Polish Business Survey
Bad banking results expected
Stagnation in the motor market along with fewer sales of new cars will have its effects on the auto-banks when they release their results. Fiat for example expects to sign one third less contracts in 2000 than it did last year. Similarly bad results are expected from other companies.
Share issue put off
Owing to the depression in capital markets, management of Łódź based Biurosystem has postponed a I series share issue until the first quarter of next year.
JTT Computer wants PLN15m
Following the restructuring of the group and merger with TCH Components, JTT Computer is hoping to find an investor who will risk PLN15m in exchange for thirty percent of its stock. Negotiations with investment banks should finish in the first quarter of next year and then the company hopes to make its debut on the stock exchange.
Optiroc sees more business in roads
The Scandinavian Optiroc, part of the Optiroc Group which itself is part of the Swedish Scancem, has stated that it is expecting to see a turnover of PLN65m — PLN70m for this year. However this should treble in the next three years due to a PLN120m investment plan.
Optiroc has two production facilities for construction materials near Góra Kalwaria near Warsaw. It also recently purchased a facility in Gniewno near Gdańsk from the Norwegian Embra. It is now on the look out for other acquisitions, particularly those who have greater production capacity than is currently being fulfilled.
Optiroc also sees opportunities in the motorway construction plans which are now getting underway through joint projects with Skanska and NCC.
Polsat in change
Poland s most popular private TV channel Polsat is going through a phase of changes. Those companies involved in the media will be taken out of the holding company. Then the company wants to find an investor and enter the stock market. Managing director Zygmunt Solorz is also claiming that he has the resources to make a bid for a UMTS licence.
KBC to sort out Warta
This month the Belgian KBC will buy a thirty percent share of the Warta insurance company from Kulczyk Holding. Analysts also expect the investor to reform the company and strengthen its position on the market. KBC is also a shareholder in Kredyt Bank and is expected to create a large banking and insurance holding.
Russians sobering up
In the first half of this year export sales of vodka dropped by 25 percent. One of the reasons given is the collapse of the Russian market, sales there this year account for only 21 percent of what they were in 1999.
More brewing jobs to go
Beer producers Żywiec are half way through their restructuring plans. The company is now considering closing a small brewery such as the one at Łańcut in south eastern Poland whilst its finishes a new integrated distribution network. At the same time further job losses are not ruled out.
Żywiec has been losing market position this year despite large advertising campaigns promoting its brands and has been forced to cut costs. So far this year 385 people have been made redundant which has cost the company PLN20m in golden handshakes. The company claims that future job losses will continue to be made with the co-operation of the workforce.
Including the kitchen sink
The Swiss kitchen products producer Franke has announced that it will invest around PLN20m upgrading its sink factory near Warsaw.
Franke is one of the largest sink producers in the world. Its new line will be producing in the early months of next year. The installation of this line will mean that the sinks will be entirely produced in this country, up until now they were imported in parts and assembled. The company will however continue to import certain models mainly from Spain. Presently the facility near Warsaw can assemble 150,000 units annually, when the new line comes in service this figure will be doubled.
Franke considers that it has a forty percent market share, its main competitors are importers. In Poland the only other kitchen sink producer is Emalia which is based in Olkusz.
Dariusz Bawolski, MD of Franke Polska claims that the company has so far invested PLN50m since it first came here. However he does not intend to concentrate on the Polish market but also look to sales in the Ukraine and Belarus.