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See your next event: 08 September 2010 - Algarve Business Cocktail

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Issue 10/486	Previous Editions
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Barclays ˇ Bemposta ˇ BP Portugal ˇ EDP Renováveis
HPP Saúde ˇ Logica ˇ Lusitania ˇ Millennium bcp
Oceânico Group ˇ Sovereign

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The hot summer weather fuelled dozens of wildfires around the country in August, keeping battalions of firefighters busy protecting homes and cleaning up once a blaze is extinguished. The Peneda-Geres National Part in the North was threatened by fires, powered by high winds, among many others. At least two firefighters died in blazes, the Civil Defence authority said.
The government is having a hard time keeping its spending under control, with budget overshooting in the first half amounting to 546m, according to materials published in the official gazette. Of that, 95m was directly dependent on ministerial control, with the remainder allocated to autonomous services and public institutes. Even so, the Finance Ministry said the changes to the budget wouldnt threaten the governments overall goal of cutting the deficit over the whole year. And later the Budget Director said all ministries will see their spending either frozen or reduced through the end of 2010.
Portugals unemployment rate rose 1.5 percentage points to 10.6% in the second quarter, with the number of unemployed rising 16% to 589,800 people. Compared with the first quarter, though, the unemployment rate was unchanged, and the number of unemployed was slightly lower.
Ratings agency Fitch said Portugal risks another downgrade of its sovereign debt rating if the economy slips back into recession over the next few months. Fitch said it was closely monitoring economic activity as well as the governments efforts to bring public finances under control.
Portuguese companies are starting to receive back payments of money owed by Angolan customers, the result of pressure on Angola from the Portuguese government. Some 13 Portuguese companies are owed a total 1.5bn, mainly for public works projects. The failure to pay was addressed by Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva on a recent trip to Angola.
Portugals official Mazda importer notified owners of the Mazda 3 and 5 vehicles of a North American recall of the cars because of potential problems with the hydraulic steering system. The Portuguese retailer said there have been no complaints so far in Portugal.
The Portuguese Communist Party announced last week that Francisco Lopes will be its candidate for President of the Republic at the upcoming elections in early 2011. The Socialist Partys Manuel Alegre has said he will run, as has independent Fernando Nobre. The incumbent, Anibal Cavaco Silva, is expected to run again, though he has yet to formally announced his plans.
The government has announced the closure of 701 primary schools this year, more than half of them in the north of the country. Teachers unions and parents are fighting the decision, which will require students to travel further to school in many instances.
Portugal is making inroads against tax cheats, if the recent data from the Customs Agency is any sign. The DGAIEC said contraband nabbed in the first half was worth 8.2bn down from 11bn in the same period the previous year, though almost half of all spot checks revealed contraband materials.
Portugal and Angola have signed an agreement to cooperate on scientific research in the biotech sector. The Institute for Tropical Research and Angolas Nation Scientific Research centre will also work together to obtain financing for joint projects.
Benfica drew Group B for the Champions League Cup, meaning it will play Olympique Lyon in the first match, as well as take on FC Schalke and Hapoel Telaviv. Portugals other contender, FC Braga, is Group H, facing Arsenal, FC Shaktar and Partizan. The tournament begins September 14 and the final is in May 2011.

Millennium bcps pension fund owns 10.3% of builder Teixeira Duarte in the wake of TDs move to swap shares in its holding companies for shares in the main listed entity. Millennium bcp now holds 42m TD shares.
Industrial company Martifer said last week it will produce a prototype for wave energy collection in 2011. Martifer last week signed a 9.5m incentives plan with the government to underwrite investment in the new technology.
The government has defined the process for the next stage of privatization of energy giant Galp, involving a sale of 7% of the company via convertible bonds that will be offered to international and domestic investors. The timing of the sale has yet to be determined.
Leading retail conglomerate Sonae said last week that it has created 2,000 jobs in the past 12 months and now has more than 40,000 employees, cementing its position as Portugals top employer. Sonae posted profits of 41m in the first half, swinging from a loss of 28m for the same period the previous year.
Cement juggernaut Cimpor posted net profits of 99m, an 8% decline in the first half compared with the same period the previous year, despite a modest rise in sales to 1.09bn from 1.02bn. Cimpor said shrinking margins, higher taxes and provisions cut into profits for the period.
Cement company Semapa, Cimpors main rival, posted a 68% rise in net profits in the first half, to 43.5m. Sales were up 6% at 811m.
The government has inked contracts with Brazils aerospace specialist Embraer worth a total 170m. Embraer plans to open two factories in Portugal, in the central Alentejo region
Papelaria Fernandes, the historic stationers, announced last week that as part of its bankruptcy workout it will shutter 12 retail outlets and lay off 100 employees. Only the companys two landmark stores one in downtown Lisbon and the other at the Largo do Rato in the capital will remain operational.
Revenue from tourism rose 7.4% through the end of June, the Bank of Portugal said recently, with the rise for June alone some 10%. Bernardo Trinidade, the Secretary of State for Tourism, said the numbers reflected the sectors efforts to promote Portuguese destinations at home and abroad.
Industrial conglomerate Altri said last week that it earned 26.7m in profits in the first half, a record for the company and a big reversal from the 12m loss posted in the same period the previous year. Sales were up 73% at 244m.
TAP Air Portugal posted losses of 79m in the first half, 17m more than the flag carrier lost in the same period the previous year. TAP said seasonal effects plus the impact of the springs volcano activity cut into profits, as passenger traffic rose 6% to 4.07m travellers.
Energias de Portugal said last week that new legislation will help the company increase its cash flow by 45m. The legislation is designed to put Portuguese and Spanish companies on equal footing by encouraging capacity.

