Polish Business Survey
Bus factory for Lithuania
Sanok based Autosan, part of the Zasada group, has announced that it will assemble buses in Lithuania.
Readymix to consolidate
The British Readymix is planning the consolidation nest year of its two Polish cement factories at Rudniki and Chełm.
German-Italian alliance broken
The German Gerling has announced that it will no longer be working with Fiat on the Polish market. It is currently trying to find a buyer for its shares in the Fiat insurance company.
Engine producer to be sold off
The treasury has announced that ship s engines producer Hipolit Cegielski Poznań will be privatised at the beginning of next month. Interest in its purchase has been shown by the Gdynia shipyard who would bring the Szczecin shipyard and an investor into the group.
Cash for internet provider
The Jupiter national investment fund has announced that it will invest a further PLN40m in internet provider Pro Futuro. Jupiter has 51 percent of the Lublin based company.
Stock market baffles funds
Analysts working for the pension funds believe that the current weak situation on the stock market is a result of the fall of IT shares worldwide and poor macro-economic forcasts for Poland. Nonetheless the Warsaw market has not put off any investors in general although some are reducing their portfolios. Others see this as a chance to buy cheaply and are increasing the amount of shares they own.
Not all black on markets
On 27 March the WIG stock index hit its record at 22,868.4. Following yesterdayŐs three to four percent fall it is now around the 15,500 mark, suggesting a 32 percent fall in just over six months. Some sub-indexes such as IT and telecommunications are showing falls in excess of forty percent. The surprising thing therefore is the success of the national investment funds in which many analysts gave up hope long ago. One, the Foksal national investment fund has shown an increase of 87 percent in the aforementioned period.
Can they pay for the booze?
The Kraków based Alti group of alcohol distributors together with Komers International from Straszyń near Gdańsk and Tritex from Piekary Śląskich have announced that they intend to take control of Polmos Kraków. Analysts suspect that the group may change its mind when they realise that they are not able to pay the debts of the spirits producer.
Shipping consolidation proposed
With an eye on the future privatisation of ferry carrier Polska Żegluga Bałtycka, the treasury is negotiating with shipper Euroafrica and Polish Ocean Lines (PLO) so that these State owned companies would give their ferries to PŻB in exchange for shares. A decision is expected next week.
Next final deadline — 31 Oct.
NRG and Marubeni, the two companies who can t make their minds up if they want to buy the Rybnik power station or not, are now looking for a financial partner who could take the role once played by GE Capital in the consortium. The latest final deadline for a sale is 31 October but as experience has shown throughout the past few months, final deadlines are somewhat elastic.
UMTS warning for operators
Analysts believe that cellular operators Era, Plus and Idea should forget about bidding for a UMTS licence. If five such licences are granted then it would take at least ten years to see any profits whatsoever under the current terms of the concessions.
Good results for smuggling
Tobacco industry analysts have suggested that the consumption of smuggled cigarettes may increase to 32 percent of the market in the next five years if current trends are continued. In 1999, 88m sticks were sold, this year sales are expected at around 78m sticks with farmers supplying 5,000 tons less raw tobacco. The reasons are the clear health risks to smokers and everyone around them, excise duty, tobacco crop diseases this year and increased smuggling, figures for which are not counted in the above.