Eduard Janota, the Czech Republic's deputy finance minister, announced that the proposed privatisation of the state-owned brewer, Budejovicky Budvar (BB), “would not go ahead for another two years”. “The country is not budgeting for revenues from the privatisation of BB or the power utility, CEZ, for the 2004-2006 period,” Janota told a BBC interview.

About two weeks ago appeared different reports regarding the government pondering the privatisation of BB. These reports emerged and aroused significant interest and speculation. Regional government authorities were reported to be considering bidding for a majority stake in the brewer if the government sell-off went ahead. However, the management at the company is known to be opposed to privatisation.

Budejovicky Budvar registered a profit of CZK280m in 2002 on sales of CZK2.4 billion.

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