Fri, Feb 10 2012

Stock market keeps crawling

Thu, Apr 05 2001 15:00 CET

byNickolay Grigorov

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During the last week of March, the Bulgarian stock market remained in its depressed state, reflecting rumours that major listed companies would soon withdraw from the Bulgarian Stock Exchange - Sofia (BSE).

The leading index of the exchange, SOFIX, slid down to 82.45 from 82.57 at the end of the previous week. The current value of the index is almost touching its 52-week low.

While prices were going down, the volume of the exchange surged three-fold. During the last week of March, some 4.56 million shares changed hands on the exchange, compared to 1.39 million the week before.

The skyrocketing volume of the BSE reflected increasing block transactions. The largest deals involved Petrol (PET) and Vamo (VAMO).

PET, a leading Bulgarian fuel chain, was traded at $6.32 per share, down 3.6 per cent. Some 185,000 shares of the company, representing 9.8 per cent of its share capital, changed hands. The decline of PET's price comes as the LUKoil Neftochim refinery announced a fuel price hike.

VAMO, a debt-ridden machine building plant based in Varna, was traded at 23 cents a share, remaining unchanged from the previous week. The VAMO block deal involved a transfer of shares from a Bulgarian Holding Company to its subsidiary Bulgarian Industrial and Commercial Corporation. Earlier in March, the powerful Moscow mayor Yuri Lujkov, who was on a visit to Sofia, enquired about the possibilities of VAMO to export motors to Russia.

The BSE Lazard 30 index, an aggregate of the largest stocks traded on the BSE, dropped to 36.22, from 36.84 points the previous week. The decline reflected the weak performance of pharmaceutical stocks. Balkanpharma Dupnitza (FARM) tumbled 20.4 per cent to $1.40 per share. Balkanpharma Troyan (TRYF) was down 13.4 per cent to $1.60. Sopharma (SFARM) slid 4.8 per cent to $1.08.

Nevertheless, the week brought about very positive news related to Balkanpharma. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) announced it would provide the holding with a loan of 21.5 million euros, with a one-year grace and four-year repayment period. Balkanpharma management announced that the financing would be used to upgrade its production facilities to Western standards, with the goal of obtaining GMP certification.

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