Polish Business Survey
Car sales drop
According to car market analysts Samar the number of new cars sold fell again in April to 48,200. This represents a nine percent fall over the same period in 1999. Since the beginning of the year 187,200 cars have been sold which is a seven percent fall over the first four months of last year. In the opinion of Samar s Wojciech Drzewiecki the reasons are the rising cost of fuel, more expensive credits and the cost of insurance.
Mariusz Szymański, boss of the Opel Dixi-Car showroom in Warsaw believes that sales drops caused by the raises in excise duty in January and March will recover when the new minivan Agila hits the market at the end of this month.
Marek Kwaśnik, heading the Daewoo Auto Centrum showroom in Piaseczno thinks that his sales difficulties are caused by a lack of confidence in his company due to the restructuring of Daewoo. He believes that everything will return to normal once the company is sold although warns that the volumne of sales made last year is unlikely to happen again. Other difficulties that the company is facing are explained as being rumours concerning the difficulty in obtaining spare parts.
The league table of sales now runs: FIAT, Daewoo, Opel and Skoda. FIAT has increased its market share to thirty percent despite losing sales.
French companies are the only ones with cause to be happy. SAMAR thinks that this is because Peugeot, Citroen and Renault have good offers for the middle classes, they are not the cheapest but are well equipped.
Elektrim to finish restructuring
Elektrim is finishing its restructuring process. The company is now going to concentrate on its telecommunications, cable TV and Internet business. This year it will be spending over USD100m on the development of traditional telecoms. Elektrim is hoping to run local telephone services in Warsaw, Szczecin, Bydgoszcz, Gorzów and Kraków. This would yield around 760,000 clients. MD, Barbara Lundberg, admits that the company intends to concentrate on the areas where it has a local concession.
According to Lundberg its financial requirements are not high. Funds will be raised from a GDR emission this year, if next month s AGM agrees. PTC, the holding company of Era GSM is self financing from bonds its has issued and Elektrim is not likely to spend much more on the Internet this year. Its cable factories, real estate and electronics firms such as Elektrim Kable, Mostostal Warszawa and Energomontaż Północ are to be sold off. USD250m could be obtained for the cable companies. It is also possible that the company could dispose of its energy business and looking for a new partner for the PAK power station near Konin, which Elektrim obtained shares in two years ago.
Impexmetal seeks to sell mill
Jacek Krawiec MD of Impexmetal, the largest share holder in the Huta Zawiercie steelworks, has said that there is one Polish and one foreign company interested in purchasing the steel concern. The potential buyers are probably the Polish Stalexport and Italian Gloria Corporation. Krawiec said that he hopes to sell the company s shares before the end of the year. Impexmetal has 71 percent of the shares in Huta Zawiercie. This is worth, in the opinion of analysts PLN180-200m. The buyer will not only get the steel mill but also those companies in which it has a share holding. One of these companies is Centrozłom Katowice, which the steelworks bought from Impexmetal last year. Another company the mill will probably buy is Scrapena who deal in scrap metal.
Huta Zawiercie invested around USD80m in new technology last year, a recent purchase of environmentally friendly technology came to USD1bn. In another move to keep the ecologists happy it is about to close one of its furnaces.
Analysts believe that the sale of Huta Zawiercie could take some time. If Stalexport were to buy it, it would need the accord of its largest shareholder the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. It is possible that the EBRD could increase the capitalisation of Stalexport which would allow it to make the purchase. This would mean that all companies owned by Huta Zawiercie would have to be immediately sold.
GdańskŐs Polifarb to be sold
Paint producer Polifarb Oliwa from Gdańsk will be privatised this year. The sale will be made via auction.
New tax bill gets first reading
A new bill on taxation has been prepared and was accepted by MPs at its first reading yesterday. It has been prepared by the ruling coalition although not without a considerable amount of disagreement between the two parties involved.
World Bank backs privatisations
The treasury will probably announce next month the name of the privatisation advisor for 50 small and medium sized companies it is about to sell off. The sale is thanks to a privatisation programme backed by a USD1bn loan from the World Bank.