News Parkiet

Equity markets

Oil stocks lift WIG20 to five-year high

WIG20 blue chip index rose 2.2 percent to close at 2321 points yesterday, the highest since late March 2000, boosted by the country's two main oil stocks. Shares of PKN Orlen oil refinery rose almost 6 percent to an all-time high of 59.5 zloty, while its regional competitor Grupa Lotos gained 4 percent to close at 36.2 zloty, the most since June IPO.

Daily trading volume in blue-chip totaled 995 million zloty (249 million euros), the sixth largest on record.

Civil engineering

Mostostal Płock to pay mega-dividend

Building contractor Mostostal Płock said yesterday it would pay an extra dividend of 7.5 zloty a share, sending the stock soaring as much as 25 percent to 24.5 zloty. Controlled by Spain's Acciona group, Mostostal plans to use the proceeds from this month's sale of a small stake in Mostostal Invest residential property developer plus 8 million zloty in cash accumulated over the years to pay the dividend.

Corporate governance

Pekaes repents over corporate governance

Polish trucking company Pekaes said it would change its corporate governance rules just days after it refused to let a PARKIET reporter attend its annual meeting. State-controlled firm has finally relented and let Mr. Łukasz Wójcik, our business editor only after a phone call from the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

Now major Pekaes shareholder, Aviva pension fund management firm Commercial Union PTE said it would ask the company to accept all provisions of the official corporate governance code, including media access to company events.

Information technology

Softbank acquisition delayed

Planned purchase of Cyprus-based IT consulting firm Gladstone Limited by Poland's Softbank SA information technology group may be delayed by up to one month, CFO Piotr Jeleński said. Softbank said it would pay no more than 31 million zloty for the 51 percent stake in Gladstone.