Polish Business Survey
Rafineria Gdańska wants more stations
On 18 April Wojciech Żurawik will become Rafineria Gdańska s managing director. He believes that the privatisation process of the company, the second largest fuel concern in Poland, will be pick up speed in the summer. The privatisation advisor, JP Morgan Securities, will choose potential investors in the early summer and the process should be completed around the beginning of October. If no-one shows any interest the company could be sold on the stock market. Żurawik admits that this would not be the first privatisation choice but it is by no means the worst solution.
Wojciech Żurawik would like to increase annual production from the present 3.3m tons to 6 - 6.5m tons within the next three years. He believes that the way to compete with PKN, the largest player on the fuel market in Poland, is to increase the amount of filling stations supplied by Rafineria Gdańska to 500 - 550. This will be difficult to achieve as many independently run stations which are supplied by his company are in financial trouble with large mortgages outstanding. Żurawik thinks the solution to this problem will be to transfer stations from PKN, something PKN is unlikely to comply with. PKN may have other plans. There are increasingly more rumours that if Rafineria Gdańska shares appear on the market then PKN could attempt a take-over.
The new MD is hoping to change the sales structure of the business. Currently 70 percent of the sales of Rafineria Gdańska is wholesale and only around 30 percent is retail. He hopes to turn these figures around believing there to be more profit in retail. He disagrees that the company is in a bad financial standing despite debts in excess of USD500m. The trade union believes that money was badly invested.
Brewery hopes to attract Austrian cash
The Lublin based Lubelskie Perła brewery needs around PLN10m for further investments but it will be unable to get extra funds from its shareholders. It recently used its own resources to buy new machinery to increase production to 600,000 hectolitres annually. It is therefore looking for an investor from the same branch such as the Austrian Brau-Union, owners of the Van Pur brewery in Rzeszów.
Fines for damaging environment
In 1999 four thousand companies paid fines totally PLN191m for damaging the environment. In 1998 fines totaling PLN310m were imposed. The EU has given Poland until 2002 to solve this problem. This year only four companies were removed from the list of the worst offenders. This list was drawn up ten years ago and so far only 25 companies have been removed from it completely and six conditionally.
Leasing company hopes to expand
Invest Leasing is hoping to find an investor either from the same branch or one that could increase its capital in the first half of this year. The company hopes to build its sales network adding four or five new branches in southern Poland and increase its product line. Currently the company has offices in Katowice, Zielona Góra and Warsaw. Planned growth will cost around PLN1m.
The company specialises in leasing construction and printing equipment and vehicles. By the end of this year it will have leased PLN40m worth of property.
Beer sales up in first quarter
In the first quarter of this year there was a 4.5 percent increase in beer sales over last year. The Żywiec group made up of the Leżajsk, Warka, Elbrewery and Żywiec breweries took first place followed by Kompania Piwowarska (formed from the Lech and Tychy breweries). Żywiec has a 31 percent market share and Kompania Piwowarska 27.5 percent. This is a major advance for the latter company and puts it in good stead for the summer when most sales are made. Another big name, Okocim, lost 22 percent of its market share over the same period of last year. Small and medium sized regional breweries like Dojlidy from Białystok have also noted increased sales.