Polish Business Survey
No privatised Polmos this year
The treasury has abandoned plans to privatise the Polmos distilleries this year, the main reason for which is the never ending saga as to who owns the trademark for foreign sales of their products. On Friday parliament was meant to have voted to decide the issue but for whatever reason this was too much work for MPs.
Wojciech Bielecki of the privatisation section of the treasury thinks that there is little chance of privatisation plans starting this year. He did say however that in his opinion some of the factories possessing popular brands produced by all the Polmos factories could be privatised next year.
It is unlikely that owners could be found for the companies in Białystok, Zielona Góra, Wrocław and Bielsko-Biała. On the other hand the treasury does not want to put off the sale of Polmos Poznań until next year. This company owns the domestic registration of the best known trademark in Poland — Wyborowa. It is of course unlikely that the State would sell the factory if it did not have the right to export the brand.
Wojciech Bielecki hopes that the trademark question will shortly be settled. This would mean that Polmos would have to register the name in every export market which would trigger a conflict with Pernod Ricard, the strategic investor in Agros who would no doubt launch court proceedings in every country. Wojciech Bielecki insists that potential investors are aware of this problem and that it could run on for years.
It is not certain yet if one of those investors may be the Dutch Unicom Bols. Jan Żytko, marketing director of the company thinks that most investors believe less and less that the fight with Agros will have a rapid ending. Another company who has had enough waiting is the British UDV. Chris van der Haagen, general director of the Polish branch feels that the whole unregulated problem of foreign registrations is not one to be quickly solved.
Canadians invest in Kalisz
The Canadian Pratt and Whitney is to invest USD14.7m to the end of the year and PLN38m in the next ten years in the development of Aerotech Kalisz, a joint venture with WSK PZL Kalisz. This is the second investment of the Canadian company in Poland.
Whereas WSK PZL Kalisz will provide the real estate, the Canadians will come up with the cash. The future factory will build oil, air and fuel lines for all the planes built by the concern as well as parts for jet engines.
In 1992 the Canadians founded Pratt and Whitney Kalisz which today employs 659 people. So far USD10m has been invested here. The company could seek greater involvement in Kalisz. Its partner WSK PZL Kalisz is awaiting privatisation, at present the treasury has a 70 percent share, employees 15 percent and eight percent belongs to the Pekao bank whilst local authorities and private investors hold the remainder of the stock. Last year the company managed to clear all its debts.
Pratt and Whitney Canada, is owned by US based Pratt and Whitney, one of the largest producers of aircraft and marine engines for both civil and military use in the world.
It belongs to the United Technologies Corporation.
Morgan to invest PLN3.5m
Morgan Polska, representing the French clothing company of the same name, is planning to invest PLN3.5m in Poland during the next few years. These funds will be used for six licenced stores, the first of which will open in the Galeria Mokotów in Warsaw. Marek Zefirian, general director of Morgan says that the stores will be located in the largest cities in Poland.
Morgan currently has ten branded stores in Poland and over 90 clients who buy wholesale. At the beginning of this year the company also opened a new brand of clothing stores under the TriniTy brand. These shops are smaller and do not require such large sums to start as the Morgan stores.
Zefirian says that stores are opened under franchising agreements and that the cost of opening is between PLN 80,000 — PLN 120,000. He thinks that in the future there could be 50 stores within the network.
The Polish company opened for business in 1993 and is the only one in the world to have received the agreement of the French company to use its name. The Parisian Morgan was founded in 1947. Its collections are used by exclusive distributors in 44 countries to almost 500 stores. There are approximately 3,500 worldwide wholesale buyers of their products.
Post Office to invest PLN270m
Jacek Turczyński, general director of the Polish post office claimed in an interview that his institution is to invest PLN270m this year and a new development strategy should be ready by September. Funds will be used for modernisation, opening new branches, computerisation as well as the construction of a new logistics centre. He further assured the 100,000 employees that no mass lay-offs are part of his plans. Poczta Polska will have to prepare itself for a liberalised market although no-one yet knows when this will happen.
Brewery needs capital injection
The Witnica brewery located in the town of the same name in the western Lubuska province is preparing to find a strategic investor. The company needs a capital injection of around PLN4m for investments.