News Parkiet

Equity markets

WSE halts trading of PC Guard

Warsaw Stock Exchange officials halted trading in PC Guard stock after its shares rose a whopping 6567 percent in just a few days. Shares of small software house last traded at 400 zloty, about twenty times more than the much more liquid rights to shares. PC Guard sold half a million new shares at 6 zloty each in an IPO in mid-September. Existing shares were listed separately until new equity increase was registered by the court, while the WSE listed rights to shares to give IPO shareholders a chance to trade the stock.

The company itself denied it has anything to do with the situation. Meanwhile, the SEC said it is investigating possible manipulation of PC Guard stock.

Mutual funds

WGI?s mutual fund group ?illegal?, SEC says

Currency trader Dom Maklerski WGI may have broken Polish securities laws setting up investment funds without SEC?s approval, the regulator said. The SEC has asked Warsaw district attorney to investigate the situation.

Real estate

GTC adds to stakes in Balkan subsidiaries

Poland?s biggest publicly traded real estate developer, Warsaw-based Globe Trade Centre, said yesterday it has agreed to pay as much as 19.4 million dollars for minority stakes in four real estate companies in Hungary, Romania, Croatia and Serbia. GTC says its Balkan projects boast much higher yields, because it remains one of the very few international real estate developers in some of those countries.

Retailing

LPP to boost sales in Russia

Clothing retailer LPP said it plans to open ?a dozen? retail outlets in some of Russia?s biggest cities by the end of 2006, taking advantage of higher margins and sales potential on the market there. Best known for its ?Reserved? and ?Cropp Town? clothing brands, LPP now has just two stores in Moscow, generating just a fraction of its sales.