Slovakia - Factors To Watch on Sept 21

    BRATISLAVA, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press 
reports and events to watch which may affect Slovak financial 
markets on Thursday 
     
    SNS NEWS CONFERENCE 
    The Slovak National Party (SNS), a junior member of the 
ruling coalition, will hold a news conference (0800 GMT). 
     
    SONY TO INVEST 73 MLN EUROS IN NEW SLOVAK PLANT 
    Sony <6758.T> plans to build a new factory making 
flat-screen televisions in Slovakia for 73 million euros ($92.43 
million) to meet rising demand in Europe, the company said on 
Wednesday. Sony said the new plant should have annual capacity 
of three million sets, and it should start manufacturing liquid 
crystal display (LCD) televisions in September 2007. 
[ID:nL20168040] 
     
    GOVERNMENT APPROVES HIGHER WELFARE BENEFITS 
    The Slovak government pushed ahead with fulfilling 
pre-election spending promises on Wednesday, approving a plan to 
give parents a bigger one-off welfare payment on the birth of a 
first child. [ID:nL20234092] 
     
    CROWN REBOUNDS AS HUNGARY WORRIES FADE 
    The Slovak crown <EURSKK=> firmed slightly to the euro on 
Wednesday as central European currencies recovered from a drop 
caused by political turmoil and street riots in Hungary, traders 
said. [ID:nL20288034] 
     
    PRESS DIGEST 
    ------------ 
    TRANSPETROL HURDLES 
    The government has not yet met its goal of buying back a 49 
percent stake in the oil pipeline operating company Transpetrol, 
the daily Sme reports. The Slovak cabinet said in August it 
agreed with Yukos Finance to buy back the shares, but it now has 
to wait for Russia's steps in YUKOS's bankruptcy procedures. 
    Sme, page 7 
     
    KIA RETURNS TO ORIGINAL PRODUCTION START PLAN 
    Kia Motors will not move forward the production start in its 
new Slovak plant to October, but will return to the original 
plan of launching commercial output in November or December, the 
daily Sme reports. 
    Sme, page 6 
     
    GOVT STEPS WORRY INVESTORS 
    The government has caused concerns among foreign investors 
with the decision to cancel the sale of the Bratislava airport 
to Vienna airport operator Flughafen Wienn, the daily 
Hospodarske Noviny quoted the Austrian Airlines' country manager 
for Slovakia as saying. 
    Hospodarske Noviny, page 5 
     
    STATE WILL NOT RUN UTILITIES 
    The government will fail if it tries to get back management 
control in energy utilities that are run by foreign investors, 
the daily Hospodarske Noviny reports. The daily said Economy 
Minister Lubomir Jahnatek had admitted privatisation contracts 
cannot be changed by amending Slovak laws. 
    Hospodarske Noviny, page 4 
     
For an economic indicator diary for the euro zone, the ed States 
and other Group of Seven countries, see <G7TODAY>. For a diary 
of forthcoming Slovak events, double click [SK/DIARY], and for a 
calendar of east European economic indicators, see [CONV/DIARY]. 
     
    News editor of the day: Peter Laca on +421 2 5341 8402; fax: 
+421 2 5341 8403 
    E-mail: reuters@editorial.sk 
    Reuters Messaging: peter.laca.reuters.com@reuters.net 
     
 For real-time index quotes, double click in brackets: 
 Warsaw WIG20 <.WIG20>  Budapest BUX <.BUX>  Prague PX50 <.PX50> 
 Other related news: 
 Slovak equities      [SK-E]  E.Europe equities           [.CEE] 
 Slovak money         [SK-M]  Czech debt                  [CZ-D] 
 Slovak Indicators  [SK-ECI]  Emerging forex          [EMRG/FRX] 
 Eastern European     [EEU]   All emerging markets        [EMRG] 
 Hot stocks           [HOT]   Stock markets                [STX] 
 Market debt news     [DBT]   Forex news                   [FRX] 
 TOP NEWS -- Emerging markets                         [TOP/EMRG] 
 TOP NEWS -- Convergence watch                        [TOP/EAST] 
 ((Bratislava Newsroom; Email: editorial@reuters.sk; 
+421-905-602-847)) 
 ($1=29.60 Slovak Crown) 
 ($1=29.60 Slovak Crown)