Polish Business Survey
Slight optimism
Friday s trading showed a slight increase although it was so small as not to suggest a trend. Nonetheless analysts seem to think that next week should be a good one for investors provided that any increase in share values is accompanied by a similar rise in turnover.
Turów has no holiday cash
The Turów power station will be unable to make a USD250m bond issue this summer as hoped. The electricity producer will now have to wait until September for the money.
Insurers raise capital
The Samopomoc property and life insurance companies are planning to raise their capitalisation. The property insurance company is hoping to raise the number of premiums collected to PLN300m by the end of this year so that by 2001 it will no longer be in the red.
PLN2.5bn Casino spending
The French Casino group is planning to spend PLN2.5bn on developing its network in Poland. Within the next five years it is planning to open 20-25 Geant hypermarkets together with 200 Leader Price supermarkets. Furthermore next year it intends to spend PLN40m enlarging its distribution centre in Stryków near Łódź to take a further 30,000sqm of warehousing space.
Paul Nitschmann, general director of Casino Polska has even suggested that these ambitious plans may be enlarged if the circumstances are right. These investments will be financed by the mother company Casino Guichard-Perrachon. Last April Geant Polska, a member of the Casino group, issued bonds for PLN200m which were purchased by insurance companies, banks and investment funds. The company may make another bond issue sometime in the future.
There are currently eleven Geant hypermarkets in Poland which all have an accompanying shopping mall. Some of them may even be extended to include cinemas and entertainment centres.
This year a new hypermarket came on line in Łódź and three are planned for next year in Sosnowiec, Gdynia and a third in a so far undisclosed location. Paul Nitschmann claims that there will be 20 - 25 hypermarkets within the next five years.
So far Casino has provided the funds for stand alone hypermarkets, when it is part of a larger shopping complex funds have been supplied by the French Apsys and the Italian King Cross Center.
Leader Price supermarkets came onto the scene this year. Stores have been so far built in Warsaw, Łódż, Toruń and Włocławek. They are situated in housing estates and are aimed at smaller cities. Average store size will be around 1,200sqm and will offer 1,500 articles. A further 18-19 new Leader Price stores will be opened this year and from then on around 25 are planned for each year until a total of around 200 is reached.
Fortis Bank to develop personal banking
Fortis Bank Polska, whose client base is made up of small and medium sized companies together with wealthy individuals has decided to concentrate on the latter, opening five or six new branches annually. This year branches will appear in Warsaw, Łódż, Katowice, Poznań and Wrocław.
Invest-Bank lets off co-op
On 13 July Invest-Bank came to an agreement with auto co-operative consortium PTSKS whereby the bank would not seek the bankruptcy of the latter. The company owes Invest-Bank PLN25m. It is not yet clear how the bank is to get its cash.
Up in smoke
Tobacco group PKT has amalgamated nine distribution companies into its corporate structure. It is hoping to sell 600m sticks of cigarettes this year and get a ten percent market share. The company also hopes to be in a position to make a stock market entry or find a strong strategic investor.
Pension reshuffle
Next month a number of pension funds could have different ownership. Dom could find itself 100 percent owned by the Warta insurance company. Epoka is looking for a buyer and Arka-Invesco will also decide who it is to team up with. The formal takeover of the Pioneer Group by UniCredito Italiano will also take place.
Internet bill
Telefonia Lokalna, operator of the Dialog network, has signed a contract with Cisco System Poland for the construction of a nationwide Internet delivery system. The contract is worth USD2.5m.