Polish Business Survey
Political instability causes little concern
On Sunday leaders of the Freedom Union party (UW) decided to pull out of the ruling coalition and currently it looks as though Solidarity (AWS) will be forced to open a minority government. The reason for the withdrawal was the inability of the government to rein in rebel AWS MPs.
The resignation of five UW ministers and four deputy ministers landed on the desk of Premier Jerzy Buzek yesterday. Nonetheless UW has agreed to remain in the coalition if AWS allows it a bigger say in some of the most important forthcoming bills.
According to Bogdan Wyżnikiewicz of economic polling institute IBGR, the złoty and stock market could fall although this would only be in the short term. However he realises that confidence in the country would drop although he points out that the annual change in the Italian government has not frightened investors too much.
Jan Guz of Netia thinks that serious investors will treat the process of change and transformation in the Polish economy as irreversible. Therefore, he argues, changes in the ruling coalition will not have much effect for them. This opinion may not be shared by those foreign companies who have not yet set up in Poland.
The most worried are not investors but the average person in the street. According to the most recent OBOP poll, 67 percent of those questioned thought that the economy is going in the wrong direction. Only around 25 percent are optimistic.
NCC targets take-overs
The Swedish NCC has announced that the value of investments it will make this year will be PLN200m and which could shortly include the complete purchase of Katowice based PRInż.
NCC entered the Polish market last year. Its most important project was a telecommunications link between Sweden and Poland. This years plans are worth a great deal more.
The Swedes see major opportunities opening on motorway construction and hold a large share of Katowice based PRInż. They current own 46 percent of the shares and hope to obtain full control which will cost around PLN60m. NCC sees the take-over of PRInż as important as the construction of the A2 motorway could begin later this year.
NCC also hopes to make other acquisitions and is in the process of doing financial assessments of potential targets although Janusz Puzia did not wish to reveal who they are.
RECE to invest PLN900m
The Norwegian RECE (Real Estate Central Europe) Poland has announced that it is to invest between USD100m - USD200m in the construction of shopping centres in housing estates.
According to Bogusław Baszun, leasing director for RECE Poland, one hundred such centres will open within the next ten years. They will include food stores from sister company REMA 1000 as well as a variety of other retail units. The cost of construction of each centre will be between USD1m - USD2m. The investment will be financed from their own resources and from those of the Norwegian parent company, the Reitangruppen capital group.
RECE Poland was founded in 1998 by Reitangruppen. Turnover is around USD2bn annually and it employs around 7,000 people. Its core business is in letting commercial real estate.
EU IT subsidy hits Polish shipyards
According to the most recent report of the European Information Technology Observatory, in 2001 shipyards will absorb around 25 percent of IT spending. Most of this cash is coming from EU funds. Polish shipyards will be unable to meet EU competition and have to find cash for IT investments out of their own pockets.
Netia attacks Ministry
Independent telephone operator Netia who was awarded a concession for Warsaw which is still on the Communications Minister s desk waiting to be signed, has launched an assault on the Ministry. It has revealed new facts which it think will bring this six month affair to a close and could have very negative effects for rival El-Net who have also a concession for the capital.
Coking works to be privatised
The Cabinet has agreed to the privatisation of the Przyjaźń coking works in Dąbrowa Górnicza, the most modern of its type in Europe. The transfer of ownership of the Upper Silesian company should be finished by the end of August and shares will be taken by the State railways PKP and mining company Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa.
Energy exchange to start
On 12 June PolandŐs first energy exchange will be up and running although only in trial format. Management wants to test the exchange first before opening opening properly for business on 1 July. Unfortunately not everyone will be playing at the test run.