Millennium bcp said last month that it will start issuing certificates via the Euronext Lisbon exchange, extending the product to a broader range of potential investors. Previously the banks certificates traded only on the OPEX market.
Banif posted profits of 36.4m in the first half, a 12% decline from first-half 2009. Banif said the results included one-time gains from the sale of its Brazilian brokerage.
Banco Espírito Santo is still working to complete its GBP50m acquisition of UK broker Execution Noble six months after the initial deal was agreed. The transaction requires approval of UK, US, Hong Kong and Portuguese authorities, BES said.
Stock market orders rose 3.6% in July according to data release last week by the CMVM market regulator. The CMVM said BES Investimentos remained market leader, with 18% of the orders, followed by Santander Totta with 12%.
Portuguese banks continued to rely on the European Central Bank to provide them with short term liquidity in July, the Bank of Portugal reported. Portuguese banks used 48.4bn from the ECB last month, a 22% increase over June.
Portuguese sent 1.2bn into offshore banking centres in the first half, reversing a trend out of tax havens seen in 2009. Bank of Portugal figures showed that in 2009, investors pulled a net 467m out of offshore account.
Banks are starting to lend more money for mortgages, with the total in June -- more than 1bn the highest level since the Lehman Brothers collapse in 2008. The total 15% higher than in May, and 26% higher than in June 2009.
The police nabbed $2.5m in phoney dollars last week, and took a Portuguese suspect into custody. It was not clear if the man was suspected of counterfeiting the currency himself, or merely transporting it.
Finibancos board last week recommended that shareholders accept Montepio Gerals takeover offer, saying it would create value and stimulate business. Montepio has offered 339m for Finibanco in what is essentially a bid to gain size in the Portuguese market.
Sonae Capital last week posted a loss of 5.4m for the first half, swinging from a 22.9m profit in the same period the previous year. Sales were down 45% at 89m, the company said.
Portuguese investors stumped up some 158m to buy the new Treasury Certificates being sold by the government. That was slightly less than the 171m in redemptions seen in government Savings Certificates.
Montepio Geral, the mutual society, said its profits totalled 30.6m in the first half, a 5% rise from the same period the previous year. Trading gains tripled to 45m, Montepio said.

Portugal Telecoms TMN, Sapo and MEO services now offer customer support via online networking sites Facebook and Twitter. PT said it was turning to the popular social networking sites in order to improve and modernize its customer support services.
Playboy said last week that it will sue Portugals Frestacom for publishing an issue of the Portuguese edition after the parent company suspended its licence in the wake of controversy over a pictorial referencing the work of José Saramago and featuring a man dressed as Jesus among naked models. Playboy said, however, that it is keen to keep publishing a Portuguese edition, with a different partner.
Another 250,000 low-cost laptops will be distributed to primary school students this year, as the governments e-schools programme continues.
Media group Cofina said last week that it posted a net loss of 10.9m in the first half, driven by a loss on its holding in cable TV operator Zon. Cofina had posted a 5.5m profit in first half 2009.
IT specialist Reditus posted a 74% rise in net profits in the first half of 2010, to a total 224,000. Sales at the company were up 1.3% to 51m.
Some 180,000 smartphones were sold in Portugal in the first quarter of 2010, around a fifth of the total 1.2m handsets sold. But market consultant IDC said of the smartphones, more than half of them arent used for anything other than regular calls and text messages, despite their networking capabilities.
Controlinveste, the owner of the Diario de Noticias and Jornal de Noticias newspapers, as well as TSF radio and a clutch of other media assets, is launching a new service for economic content. The new unit will be run by a former editor of i newspaper, and will serve as a news service to feed Controlinvests various outlets.
Portugal Telecoms interactive TV system MEO will start broadcasting the TVI24 channel in September. TVIs 24 hour news channel was launched in February 2009, and was exclusive to ZON users.
Optimus and Vodafone will begin to sell the trendy newiPhone 4 from Apple Computer in September. The iPhone smartphones will cost around 700, the companies said.

