Stanisław Siewierski, the ex MD of copper and silver miner KGHM, considers that his former company needs at least two years before it can be fully privatised. He notes that when the company was first quoted on the stock exchange in 1997, its stock was worth around USD7 each giving a market value of USD1.4bn for the company and that was without considering the shares the company holds in Polkomtel. Today shares cost around USD3 each giving the company a value of around USD600m, or to put it another way, more or less the value of the stock the company holds in the cellular telephone operator.
Clearly the low price of copper and increasing mining costs enter into the equation. He believes that if this situation continues much longer then the company could lose as much as PLN300m next year. In this case a full privatisation cannot be considered.