Business | All stories

Property as an investment not as a place to live: the phenomenon of buy to rent, and other variations along the same theme, has long been a facet of richer, more developed, real estate markets such as Britain and France. But it now appears to be taking on in the Czech Republic as well.

The Czech Chamber of Commerce has come out strongly against a plan to force large retailers to shut their doors on state holidays. The Senate proposal is aimed at improving conditions for workers. However, it could lead to wage reductions or layoffs, says Chamber chief Vladimir Dlouhý.

Škoda Transportation has secured its second major contract in Germany, a deal providing 38 electric single-floor trains for Nuremberg. The deal is worth 10 billion crowns and should open new opportunities for Škoda Transportation on western European markets.

The Agrofert Group, a Czech food, agriculture, chemistry and media conglomerate, owned by Czech Finance Minister Andrej Babiš is flourishing. Its unconsolidated revenues last year rose by 3 billion crowns to an overall 239 billion crowns year-on-year, a spokesman for the group told reporters.

Around 600 to 700 miners demonstrated in front of the Ministry of Industry and Trade on Thursday. But as an afterthought, they will have probably understood that they were banging at the wrong door.

The Ministry of Agriculture has earmarked more funding for the advertising of Czech-produced foods this year. However, it plans major changes in how its Klasa national quality mark is promoted, Mladá fronta Dnes reported on Thursday.

The Czech Republic’s biggest car maker Škoda Auto is having one of its most successful periods and last year sold a record one million-plus vehicles. However, Mladá fronta Dnes reported on Wednesday, it is planning to hive off some workers into outside companies – a move that could spark strike action.

A multi-billion crown tender to supply Czech power company ČEZ with nuclear fuel for its two Temelin reactors looks like it is on the horizon. ČEZ’s general manager and board chairman Daniel Beneš raised the prospect that the current contract of Russian fuel supplier TVEL might not be automatically renewed in an interview this week with the Czech weekly Respekt.

The Czech Republic can expect to get its small share of the benefits from the European Central Bank (ECB) move last week to pump a significant amount of money into the economy to boost growth and fuel inflation. The move will also help ease pressure on the crown against the euro, though not against the dollar.

While Czechs are increasingly enjoying the advantages of shopping over the internet, online shopping for groceries has been slower to take off. Last year Czechs spent 152 billion crowns on food products of which only 3 billion was purchased over the internet. However there are now signs that the business is revving up and more firms are poised to enter the market.