INTERFAX - Hungary Business news report of 23.05.2008

STATISTICS

Hungarian retail sales down 3.7% y/y in March; Q1 drop 3.1% y/y

Hungary’s Finance Ministry projects HUF 88.6 bln state budget surplus in May, cuts H1 forecast

COMPANY NEWS

TRANSPORTATION

PRESS: High fuel prices bring HUF 8 bln extra costs for Hungarian airline Malev

REAL ESTATE

German Deutsche Bank’s investment arm buys EUR 341 mln real estate projects in Romania

Hungarian developer Casaro to open Tiszaujvaros mall in November, continue expansion

PRESS: Around 11% of Romanians want to buy new homes in coming three years - UniCredit study

PRESS: Romanian property firm Imotrust to increase capital by EUR 2.8 mln to EUR 8.5 mln

Hungary’s Porto Investment to launch EUR 31.5 mln PPP property project in summer

Turkish developer Ozer Construction to invest EUR 80–100 mln in Romania

Hungary’s Budapest Airport to launch EUR 16.8 mln infrastructure expansion

Cyprus-based developer Copper Beech to invest EUR 1.5 bln in Romania by 2012

Hungarian developer SCD sells retail chain Interfruct, eyes IPO

Land prices in Romania’s Cluj up 50% in 2007 – CBRE Eurisko

GE Real Estate, U.K.’s Helios-Phoenix start EUR 87.5 mln logistics project in Romania

PRESS: Strong Romanian demand boosts eastern Hungarian property prices by up to 50%

Romanian property developer RomReal turns to profit in Q1 2008

Spanish developer CP Grupo to invest EUR 100 mln in Romanian real estate projects

Hungarian construction output falls 13.5% y/y in March as decline slows

ENERGY NEWS

OIL & PETROCHEMICALS

Hungary will not cut taxes on fuel despite record prices; in talks with transport firms – Fin Min

Austrian oil major OMV launches legal challenges against Hungarian peer MOL on AGM resolutions

Hungarian retail fuel prices to rise HUF 2–4 per liter this week to new records

PRESS: Russian oil firm Lukoil’s Romanian arm to open premium gas stations

GAS

PRESS: Hungary’s E.ON Foldgaz Storage to complete gas depot expansion program in August ’09

U.K. hydrocarbon exploration firm Matra spuds first Hungarian gas well in USD 5 mln program

PRESS: Romanian gas distributor Distrigaz requests 18% price hike in July

PRESS: Romanian gas firm Romgaz doubles profit in Q1 2008 to EUR 76.2 mln on cold winter

PRESS: Hungarian household natural gas prices to rise 10–11% in July; prices for industry up 8%

HEAT, POWER & SEWAGE

Hungarian EU ETS companies emit 26.8 mln tonnes of CO2 in 2007

PRESS: Nine companies bid for Romanian power firm Hidroelectrica’s 17 small hydro stations

PRESS: Romanian coal-fired power plants to buy extra carbon emissions for EUR 100–200 mln

PRESS: Hungarian household electricity prices to remain unchanged despite rising wholesale price

EMERGING MARKETS NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

Europe’s oil companies fear Gazprom Neft’s strength in Europe after acquiring Serbia’s NIS

Kazakhstan bans exports of gasoline, diesel from June 1 to Sept 1

Kyiv offers Baku use of Odessa-Brody pipeline to ship Caspian oil to EU

EU-Russia talks on new treaty may be complete in 2009 – French official

Kazakhstan may bind all mineral developers to pay crude export duty in 2009

EU to endorse mandate for talks on new basic accord with Russia in next few days – Lavrov (part 2)

EU will soon decide on mandate for talks on new accord with Russia – Kouchner

FINANCIAL MARKETS

EQUITIES

Budapest Stock Exchange share trading 16–23/05/2008

Budapest Stock Exchange, Indices, weekly change 16–23/05/2008

CURRENCY

National Bank of Hungary official exchange rates 16–23/05/2008

Nb: This news report features only the headline of each news