Polish Business Survey
Reach for the depths
The point to which shares may fall is not foreseeable. Yesterday it was the turn of telecommunications companies to reach for the depths. The lack of any positive signals leads to the assumption by many analysts that the WIG index will not stop until it hits 17,800 points. The only reassuring factor is the low turnover, which probably means that investors are holding onto their shares and not yet giving way to panic.
Dipservice investing USD40m
Dipservice has announced that within the next 18 months it is to invest USD40m of its own money on the construction of an office building, a hotel and an apartment block.
Dipservice, who invested PLN20m in 1999, has declared that it does not need to borrow funds. Its largest investment will be the 21,000sqm office building that will be located in the centre of Warsaw on ul. Twarda, close to the TPSA building.
However the company has said that it would like to find a partner who has experience in the sector.
Dipservice also plans to modernise a building in ul. Świętokrzyska and build an exclusive 40,000sqm apartment block on Foksal 10. The company does not intend to sell the property but to let it.
Dipservice is a state owned company belonging to the Mazowiecki provincial government. Last April the board agreed to look towards privatising the company. The company owns and manages 133,000sqm of office and residential space in Warsaw, which include 69 villas and 46 other buildings. The vacancy rate is currently around 13 percent.
Bringing Siberia to Poland
Elport, a company belonging to the Elbląg port authority, has announced that once it has the appropriate permission it will commence the importation of Siberian coal.
Until 1998 the unquestioned leader in Siberian coal imports into Poland was Halex, which is also based in Elbląg. Coal from Siberia has a higher calorific content and is around ten to twenty percent cheaper than Polish coal. However the government changed the import quotas.
Coal imports to Elbląg have been falling. This year only 5,000 tons of coal have been loaded. Until the end of the year 724,000 tons of coal can be imported into Poland.
No capital for herbs
State owned Lublin based HS Holding is demanding the return of PLN27m and the annulment of a contract in which the capitalisation of Herbapol Białystok would be increased and HS would receive 46 percent of the company. The case is now awaiting a hearing in a Białystok court.
Buchner buys Metalexport
Mex-Invest, a company owned by Piotr Bźchner, has bought from the treasury 51.1 percent of Metalexport to add to the 39.7 percent he already owned. Metalexport specialises in explosives and the construction of industrial buildings. The value of the contract was PLN27.6m.
PLN330m terminal planned
Exbud Nowa from Warsaw has won a contract to build an unloading terminal for iron ore in the Gdańsk northern port. The investment is being financed by Wrocław based Bank Zachodni.
The construction of the terminal will begin next month and last two years. The cost will be around USD76m.
According to Wiesław Ochnik, MD of Hydrobudowa Gdańsk and who sits on the board of Rudoport, Exbud Nowa has already spent PLN1m preparing the site and that construction will be working flat out before long now that the finance has been arranged.
Shareholders in the scheme include Huta Katowice, Hydrobudowa Gdańsk, Famak from Kluczbork, Mostostal Gdańsk, Kolsped and the port of Gdańsk authority.
The construction of the terminal will help Huta Katowice reduce its costs importing ore from Brazil, South Africa and Sweden. The terminal is expected to have an annual capacity of 5m tons of ore, which should satisfy the needs of the steelworks, which produces an average of 4m tons annually and requires 6m tons of ore. Currently only one third of this is brought by sea, the remainder comes overland from Russia and the Ukraine.
Employees look to buy firm
In September a tender will be announced for the privatisation of Kraków based electronics manufacturer Telpod. An employee buy-out is expected.
Toyota Bank soon
If the banking commission agrees, then Toyota Bank Polska will become the seventh auto-bank in Poland.