Nearly exactly one month ago, the Warsaw Stock Exchange investors were shocked with the news that Leszek Czarnecki, the main shareholder of Getin Holding and LC Corp, had agreed to cooperate with communist authorities. The stocks had been falling in previous days and no one knew why. On Tuesday, July 1st, rp.pl portal revealed the episode from Leszek Czarnecki life. The stock dived. Not for long, however. The panic lasted one day only.
The next day, on-line users were discussing how to minimize their losses. No one was interested in the past of Leszek Czarnecki.
“Getin Holding has strong brand and non-fundamental arguments cannot spoil its position. The situation was difficult, however, and the company survived the crisis very well. Getin did not discuss the case of its main shareholder, where it is not a party, but the bank focused on presenting its business”, dr. Anna Adamus-Matuszynska specializing in public relations at the Academy of Economics in Katowice commented.
Nearly exactly at the same time when the portal revealed its news, a press conference was held at Getin Holding. Leszek Czarnecki denied majority of accusations. On July 3rd, a flood of announcements and press releases from his companies, including Noble Bank, Getin Holding and Getin Internationl appeared. They included news on increased credit sales at Open Finance and Metrobank, the fact that Getin had collected PLN 10bn (EUR 3.1bn) in deposits and that the bank was the leader in car credits, that Dom Bank had had record credits sales. At the same time, news concerning credit from EBRD for the Russian subsidiary of Getin Carcade was published. A week after rp.pl news, the holding presented its plans. Finally, the company organized a presentation for investors concerning its business and future plans. Till July 16, there were altogether eight announcements and press releases about Leszek Czarnecki group.
Despite this, dr. Dariusz Tworzydlo, public relations expert from WSIiZ university in Rzeszow, believes that the company ought to have done more to protect its image.
“I lacked engagement from the main shareholder, Leszek Czarnecki”, Dariusz Tworzydlo believed.
(PLN 1 = EUR 0.311)