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State export insurer EGAP has been given a main role in helping diversify Czech exports. That task has just got a lot more challenging with trade sanctions between the EU and Russia and the even more urgent need to shift business and contracts to new destinations.

TATRA TRUCKS rise from the ashes following its predecessor’s bankruptcy seems to be continuing at a steady pace. The company already announced at the beginning of August that it had sold more vehicles in the first half of the year than expected and raised its profits estimate for the full year to 3 billion crowns. TATRA TRUCKS also says it has almost sold all this year’s planned production plan of 745 vehicles and expects to be capable of overshooting its 2014 target by an extra 30 to 50 vehicles.

Speculation has been raised in the Russian media that Moscow’s next retaliatory sanctions against the European Union and West could cover car imports. If that were the case, then the Czech Republic’s biggest industrial companies and exporters could suffer an unwelcome, but not fatal, blow.

Construction firms won almost 40 percent more in public contracts in the first half of 2014 compared to the same period last year, according to a study quoted by the Czech News Agency. In total, some CZK 80.755 billion in pubic construction projects were awarded in the period in question.

Česká spořitelna, the largest and oldest savings bank in the Czech Republic, has begun raising fees for many of its services including postage, text messages and cash transactions. The move surprised many analysts as the recent trend among Czech banks was the opposite. The higher charges came into effect this Friday.

Prague has become the first city in central and eastern Europe where the Uber car hire service is available. With only a few drivers recruited so far, the mobile-app based service is testing the ground. But once fully launched, will it transform the city’s notorious taxi scene?

With 02’s revenues falling, its owner PPF is planning a surprise move – splitting the Czech Republic’s largest telecommunications company into two parts, Hospodářské noviny reported on Wednesday.

Czech energy giant ČEZ announced its operating revenues in the first half of 2014 year-on-year in an online press release earlier today. According to ČEZ, the group’s net income was 17.2 billion crowns, 40 percent lower than last year. ČEZ blames the warm and dry winter along with low electricity prices and plans to raise earnings by cuts in fixed costs and expanding its business into new areas.

The Czech Ministry of Agriculture may have squandered up to 1.5 billion crowns on ambiguous promotion of Czech food and wine products over the past six years, according to a report by the country’s Supreme Audit Office. Much of the money was allegedly committed without a clear strategy, and in breach of the Czech public procurement legislation.

Many Czech food producers have invested into the Russian market in past years, and their strategy seemed to be working. But the arrival of reciprocal sanctions between the West and Russia due to the ongoing crisis in Ukraine is likely to thwart their thriving business. Voices of concern have already been heard from some of the major Czech producers active on the Russian market – but Czech farmers and small producers could face an even greater risk.