Polish Business Survey
Danfoss expands
Danfoss, the Danish producer of industrial heating equipment is about to take-over the Polish subsidiary of the German IWK as well as the similar company in China. The Danes,who have a rapidly expanding factory at Grodzisk near Warsaw, have also announced that they are also looking for suitable acquisitions in the domestic market. The amount they paid for IWK in Poland has not been revealed.
Port seeks to expand
The Szczecin-Świnoujście port is trying to increase its cargo capacity by 6.5m tons annually. It is therefore looking for companies that may be interested in building warehouses and unloading facilities within the port.
The port wants to start the PLN86m investment programme and feels that the only way to get investors in is to offer interesting terms to acquire land. The new loading terminal should soon be finished. This will include a loading point for up to 20,000 tons of cement as well as a reported warehouse for cereals and animal feed.
The largest companies in the port include Partek Nordkalk Polska, NCC Industry, Fast Terminals and Tarpol. All of them have found the cash to build their own installations whilst the port receives funds for the land and indirectly from the increase in traffic. Expansion should increase capacity by 5m tons of bulk cargo and 1.5m tons of general cargo. Krzysztof Żyndul, marketing director of the port thinks that this policy will allow the port to develop land which until now was nothing but an unnecessary burden.
Private air fleet grows
Private charter operator White Eagle Aviation has announced that it intends to buy a Boeing 737-400 that it has so far leased. It also announced that it intends to lease two more Boeings although it will wait until October before making such a decision.
The company started its passenger service only three months ago with one plane leased from Hapag Lloyd. The monthly charges are several hundred dollars and the cost of buying is around USD20m which is considered to be cheaper. Analysts argue that the charter market could grow pointing out that in the Czech Republic there are three private companies with a total of eleven planes. WEA certainly shares this opinion as it intends to build its own hangar next spring at a cost of several million dollars.
AXA to enter Warta
Kulczyk Holding need have no further fears that the small shareholders in insurers Warta will block a capital increase in the company. Jan Kulczyk was able to convince the Templeton fund as well as Anna Woźniak-Starak to accept the new issue which is aimed at bringing the French AXA into the company at a cost to them of PLN316.7m.
Ideas before end of month
Local telephone operators such as Netia, Telefonia Lokalna, El-Net and PTO have until the end of the month to give their opinions to the telecommunications ministry on the subject of increasing the amount of connections in the country and the terms of paying for concessions.
There are companies that would invest in telecommunications in the countryside, which is a market of 16m people, but would expect very low concession fees in order to compensate for high investment costs and comparatively lower returns.
Leasing name change
MR Leasing Service has increased its capital to PLN6.4m whilst its owner, the Europejski Fundusz Leasingowy has changed its name to EFL Service. This is another step in the further consolidation of the group.
Internet TV at the crossroads
Analysts think that it is still too early to introduce internet television into Poland. This has not however stopped people from trying. There are now at least six projects in the pipeline giving those companies a difficult choice of finding an investor now or struggling along in the hope of selling out to a large company later.
Grzegorz Górski, MD of TVPi. pl admits that he does not know how to make money on the project but is trying to see long-term. He states that the business is not as capital intensive as may appear and hopes to see a return in three years. The company has allocated only PLN500,000 for investment.
Platforma. pl is already in the black. It was designed by provider Pik-Net and is seen as a form of promoting the company.
Internetowa Telewizja Interaktywna (interaktywnatv. pl) , formed by Pro Marcos, claims that its initial investment should come to around PLN100,000 which is needed chiefly for a studio.
No-one doubts the arrival of internet television although Tomasz Czechowicz, MD of MCI, fan investment fund specialising in internet investments thinks that at least two years is still necessary, largely because of the weakness of the telecommunications network.