New shareholders face split over management of Prochnik clothes producer

MG
opublikowano: 2007-11-19 10:32

Warsaw (Puls Biznesu) – Shareholders want to triple sales within 12 months. They have a lot in common but they have different opinions about the management.

Two groups of shareholders: from Lodz and Warsaw, want jointly to improve the situation at the clothes producer. But they may quarrel at the very start about the management. On Thursday, the group of shareholders from Lodz who has a stake of over 10.35 percent and controls Prochnik, is meeting Konrad Wojterowski, the owner of telecommunications and IT companies MCSI of Warsaw. Out of a sudden, he appeared at the last GSM and it turned out that jointly with other MCSI managers, he controls two stakes of Prochnik shares, 5 percent each. The groups from Warsaw and Lodz will present their ideas to get the clothes company back into profits.
“We are meeting because we assume we will cooperate”, Konrad Wojterowski assured.
“We seem to have nearly identical strategies, jointly a big stake, so it would be good to join forces”, Przemyslaw Andrzejak representing Lodz shareholders who have all seats in the supervisory board, said.
 
Wojterowski wants to have influence on how the company is managed. To him, the most important issue is to refresh Prochink image. In his opinion, PLN 5m (EUR 1.36m) is enough to increase sales two or three times.
“I estimate that with modern management, Prochnik could have PLN 60-80m of sales at the end of 2008 and PLN 5m of net income”, Konrad Wojterowski expected.
In the first two quarters of this year, the company had PLN 12.1m of sales and PLN 674,000 of net loss. Lodz shareholders agree and have similar estimations. They also want to refresh the brand, implement female and teenage clothes and close unprofitable shops. Analysts are skeptical.
“The financial forecasts are very ambitious especially that rival Bytom and V&W are getting stronger. It will be difficult for Prochnik to have PLN 5m of net income. The company should focus on substantial increase of sales”, Rafal Salwa, independent analyst explained.
In his opinion, investors will approve of the company, even if it generates PLN 1m of net income provided that the sales are as planned.
 
It may be difficult for both groups of shareholders to reach their plans because they differ in the opinion about the management. Konrad Wojterkowski believes that the management which has been running the company since the year 2004, should be dismissed. Lodz shareholders on the other hand want to have the old management.
(PLN 1 = EUR 0.272)