amarth. And finally, among the flood of new albums, Britney Spears' latest - "Femme Fatale" has to please itself with the entry at #10. It matches the peak of "Blackout", the star's least successful album (in terms of peaks) in the country.

Austria's top economic news - April 5

Pay TV company Sky Austria said its 2010 revenues went up 13.9% to EUR 91.8m. The number of subscribers grew by 25,355 to 239,400. Around 60,000 of the clients watch HD currently.
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Boiling systems producer Austria Email AG fears that the stricter energy regulations in the EU in 2012 will affect some 40% of its sales volumes, executive Walter Persch told Industriemagazin.
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Hirsch Servo will open a new plant in Oradea, in Romania, BörseExpress reported. The production at the site is expected to start in August 2011.
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Real estate developer Warimpex said it will seek an approval for a capital increase of up to 10% in the next five years. The move should be green lighted at the general shareholders' meeting on May 3.

NO PAUL IN BULGARIA!!!

Any comments would be useless. It was expected and now it's official - Universal has cancelled the distribution of Paul in Bulgaria. The movie now becomes yet another Peck/Frost collaboration, next to Shaun of The Dead and Hot Fuss, which is not worthy for our precious BG screens. 

And it is high time for Universal to change its name, or Bulgaria to officially declare it's not part of the universe!

Trailer 

Anyway, expect Arthur to join the club soon!

Let's go and see Love.net again then...