Warsaw (Puls Biznesu) – Today, with delay, subscription of individual investors for the shares of Eurocash starts. The company, running a network of wholesaler shops, is also starting its road show in Vienna for foreign institutional investors. The owner has big chances to sell the whole stake of 45-percent. The price range was set at PLN 2.9-3.4, so the stake would be worth even PLN 190 m (EUR 46.5 m). The final price will be set on January 27th, and will be based on the book building among institutional investors.
‘At such price, Eurocash should have no problems with selling the shares’, Sebastian Slomka, BDM PKO BP analyst said. In his opinion, Eurocash is in good financial condition and has funds for development. This year, sales may grow to PLN 1.8 billion and net income to PLN 28 m, the analyst said. Luis Amaral, the CEO and owner of Eurocash, does not want to give any forecasts. In 2004, the company had sales of PLN 1.5 billion and net income of PLN 20 m. ‘We are planning to pay out maximum dividend to shareholders. It may be limited by big acquisitions’, Luis Amaral added. Several weeks ago, the company bought 12 wholesaler centres of MHC and is looking for other ones in Poland.
Eurocash planst to further develop its network of discount food wholesaler centres (there are 83 today) and a franchising network of ‘abc’ shops (there are 1,900 today). It also plans to launch 17 new wholesaler centres within two years.
(PLN 1 = EUR 0.245)