Obama, EU Leaders To Meet In Lisbon In November

US President Barack Obama will meet with European Commission President José Manuel Durăo Barroso and EU President Herman van Rompuy in Lisbon on November 20th, with the summit scheduled to coincide with a meeting of NATO member states on the 19th. The US has no stronger partner than Europe in advancing security and prosperity around the world, said the White House in a statement confirming the meeting. The US and the European Union are currently working together to advance a broad agenda based on a common history, shared values and enduring ties. Obama skipped the annual meeting of the EU and US, a move which irked many European diplomats. The NATO meeting will focus on the Alliances strategy for the war in Afghanistan as well as internal restructuring of the international coalition. Lisbon is bracing for heightened security measures during the summit, and will likely see traffic patterns disturbed as the bigwigs move around the city to the various meeting sites.

Highway Hell

Fog and inclement weather, as well as an unfortunate sequence of events caused a horrific 59-car double accident on the A25 motorway last week. Some 59 vehicles were involved, and 5 people were killed, as well as 72 injured. Authorities said the accident started on one side of the motorway when a big rig truck jackknifed, blocking all three lanes. Drivers were unable to see what happened, and plowed into the truck and then each other. Almost simultaneously, on the other side of the divider, vehicles lost control sparking a second chain-reaction pileup. On both sides vehicles burst into flames, hampering the rescue effort and increasing the physical damage. Rescue teams and firefighters worked all day to treat victims and clear the roadway. INEM, the emergency medical service, set up an onsite hospital the largest operation like that ever in Portugal to offer immediate care. Victims with serious injuries were flown to hospital in Lisbon. Insurers said the cost of the accident was likely to top 2m.

Murder Mystery Fascinates During Summer Season

The mysterious death in Brazil of a woman who was the longtime companion and former secretary of industrialist Lucio Tomé Feteira sparked an outpouring of media stories as the strange tale played out. According to the media, the victim, Rosalina Ribeiro, was killed by an unidentified assailant hours after meeting with her attorney, former government minister Duarte Lima. Lima is also said to have received millions in funds transferred by Rosalina to his accounts in what is said to be an attempt to keep the money away from Tomé Feteiras daughter Olimpia, who considered Rosalina a gold digger. Duarte Lima, in a televised interview, said he couldnt comment on the allegations because it would breach his clients privilege, but did say that he was the victim of an extraordinary effort to frame him for things he did not do. Brazilian police have questioned Lima more than once and do not believe he was involved in Rosalinas murder. Tomé Feteira was an industrialist from Leiria who was born in 1902 and met Rosalina in the 1960s, taking up with her shortly after he hired her as his secretary. Tomé Feteira died in 2000, and left behind a fortune estimated to be in the many hundreds of millions of euros, in property, stocks, cash and other assets, some of it held in offshore accounts in Switzerland and in the US.

Corporate Class Member

EDP Renováveis
Serrano Galvache 56, Centro Empresarial Parque Norte,
- Edifício Olmo - 7Ş planta
T: +34 902 830 700
www.edprenovaveis.com
Main Activity: Renewable Energy
Main Contact: Ana Maria Fernandes

Standard Class Members

Reef IT Services Quinta dos Pinheiros, Pereiras 8125-024 QUARTEIRA T: +351 289 358 374 info@reefitservices.com www.reefitservices.com Main Activity: Computers Main Contact: Mr Francois Barkhuizen		Fish Fixe Cais da Ribeira, Nş. 9, Săo Nicolau 4050-509 PORTO T: 222 038 458 caistur@iol.pt www.portoribeira.webs.com Main Activity: Food - Restaurants Main Contact: Joaquim Granja

Comfort Keepers R. Montes Burgos, Nş. 482, 2şH 4250-311 PORTO T: 220 500 807 F: 302 038 810 porto-ocidental@comfortkeepers.pt www.comfortkeepers.pt Main Contact: Nuno Afonso Main Activity: In-home Care		Algarve Seafaris Cruises Marina de Vilamoura , Cais Q escritório 9 e 10 8125-305 VILAMOURA T: 00351289302318 F: 00351289314898 info@algarve-seafaris.com www.algarve-seafaris.com Main Activity: Boat Hire/Charter/Sales Main Contact: Ivo Martins

Indulgence LDA EN125 Vale de Lousas 8365-306 ALCANTARILHA T: 282 322 246 info@indulgence.pt www.indulgence.pt Main Activity: Spa/Sauna/Steam Room supplier Main Contact: Mr Ian Morris		Iniziomedia Audiovisuais, SA Rua de Săo Bernardo, nş 60 A 1200-826 Lisboa T: 213 931 430 F: 213 933 524 email@iniziomedia.pt www.iniziomedia.com Main Activity: Audio Visual Products Main Contact: Bruno Cerveira

