SERBIA:

Budget surplus in January at RSD 22.1bn
Serbian budget delivered RSD 22.1bn of surplus in January, this year, Ministry of Finance reported on Friday. Tax revenues amounted to RSD 77.7bn, out of which VAT contributed with RSD 32.7bn, while excise tax with RSD 31.4bn. Budget law for this year envisages RSD 28.4bn deficit for fully year level, which is 0.6% of the country’s GDP.
Source: Beta, Ilirika

JESV: Jedinstvo bought back additional 100 own shares
Jedinstvo Sevojno (JESV) bought back additional 100 of its own shares at a price of RSD 5,000 per share, the company reported. In total, the company now holds 20,604 own shares, which is 6.76%.
Source: Belex, Ilirika

ENHL: Sava preuzela Energoprojekt Garant
Energoprojekt je ostao bez osiguravajućeg društva Garant jer je većinski vlasnik, firma Napred razvoj, odlučio da ga proda slovenačkom Sava osiguranju. Ugovor je potpisan u četvrtak (16. decembra 2017. godine), pa je ispunjen zahtev NBS, koja je naložila Napred razvoju, većinskom vlasniku Energoprojekt Holdinga, da do 18. novembra otuđi svoje posredno učešće u Garantu, jer nije pribavila njenu saglasnost prilikom preuzimanja srpske građevinske kompanije. SavaRe je međutim tek u petak 9.marta, i zvanično potvrdila da je preuzela Garant, kupivši 93% u ovoj firmi. Ostatak od 7%, takođe će prema pisanju štampe biti otkupljen od manjinskih akcionara.
Izvor: Ilirika, SavaRe

REGION:

SBITOP gained 0.14 percent reaching 818,12 points
The best gainers were the stocks of SavaRe (POSR) on the basis of their good business result having recorded a 5.5 percent growth of premiums in 2017. Zavarovalnica Triglav (ZVTG) which had more then seven percent premium growth in 2017, was the second biggest gainer of the day at 0.63 percent increase. ZVTG was followed by Krka (KRKG) with 0.35 percent price increase.
Source: Ilirika

Petrol to make a final decision on paying out 16 EUR per share dividend. Results of SavaRe and Zavarovalnica Triglav promise high level dividends
The total profit for appropriation as of 31st December 2017, amounting to € 32,985,568.00, will be distributed as dividend payments to shareholders. Gross dividend of € 16.00 per share is proposed (own shares do not participate).
Source: Petrol, LJSE

In 2017 the Sava Re Group wrote €517.2 million in gross premiums, an increase of 5.5% over 2016 and 4.7% more than planned.
The performance of the Sava Re Group was marked by premium growth in all markets where it is present. Profits are within the planned range although impacted by some large claims. These were offset by better cost efficiency and synergy gains following the merger of the Group’s insurance companies based in Slovenia and Croatia. In 2017 the Sava Re Group wrote €517.2 million in gross premiums, an increase of 5.5% over 2016 and 4.7% more than planned. In Slovenia, gross non-life insurance premiums grew by 5.7%, while gross life insurance premiums rose by 3.7%. The Sava Re Group achieved a high, nearly 10% premium growth in international markets, both in non-life and life insurance business. Gross premiums written relating to the reinsurance segment grew by 3.8%. The Sava Re Group closed 2017 with a net profit of €31.1 million euro and a 10.1% return on equity. Net profit for the year declined by 5.5% compared to the previous year, largely as the result of a number of weather-related claims that impacted both insurance and reinsurance operations, with gross claims paid increasing by 14.9% and net claims incurred by 10.3%. The profit of Zavarovalnica Sava was impacted by storm losses (of about €11.9 million in total), while the reinsurance portfolio performed somewhat poorer than in 2016 due to major international claims, most notably claims relating to hurricane losses in the Caribbean and the USA of €4 million, and a major loss event in Russia of €3.8 million.
Source: SavaRe, LJSE

INO:

Nasdaq closes at record, Dow rallies more than 400 points after jobs report, Europe finishes in the black as well
U.S. stocks traded higher on Friday after the release of stronger-than-expected employment data. The Nasdaq composite advanced 1.8 percent, while Dow and S&P500 gained 1.77% and 1.74%, respectively.
Non farm payrolls in the United States increased by 313 thousand in February of 2018, following an
upwardly revised 239 thousand in January and beating market expectations of 200 thousand. Employment rose in construction, retail trade, professional and business services, manufacturing, financial activities, and mining. The US unemployment rate stood at 4.1 percent in February 2018, unchanged from the previous month's 17-year low and slightly above market expectations of 4 percent.
In corporate news, Goldman Sachs closed 1.7 percent higher after a report said CEO Lloyd Blankfein is preparing to leave the company by year-end. On the other side, Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg told Reuters the company has "plenty of cash horsepower" to make acquisitions, such as the proposed tie-up with Brazil's Embraer. Boeing shares rose 1.7 percent on Friday.
European stocks finished Friday's trading session on a positive note, following a better-than-expected jobs report from out of the U.S. The pan-European STOXX 600 provisionally rose 0.43 percent by the close, but off session highs. On the week, the STOXX 600 popped 3.05 percent.
Looking into the sector, Germany's Schaeffler and Continental both slipped to the bottom of the sector, with the latter suffering from a rating downgrade from CFRA Research.
In individual stocks news, GVC Holdings posted a full-year net gaming revenue rise of 17 percent in 2017. The online gambling firm said its latest figures were lifted by gains from the bwin.party business it bought three years ago. Shares of GVC Holdings jumped 5 percent.
From the macro side, the German trade surplus increased to EUR 17.4 billion in January of 2018 from EUR 14.6 billion in the same month a year earlier, as exports rose by 8.6 percent to EUR 107.1 billion and imports grew by 6.7 percent to EUR 89.7 billion.
Source: CNBC, Ilirka