Warsaw (Puls Biznesu) – The club controlled by ITI media group will not be listed as early as planned before.
When ITI acquired 97.5 percent of Legia in 2004, it said the football club would be listed within 2-3 years.
“The period of achieving financial success will be much longer than we expected in the years 2003-04 when we decided to engage in the company. Legia is our investment with a longer-yield horizon. As far as sports issues are concerned, we are doing according to the plan but we are much delayed in infrastructure”, Wojciech Kostrzewa, ITI CEO said.
In 2004, the company paid back or negotiated settlements for about PLN 20m (EUR 5.3m) of debts. Since then, the company has had losses although its CEO Piotr Zygo promised net income in 2005. In the first three quarters of 2006, Legia had PLN 1.82m of EBITDA loss, only slightly less than a year ago.
“It’s hard to say when the company will be profitable. It won’t be before the stadium is being built – which is planned in 2009”, Wojciech Kostrzewa said.
The construction works will be worth PLN 180m and be financed by the city.
(PLN 1 = EUR 0.263)