Polish Business Survey
The Warsaw goods exchange (Warszawska Giełda Towarowa) will shortly be able to allow bidding by internet. The first goods available over the net will be agricultural products.
Canadians risk eastern airport
SNC Lavalin, one of the largest Canadian construction and engineering concerns has announced that it is interested in building an airport at Świdnik near Lublin. The cost of this venture is set at around PLN60m.
The Lublin airport company claimed that a number of foreign and domestic companies showed interest in completing the airport, however the most advanced negotiations are with SNC. It is expected that plans will be finished by next spring which will include a logistics and transport centre other than the airport. The construction of the airport was linked by the treasury to the privatisation of the PZL Świdnik concern.
The treasury is banking on finding an investor for the company in the first half of next year. The investor will not only be expected to put money into the company but also in the development of the region as a whole.
Shareholders of the airport company other than PZL Świdnik include the Pekao capital fund, Daewoo Motor Polska, councils and local firms. They are hoping that the airport will have flights connecting not only domestic destinations but also western Ukraine. The question of land belonging to Pekao S.A. still has to be resolved, the other shareholders want the bank to give it to the company.
Chat money needed
SMS Express, managing the internet communicator Gadu-Gadu have announced that they require an investor for the second phase of financing the project. Around USD1m is required. SMS Express are claiming that a number of venture capital funds and telecommunications companies are interested in putting money into Gadu-Gadu.
Sell off to cover debts
Clothing manufacturers Delia from Zamość have been forced to selling surplus real estate including a production hall in order to pay debts now over PLN6m. Managing director, Stanisław Bida thinks that the company now needs a branch investor. The company is hoping to announce an auction next month.
The company was badly hit by the Russian crisis. The former USSR took some 20 percent of production which now the company hopes to place on the domestic market.
PKP credit stands still
The banking watchdog GINB has suggested that the consortium organised by WestLB Polska create a PLN300m reserve to cover the credit for PKP. The loan is not covered by a state guarantee and is mortgaged to real estate owned by the rail operator. Negotiations which were predicted to have finished in September are still dragging on.
ING launches new product
A new company of the ING group - Nationale-Nederlanden Employee Benefits — has announced that it will invest up to PLN200m in the next ten years. The company is planning on adding loans and mortgages to its range of services.
Lactalis finishes factory
The French Lactalis, one of the largest milk suppliers in the world, has finished building a new production facility in Siemiatycze.
Redevelopment of the site started in 1996 when the company purchased the facility from Polser.
At a cost of PLN70m, five new production halls have been built for the manufacture of mozarella and other cheeses as well as butter. In central Europe Lactalis produces only in Poland. Around 75 percent of their production costs is the price of milk and this is a lot cheaper here than in the European Union. Only three years ago, 84 products were imported, now fifty of them will be produced in Siemiatycze. Twenty products are still imported. The company is now attempting to increase exports to the EU, USA, Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Hungary from ten percent of sales to twenty percent of sales.
Piotr Walczak, MD of Lactalis, is planning a major expansion on the domestic market. President cheese appeared on supermarket shelves at the end of July for example. Within three years the company is hoping to reach second position in terms of sales of cottage cheese. The current market leaders are Hochland which produces Almette and Bongrain, manufacturer of Tartare. Jarosław Zawadzki of Toska which produces for Bongrain in Poland accepts that Lactalis is aiming its products at his market but does not feel threatened for the moment.