Business | All stories

The abolition of anonymous shares in companies, and as a result the ending of firms with no clear ownership, came into force at the end of June with thousands of such firms still in existence. The phase out, part of the drive to make corporate life more transparent and aid the fight against corruption and criminality, looks like taking some time to take full effect.

Czech households’ debt increased in May by over 43 billion crowns annually, amounting now to over 1.2 trillion crowns, according to figures released by the Czech National Bank on Monday. Analysts say record low mortgage rates have been a major factor in the increase in households’ debt.

Russia tops the list of countries where Czech exporters would like to boost their sales according to an evaluation drawing on approaches for help to Czech institutions abroad. But Ukraine has slipped sharply down the rankings as tension continues in the east of the country.

The South Korean car manufacturer Hyundai is planning to build a new factory to produce headlights about 30 kilometres from its large auto plant at Nošovice in North Moravia. At the same time, South Korea’s Nexen Tire has just inked a deal for a gigantic investment in North Bohemia.

Czech power company ČEZ has paid a price for drawing a line under its Albanian episode and is now looking away from the Balkans and to countries closer to home as the target for its future investment targets.

The Czech Republic is preparing for a fundamental shift in its energy policy, Hospodářské noviny reported on Tuesday. Quoting the latest version of the official long-term state energy plan, the business daily says the country is set to make a switch from being a state that exports power to one that imports it.

The results of an annual study conducted by research institute Trendence called the Graduate Barometre, suggests that Czech graduates of technical and economic universities are more modest than graduates in fellow former Communist bloc countries including Hungary, Bulgaria and Slovakia.

CzechInvest is enjoying a revival on the back of a surge of foreign investment interest in the Czech Republic with the agency saying that a lot of the prospective enquiries cover research and development facilities and not just assembly plants.

The average age of dollar millionaires in the Czech Republic is 51 and the country’s affluent regard buying companies as the most attractive form of investment, according to the latest annual Wealth Report produced by the financial institution J+T Banka and quoted in Thursday’s edition of Hospodářské noviny.

The doctrine of infallibility is certainly not one which applies to Czech banks. In spite of the painful lessons from the recent past, poor loans represent a persistent and growing problem with the central bank expressing its concern.