November 23 (SeeNews) - Shares in Bulgarian cellulose producer Svilosa [BUL:3MZ] gained 6.0% to 5.3 levs on the Sofia bourse on Friday, after the company announced that A.R.U.S. Holding has sweetened its buyout bid for the remaining 6.74% stake in the company it does not already own to 5.5 levs per share.
The initial offer, priced at 4.7 levs per share, was temporarily suspended by the financial regulator earlier this month. The Financial Supervision Commission has not yet allowed the updated buyout bid.
The benchmark SOFIX index gained 0.18% to 588.93 points on Friday, ending the week with a 1.07% loss overall.
Hydraulic equipment manufacturer M+S Hydraulic [BUL:5MH] was the top gainer among the 15 blue chips on Friday, adding 1.94% to a closing price of 7.90 levs. On Thursday, M+S Hydraulic announced that it has booked sales revenue of 106.27 million levs in the first ten months of 2018, slightly exceeding its forecast of 106.16 million levs, and posting a solid rise compared to the same period of 2017, when the company booked sales of 92.60 million levs.
Software developer Sirma Group Holding [BUL:SKK] posted the second sharpest rise among blue chips, gaining 1.46% to 0.972 levs. The company's share price has been on the rise since it announced last week that its consolidated net profit rose to 3.3 million levs in the first nine months of the year from 1.7 million levs in the comparable period of 2017.
On the losing end, recent SOFIX addition Elana Agrocredit [BUL:0EA] dropped 0.86% to 1.15 levs, followed by Central Cooperative Bank (CCB) [BUL:4CF], which declined 0.35% to 1.415 levs, extending its recent losses.
CCB's share price is currently at a two-year low, as the lender erased some 9.3% of its market capitalisation after the European Central Bank (ECB) announced last week that it will undertake a comprehensive assessment of the lender, as part of the process of establishing close cooperation on supervision with Bulgaria's central bank.
The wider BGBX40 index, which tracks the 40 most traded shares on the Sofia bourse, added 0.23% to 114.90 points, heavily supported by the rise in Svilosa's share price.
Drug trader Sopharma Trading [BUL:SO5] was the second biggest gainer among BGBX40 constituents, as its share price increased 2.94% to 7.0 levs.
The BGTR30 index, in which companies with a free float of at least 10% have equal weight, closed 0.11% higher at 488.74 points, as Sopharma Trading and M+S Hydraulic rose most among its constituents.
The BGREIT index, which tracks the performance of real estate investment trusts (REITs), ended the session unchanged at 117.35 points.
Total trading turnover amounted to some 406,000 levs ($236,000/208,000 euro) on Friday, up from 184,000 levs on Thursday.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)
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