Polish Business Survey
Mšbel Walther to open centre
German furniture retailers Mšbel Walther is planning to build a shopping centre in Warsaw. The proposed centre will have 17,000sqm to include retail and warehousing space. The cost of this investment is estimated at around PLN80m and will be financed through WaltherŐs own funds and partially from loans from German and Polish banks. The opening of the centre is expected next March.
Jochen Horn, representing Mšbel Walther in Poland claims that 20,000 different items will be sold. Fifty percent of this product range will be produced in Poland and orders have already been placed. The centre aims to employ around 200 people.
Mšbel Walther already has a 7,500sqm centre in Wrocław and has bought land in Poznań in order to construct a store. It is also claiming that stores will be opened in Kraków, Łodź and Gdańsk as well as a second centre in Warsaw if the market lives up to expectations. The company aims at a five percent market share in Poland and further expansion will depend on the state of the Polish economy.
The most important competitor for the German company is IKEA. The Swedish giant refused to comment on whether the arrival of a large new competitor in Poland will effect their market.
In 1999 Mšbel Walther had an income over DEM1.6bn, giving it a three percent market share in Germany. The company also has three centres in the Czech Republic and one in Hungary.
Ruch enters the Internet
The management of Ruch, the largest press distributor in Poland, has announced its Internet strategy for 2000-2005. It has founded a company called Ruch Internet.
Jacek Czeladko, deputy MD said that he hopes to start quicker than potential competitors and thinks that Ruch will have an active Internet presence before the end of the year although he admits that profits are not expected for a long time.
Ruch is planning to invest in the full level of Internet activity to include Intranet, Extranet, and e-commerce. A full business plan is expected in the next few months. Intranet will be used to train employees, for example, and Extranet to control costs and storage better.
The company claims to be in advanced stages of negotiating with potential partners although no names have yet been revealed. A press portal will cost around USD5m to set up whilst the Internet shop and warehouses will cost around USD20m. The full amount of RuchŐs Internet investments will be over PLN150m.
Three cities to buy trams
At the beginning of June, three cities, Szczecin, Wrocław and Poznań, will publish a joint tender for the purchase of trams. The contract will be worth between PLN200-280m. Bidding companies will certainly include Adtranz (Pafawag), Alstom (Constal) and the Canadian Bomardier together with HCP Cegielski. Trams will need to be between 26-30 metres long and operate on AC current. The full size of the order is not yet known but Szczecin city authorities have announced that they are interested in buying 16 trams from 2002-2005. Neither Poznań nor Wrocław have made public their requirements.
This is the largest ever tender for trams in Poland. Other cities such as Gdańsk, Łódź and Kraków have held their own tenders independently. There are 19 tramway companies in Poland, some such as those in larger cities such as Warsaw, Kraków and Wrocław are not in bad shape, others such as in Rzeszów and Zielona Góra are facing a crisis. There are about 3,900 trams in very bad condition still running throughout the country.
Danone looking for mineral water
Danone, noted for its yogurt business, is attempting to obtain a mineral water supplier. The French company probably has its eye on Żywiec which is the market leader in Poland.
Communications company strengthened
As part of the restructuring of the Polish railways system, PKP, some of those companies which currently maintain the network will enter the communications infrastructure enterprise PR-7. This will double the turnover of the PRK-7 from PLN80m to PLN160m annually. Presently fifty percent of the work that the company carries out is for State rail carrier PKP.
US businessman unhappy with bourse
In an interview published in todayŐs Puls Biznesu, American Mark Mobius of Templeton Emerging Markets said that in view of the formation of giant alliances between major stock markets such as London and Frankfurt he sees little future for the Warsaw bourse as long as no-one protects the interests of small shareholders. He also added that the privatisation process should be speeded up. He would like to see quotations for companies like LOT and the Polish post office. He claims that as this is not happening then we are witnessing on the stock market the takeover of successive companies by Western investors.