Conceiçăo Espada Av. Luís Augusto Colares, 64, Azenhas do Mar 2705- COLARES T: 912 272 624 ce-gestaostress@sapo.pt www.gestaostress.com Main Activity: Consultants Main Contact: Ms. Conceiçăo Espada		Designworks! Apt 2379 8100-070 BOLIQUEIME T: 917 203 850 F: 289 360 582 design@suzisteinhofel.com www.suzisteinhofel.com Main Activity: Graphic Designers & Commercial Artists - 0315 Main Contact: Suzi Steinhofel

If you wish to attend one of the events listed below, please contact:
Mª Helena Fernandes, BPCC, Lisbon.
Phone: +35 1 213 942 020, fax: +35 1 213 942 029, email: h.fernandes@bpcc.pt
This Diary of Events has now been expanded to include a selection of initiatives organised by the Commercial Section of the British Embassy* in Lisbon

8 September (Algarve) Business cocktail sponsored and hosted at the new offices of BPCC Member Money Mais in Almancil.

8 September (Porto) Informal Business Drinks at Hotel Porto Meliă Gaia. Let us know of your intention to attend and turn up from 6.30pm onwards.

16 September (Algarve) Business cocktail in Carvoeiro, sponsored by Vernon Real Estate.

23 September (Lisbon) Business Drinks de Rentrée hosted by LeoBurnett

23 Setembro (Lisbon) Almoço-Debate com Dr. Paulo Portas do CDS/PP

25 Setembro (Óbidos) Torneio de Golfe na Praia dEl Rey Golf & Beach Resort com o almoço no hotel Praia D'El Rey Marriott, patrocinado por Logica e Aguirre Newman.

29 Setembro (Porto) 14:00-19:00 SEMINAR on The secrets of low cost online marketing with Steve Masters from DotPonto at Hotel Eurostars das Artes.

30 Sept 1 Oct The Global Clean Energy Forum Who will be the winners of the new energy race? will be held at the Four Season Hotel Ritz in Lisbon. Book now special rate of Ł1050 for Chamber members.

7 Outubro (Lisboa) Seminário com Macedo Vitorino & Assoc sobre Concorręncia e Política de Insolvęncia no seu Auditório na Rua do Alecrim 26 E, Lisboa.

19 October (Algarve)  Lunch-Debate with André Jordan and the participation of CIOB, ICE and RICS. This event will be held at the Tivoli Victoria Hotel.

19 Outubro (Lisbon) Conferęncia sobre Mercado Alternativo Bolsista no auditório da Ordem dos Economistas.

20 Outubro (Porto) - Conferęncia sobre Mercado Alternativo Bolsista no auditório das Caves Calém em V.N. Gaia.

25 Novembro (Porto) - Seminário com IAPMEI sobre Sistemas de Financiamento ŕs PME's em colaboraçăo com a ANJE nas suas instalaçőes na Casa do Farol, Rua Paulo da Gama, 4169-006 PORTO.

25 Novembro (Lisboa) Almoço-Debate com o Secretário de Estado dos Assuntos Europeus.

4 December (Algarve) - Christmas Gala Dinner at the Sheraton Pine Cliffs.

Power Network lunches are organised on a regular basis (by invitation only) throughout the country. Should you wish to receive an invitation to attend the next one in your area, contact us on info@bpcc.pt

Interested in sponsoring these or any future Chamber events? - then contact us on h.fernandes@bpcc.pt

With respect to information in the publication, neither the British-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce nor any of our employees, makes any guarantee, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information. While the BPCC believes the information to be reliable, human or mechanical error remains a possibility. Neither the BPCC nor any of the sources of the information shall be responsible for any errors or omissions, or for the use or results obtained from the use of this information.
© British-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce

Please address any comments / enquiries to Chris Barton on c.barton@bpcc.pt
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Accenture ˇ Aguirre Newman ˇ ALD Automotive
British Council ˇ BT Portugal ˇ Casa Teixeira
Claranet Portugal ˇ Colt Telecom ˇ GlaxoSmithKline
Hammers 'n' Blades ˇ HN ˇ IRG - International Realty Group
Jaguar Automóveis ˇ Jardim Vista ˇ Jones Lang LaSalle
José Damásio dos Santos ˇ Martifer ˇ Moneris
Praia d´El Rey ˇ Premier FX ˇ Professional Investment Consultants
Sage Portugal ˇ Sheraton Hoteis - Lisboa e Porto ˇ Squarestone
Tejo Energia ˇ Van Ameyde Portugal

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