Page 5 - bne_newspaper_June_01_2018

The Regions This Week
June 1, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 5
Central Europe
Warsaw is ready to allocate $1.5bn-$2bn (€1.3bn-€1.7bn) to incentivise the US to set up a permanent military base in Poland, a defence ministry document, published by news portal Onet, showed. Poland has long wanted a stronger presence of US troops on its soil, and that objective has only become more urgent
in recent years, in line with the deteriorating geopolitical situation in the region.
A bus war is looming on the Czech market
between local RegioJet and German newcomer FlixBus. RegioJet, the bus and train ticket sales and operations group of Czech entrepreneur Radim Jancura, has sent a pre-lawsuit appeal to bus operator FlixBus, accusing the Germany company of unfair competition and dumping prices.
Latvian national airline airBaltic will buy up
to 60 Bombardier aircraft. airBaltic signed
an agreement with Canada’s Bombardier Commercial Aircraft concerning the purchase of 30 CS300 planes with options and rights for another 30. The value of the order is $2.9bn (€2.5bn) and could grow to $5.9bn if options and rights are executed.
Czech firearms manufacturer Ceska zbrojovka Uhersky Brod reported a record-breaking year in 2017, with a profit of CZK625mn (€24.1mn), up CZK28mn from 2016. The main reason is
the increase in production; the total amount of firearms exceeded 300,000 pieces and 90% of them were exported.
Estonian retail sales maintained their feeble growth rate in April. Sales expanded by just 1%
y/y in constant prices in April, according to data released by Statistics Estonia.
Swedish telecoms company Ericsson inaugurated a new state of the art headquarters and R&D centre in the Hungarian capital Budapest. Around 70% of the company's total staff of 2,000 will work in research and development in the new building.
Poland is confident that Baltic Pipe will be com- pleted on schedule in 2022. The gas pipeline link- ing the Norwegian gas fields operated by state- controlled oil and gas company PGNiG to Poland via Denmark is crucial to Warsaw’s ambitions of reducing dependence on Russian gas imports.
Jaguar Land Rover’s production plant in Nitra, Slovakia should launch production in September, company operations manager Alexander Wortberg told a press conference. The carmaker is currently finishing the plant, which is set to manufacture a whole range of new Jaguar Land Rover aluminium vehicles, with the first produced model to be the Land Rover Discovery.
Lithuanian wage growth hit its post-crisis peak in Q1. Gross monthly wages in Lithuania grew 9.5% y/y in the first quarter, according to data released by Lithuanian Statistics, as the labour market continues to tighten.
Hungary's Magnus Aircraft is constructing a new manufacturing plant in southern Hungary near the regional Pecs-Pogany airport to meet rising demand for its unique aircraft and plans to finish building a new plant by August. Magnus Aircraft, established in 2011, specialises in the design of small sport and training aircraft.
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