A new record was hit by the broad index of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) on May 29.

The broad BG40 index rose 1.92 per cent to an all-time high of 288.23 points, while the blue-chip Sofix index of the 16 most liquid shares gained 0.61 per cent to 1338.51 points.

According to brokers, no sharp changes in prices on the market are expected in the next few weeks, wire agency SeeNews said.
“The market is likely to remain within the current levels until companies’ financial results for the first six months are out,” a broker told SeeNews.

Companies must issue their financial statements for the first half of the year by the end of July.

The share price of Bulgarian Holding Company, which on Monday reported an annual rise of 23 times in its consolidated net profit for the first quarter, kept going up, the broker said. Bulgarian Holding Company stock closed 9.3 per cent higher at 5.3 leva on volume of about 29 200 shares, while its average weighted price, used in the calculation of the BG40 index, surged 25.06 per cent to 5.54 leva.

Chimimport was again the liquidity leader. The company lost 1.57 per cent to 11.31 leva middle price. CCB went up by 1.7 per cent to nine leva. The price of Orgachim continued to increase with 66 traded stocks. In general on May 29, 68 shares rose, 37 fell and 18 closed unchanged. Trading volumes rose to 13.4 million leva from 9.1 million leva on May 28.

The start of the week was not good for Bulgartabac’s tobacco factory in Gotse Delchev. On May 29 not a single candidate buyer showed up at the mixed closed auction organised by the BSE for Bulgartabac Holding’s Gotse Delchev BT. The previous auction organised for the company also failed to attract buyers. A total of 753 062 shares or 78.27 per cent of the capital of Gotse Delchev BT are being offered on the BSE. The minimum price for the package was 2.25 million leva. Sales procedures are yet to be launched for Assenovgrad BT and Shoumen BT, which are also part of Bulgartabac Holding’s procedure.

The same day, the US-managed Trans-Balkan Bulgaria Fund said that it planned to exit some of its investments via initial public offerings on BSE. The offering will take place next year, Danail Danailov, senior investment officer of the Fund, told a news conference on May 29.

“For us this is a nice opportunity to sell at good price something that we bought cheap,” Danailov said, without giving further details.

Trans-Balkan Bulgaria Fund is managed by US-based Small Enterprise Assistance Funds. Its portfolio includes stakes in used car tyre recycling company Ecoprocess, Eastern Gas Company (Gasco), office supplies distribution company Mercurius, home and office paper products manufacturer Marker and electronics products and ice-cream and coffee shops chain Jimmy’s.