Polish Business Survey
Netia teams up with press on Internet
InterNetia, a subsidiary of private telephone operator Netia, will today announce its plans for the Internet. Key elements will be joint projects with EuroZet, owner of Radio Zet as well as Agora the owner of Gazeta Wyborcza, the best selling daily in Poland.
All three of these companies have an Internet presence. The Internet version of Gazeta Wyborcza is the most popular site of a Polish newspaper. Since this February, Euro Zet has a round the clock on-line news service and InterNetia will commence an Internet connection service.
The union of these three companies could lead to a portal in which InterNetia would provide the technical infrastructure. Agora and RadioZet will find the content and advertisers. Netia is immediately investing USD10m in this project. Agora is claiming that it will put in PLN14m this year and PLN40m in 2002. EuroZet will contribute PLN4m before the end of this year.
Yet another portal next month
At the beginning of May yet another Internet portal will start up in Poland. This one is called Ahoj.pl and its owner Mother. Ship claim that they have Ôtens of milions of dollarsŐ to invest in the project. The project is the work of four private individuals: Mark Grazman, Jeff Grady, Rafał Sokół and Tomasz Raczek, although they are backed by capital from the US.
Consolidation solution for steel?
Piotr Janeczek, MD of the Tadeusz Sendzimir steel works (HTS) in Kraków doubts that any Western company will be interested in the purchase of Huta Katowice (HK) if the Anglo-Dutch Corus Group and Italian Danielli pull out of negotiations. His opinion is that the Polish steel sector should consolidate reducing investment requirements by PLN3bn from the current PLN8.9bn at the same time as making credits easier to obtain, provided that they were guaranteed by the state.
He believes that the problem with Huta Katowice is that the plant needs around USD1bn for investment. As this is unlikely to be found he thinks it necessary to consolidate the HTS, HK as well as the Częstochowa, Cedler and Florian mills and add the shares the State holds in the Pokój, Buczek and Ferrum steel works to the new company. Privatisation may come later but Janeczka does not know who might be interested in the company but considers that it will not be a European investor.
On the other hand if HK can be sold off then HTS will continue its investments. There are plans to spend between USD250m - USD330m on new technology and this money will not have to come from an investor. The plant is restructuring, last year it lost between PLN280m and PLN290m but this year it should make a PLN68m profit. Janeczka believes that this would be a good result as over PLN60m has been saved from cutting the work force by 4,000 over the past 15 months. By the end of this year there will be 8,686 people working there.
The opinion of Mirosław Wróbel, MD of HK, is that it is too late for consolidation of the steel sector and believes that it will be possible to privatise Huta Katowice for various reasons which include the high cost of the pound sterling and the growing requirements in Poland for speciality steels.
The steel sector is heavily in debt with debts totaling PLN8.66bn whilst only PLN2.4bn is due.
Solution to guage difference found
PKP Cargo believes that it can increase combined transports from 1.7m tons of freight carried last year to 2m tons this year. This is possible due to the recent purchase of 108 special wagons for around PLN26m. Combined transport means linking all forms of transport - rail, road and sea - and currently accounts for around one percent of freight carried by PKP. The new purchase will aid international business, not only those using the the standard 1435mm European rail guage, but also in transports to the former Soviet Union and Finland using a 1520mm guage and the Iberian peninsular where a 1668mm guage is used. This is thanks to a SUW 2000 various rail guage system developed in Poland. Whereas adopting wagons to this system is not cheap at around PLN350,000 for goods wagons and PLN500,000 for passenger cars, interest has been shown not only from Poland s eastern neighbours but also from Italy s Fiat Ferrovaria which produces the Pendolino.
Zielona Góra CHP to be sold
The treasury has found a way to privatise the Zielona Góra Central Heating Plant. In June 80 percent of the shares in the company will probably be put on sale. The company is difficult to sell as only 25 percent of its revenue comes from electricity sales, the remainder is from the sale of heat. A warm winter could have serious consequences for the company. Furthermore the city of Zielona Góra has owed the plant PLN30m for heat energy supplied for the past seven years. Electricity production could be increased using nearby gas supplies. This will require an investment of USD120m-USD150m part of which may come from selling the city s debt. Credits may also be available from banks if a long-term agreement can be found with the Polish national grid to buy the electricity.