Polish Business Survey
Office Depot places hopes on-line
Potamkin International Polska, the holders of the licence for the Office Depot shops in Poland, is preparing a new strategy which will limit the number of retail outlets the chain possesses at the current fourteen.
Office Depot has around a 12 percent market share for individual customers and this may be dropping.
Up until a short while ago Potamkin International was planning on having thirty stores by 2003. Monika Dębicka, the marketing director at Potamkin International Polska says that the company is not planning on opening any new stores next year.
On the other hand a new distribution centre will be opened in either Gdańsk or Gdynia at a cost of around USD1.5m — USD2m. The company already has three centres in Sosnowiec, Wrocław and Warsaw.
The company is planning to develop its on-line sales more. Its internet store came on-line in May and sales started in September. Up until now the only buyers are business clients.
Great minds think alike
Wholesale office products distributor Partner 21 is also hoping to quickly distribute its internet sales as well as opening its first distribution centre next year in central Poland.
Partner 21 is a group of 18 independent stores found in every large city in Poland.
Partner 21 aims at servicing the business market and does not intend to develop a retail network. However it is hoping to develop on-line sales as well.
The company employs over 720 people of which 170 are representatives.
Unlike Office Depot, Partner 21 is made up only of Polish capital. It does not intend to seek a foreign investor.
Brewery seeks new owner
The Strzelec brewery has announced that it will not be selling its 48 percent stake in the Lublin Perła brewery to Hubert Gierowski who already has 51 percent of the shares.
Strzelec wants between PLN45m — PLN48m for its shares but it would seem that no-one wants to pay that much for them.
Industry analysts believe that the Austrian Brau Union may buy Perła shares.
If Perła were to find a new owner then it should expect added capital which would allow it to get a larger regional market share. It currently has 28 percent of the market in Lublin province, however it is believed that if it could increase production then it could have over thirty percent of the market.
This year the brewery should sell around 48m litres of beer this year and around 52m litres next year.
Uniqa takes major stake in Polonia
Following today’s shareholders meeting of insurers Polonia, the Austrian Uniqa has taken a ninety percent stake in the company.
The investor claims to be in a position to add capital to the company and is considering giving up the name Polonia.
Bong Group buys Bording Polska
Bording Polska which specialises in printing on envelopes has fallen into Swedish hands. The buyer is the Bong Group which is the largest envelope producer in Europe.
French interested in Lukas
Three French financial institutions have shown an interest in buying the Wrocław based Lukas capital group which comprises of both the Lukas Bank and the credit intermediary of the same name.
It is rumoured that all the shares are up for sale and that the price could exceed USD300m.
The largest potential purchasers have been named as Cetel (part of BNP-Paribas), Societe Generale and Credit Agricole.
In 1997 two funds belonging to Enterprise Investors paid USD15m for a 28 percent stake in Lukas.
Lukas Bank has 95 branches throughout the country. It specialises in credit sales and was the first credit agent in this country. It has first position in this country for the amount of contracts signed. In the first three quarters of this year it granted credits worth around PLN1.5bn.
Its strategy aims at having 2m clients by 2003 and 3.5 percent of the current accounts in the country.
Second energy exchange planned
Created by the Belchatów II power station, the internet based electricity exchange POEE will come on-line in the first quarter of next year. POEE is planning on buying and selling electricity.
The current energy exchange which was founded earlier this year, claims that it is not worried by the competition arguing that it is aimed at a different market segment.