Polish Business Survey
WBK to sell IT firm
PB Polsoft, an IT company belonging to the Poznań based Wielkopolski Bank Kredytowy, will shortly find itself on the market. A number of IT firms such as ComArch, Prokom and Softbank have shown an interest in the firm, hoping to gain a foothold in the banking sector. However should Polsoft lose its contracts with the WBK then its value would be significantly less. The Allied Irish Bank, owner of WBK and the Wrocław based Bank Zachodni is to change to a central based computer system. Polsoft may not perform this service. This would leave it with pension and investment funds as well as systems for stockbrokers. Until the WBK makes a decision potential buyers are not likely to make a move.
Optimus to choose investor
In the next few days a strategic investor will be chosen for Optimus. The Nowy Sąd based Polish IT giant will be specialising in new technologies. Optimus was recently split into three companies although the same investor will be chosen for all of them. The Internet strategy is take precedence. Optimuses portal, Onet, is the second most popular in Poland, however given a flood of new portals in the past few weeks this position will be difficult to maintain. Management decisions have recently worried the stock market and in April alone the capitalisation of the company almost halved from PLN250 per share to PLN135.
Polish satellite TV gets US cash
Super 1 satellite TV has found an American investor who has placed an undisclosed sum, believed to be greater than USD10m in the Polish channel. Currently the station is only issuing a test signal although it plans to being operating in six weeks time and have a full range of programmes by the beginning of September. Initially the company attempted to find a Polish investor working in the media industry but none came forward. Nonetheless agreements have been reached with several cable operators and the channel could be accessible by 15m people before long. The channel hopes to get a four percent market share in the long term.
Man from Atlantis
Atlantis, a Polish producer of construction materials, may soon find itself in foreign hands. Three companies are each trying to get a controlling stake: the German Thyssen, French Usinor and Irish Kingspan. Atlantis has two factories, one in Lublin and the other in the Mielec Special Economic Zone. One of its major competitors is Metalplast-Oborniki which Kingspan is also trying, so far unsuccessfully, to obtain.
Tax to be same for all types of company
One of the major reforms of the taxation system will be to make the tax paid by all companies the same. Currently there is a difference paid by limited companies and sole traders. The latter pay the same taxes as private individuals which can be much larger than those paid by companies. There are 2.5m such firms in Poland. At higher levels individuals pay 40 percent tax whilst limited companies pay 30 percent. Another change may be the introduction of capital gains tax.
State will get USD4bn for TPSA
Treasury Minister Emil Wąsacz confirmed yesterday that the state may receive USD4bn for the sale of a 35 percent stake in the former monopoly telecom operator TPSA. This is the largest privatisation this year in Central and Eastern Europe.
Food group seek international partner
Management of Kuchnia Polska Dom Inwestycyjny, one of the largest players on the Polish food market, is considering a stock market entry in either Warsaw or London. It is also considering an alliance with one of the major international operators in the food sector.
Electrolux eye up Amica
The Swedish Elekrolux has still not decided if it will buy or build a factory in Poland. However it is known that it has its eye on not only Polish white goods manufacturer Amica Wronki but also the Russian Snaige. Elektrolux has been present in Poland for four years although it mainly imports its products from Hungary.
Elektrolux is one of the largest producers of white goods and vacuum cleaners in the world. It has now found itself in a similar position in Russia, Turkey and Poland where it sees the need for local production to satisfy the needs of the local market. In one of these countries it will build a logistic centre which will serve what it terms as the entire region. Up until the mid 90s Electrolux made a number of global acquisitions although in the past few years it has become more cautious. In 1997 it began to restructure which lead to the sale of 27 unprofitable factories and 50 warehouses. Ten percent of the workforce were laid off.
In 1999 global turnover was SEK120bn and profit SEK4bn (around USD480m). In the first quarter of this year announced profits are 29 percent up on the same period of last year.