Czech Republic

Bond investors bracing for Czech rate hikes are finding a silver lining in the latest bond selloff, Bloomberg News reported. Primary dealers bid for more than 30 billion koruna ($1.37 billion) of Czech government bonds due in 2030 at an auction on Wednesday, the highest demand for a note with about 10 years in maturity since May. The rush reflects the juicy yield premium that the battered securities now offer over equivalent German bunds.

Czech Airlines’ insolvency petition sets out the scale of the company’s financial problems, which it partly attributes to the inability to source rescue funding from the Czech government, FlightGlobal reported. The company has 266 creditors, with the total liability to suppliers amounting to Kc809 million ($37.1 million) as of 25 February, its petition to a Prague municipal court states. But the petition, seen by FlightGlobal, adds that there is a debt of nearly Kc1 billion to “hundreds of thousands” of passengers who are owed for the cancellation of flights.

A lack of tourists in the Czech capital forced City Sightseeing Prague to file for insolvency, Prague Morning reported. City Sightseeing is one of the world’s leading open-top bus, boat, and guided walking tour company. Established in 1999, the global brand provides hop-on hop-off services. City Sightseeing operates in over 100 locations across 5 continents which includes cities such as London, Rome, New York, Edinburgh, Seville, Moscow, Cape Town, and Prague.

Blažek, famous Czech brand for menswear, has filed for insolvency, PragueMorning.cz reported. The company registers more than 150 creditors for a total debt of almost 87 million CZK. As iHNED.cz reports, the company’s founder is considering the entry of a new investor. The company became insolvent from the forced closure of stores during the first and second waves of the epidemic. Like many retailers, Blažek was already struggling with the shift to online shopping even before the pandemic struck this spring.

Insolvency and restructuring activity remained low across Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), since the beginning of the pandemic, except Romania, which has recorded an increase in the number of insolvencies, and Czech Republic, which saw an increasing trend in restructuring, according to PwC ”Global Restructuring Trends” report, Business Review reported…According to the report, insolvencies are expected to increase in Q4 2020 and into 2021 globally, especially for those companies that operate in heavily COVID-19-affected industries that may take much longer to recover, such as leisure, trave

Czech lender Komercni Banka reported a larger-than-expected 57% drop in third-quarter net profit on Thursday as bad loan provisions grew amid the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reported. The Czech Republic, like other European nations, is facing a strong second wave of coronavirus infections, forcing the government to shut many retail shops, services and public venues. Banks face the prospect of rising loan defaults as repayment moratoriums expire and the economy struggles to recover.

Komercni Banka on Wednesday posted an 8.5% drop in third-quarter net profit, in line with estimates as financial operations income fell and the Czech lender did not see a net release of bad loan provisions as in previous quarters, Reuters reported. Attributable net profit came in at 3.85 billion crowns ($167.25 million), versus the average estimate of 3.88 billion in a Reuters poll. The bank, 60% owned by France’s Societe Generale, boosted net interest income and net fees by 2.1% and 1.2% year-on-year respectively.

A Czech court ruled that Citibank’s claim to debt worth over 10 billion crowns ($434.10 million) owed by Czech miner OKD was eligible, CTK news agency reported on Wednesday, Reuters reported. CTK reported OKD’s former insolvency administrator and representative of the state, which now owns OKD’s mining operations, both said they would appeal the ruling. OKD filed for insolvency in 2016 while a unit of miner New World Resources, which went into liquidation that year. OKD’s insolvency administrator rejected Citibank’s claim, leaving it out of proceedings.