News Parkiet

Privatization

PGNiG offering already a winner, analysts say

Upcoming IPO of the state-owned natural gas monopoly Polskie Górnictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo will be a huge hit with both Polish and international investors, analysts say. One stockbroker, KBC Securities? Grzegorz Lityński says he expects the IPO to be oversubscribed at a rate similar to this year?s Grupa Lotos offering, when investors sought to buy more than twenty times the number of shares offered.

Personal savings

Austria?s Superfund to start Polish hedge fund

Austria?s Superfund financial group has filed for registration of a new mutual fund company and Poland?s first hedge fund with the country?s Securities and Exchanges Commission. Local Superfund representative said the new fund plans to invest in foreign hedge funds, without disclosing other details.

Media

ATM Grupa sees higher earnings

Polish TV producer ATM Grupa said earlier this week it plans to increase this year?s sales by approximately 0.9 million zloty to as much as PLN 10 million despite lower 1H earnings that totaled just 2.5 million zloty, barely one-quarter of the annual target. Best known as the producer of ?Swiat według Kiepskich?, a Polish version of Fox Entertainment sitcom ?Married with children?, ATM Grupa expects sales of around 65 million zloty, some 25 percent more than last year.

Ratings

Millennium DM ups ratings, targets

for candy makers

Millennium Dom Maklerski brokerage gave a new ?neutral? rating to Polish candy-maker Mieszko SA, by far the worst-performing stock of the three confectionery goods producers whose shares are listed on the stock exchange. The stockbroker raised its target price for the stock to 2.35 zloty. Millennium has also raised its target price for chocolate maker Wawel SA to PLN 146.2 zloty, It also set new target price for Jutrzenka, one of the fastest-growing Polish candy manufacturers to 97 zloty.

Pharmaceuticals

PGF to develop new drug

Poland?s biggest pharmaceutical products supplier Polska Grupa Farmaceutyczna (PGF) said yesterday it plans to increase its market share even further despite lower than expected 1H earnings and sales. Łódź-based PGF sold 1.96 billion zloty worth of drugs and pharmaceutical supplies, almost 8 percent more than last year, but net profits fell 18 percent to PLN 25.4 million.

A popular company with Polish pension funds, PGF said it plans to start selling its products in the US through an associated company called Pharmena North America. It will also begin R&D work on a new arteriosclerosis drug.

Equity markets

DB Securities to start trading on BSE

Brokerage unit of DB Securities became a new member of Hungary?s Budapest Stock Exchange, giving Polish pension funds a new way to buy foreign stocks. DB Securities is Poland?s seventh biggest stockbroker with a 4.92 percent share in stock trading volume last month.

Media

Spray buys three cable operators

Small Warsaw cable company Spray SA said it has paid 0.85 million zloty for three cable systems in various parts of the Polish capital. Spray, which went public earlier this year in a barely-successful IPO, says it expects to receive over 73 000 zloty a month from cable and phone service subscribers in Białołęka, Targówek and Ursus districts.

Metals

Śrubex settles dispute with trade unions

Fastening systems manufacturer Śrubex SA, whose shares are listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, said it has reached a compromise with trade unions over its plans to fire up to 180 of its 780 workers in order to cut expenses. Śrubex said the unions have agreed to a cut of 103 workers provided that the company pays an extra severance package equal to six-week wages.

Utilities

Praterm to pay PLN 12 million

for FŁT Kraśnik utilityDistrict heating systems operator Praterm SA said it has agreed to pay more than 12 million zloty for all outstanding shares of Elektrociepłownia Fabryki Łożysk Tocznych, a mid-sized heat and power generating plant at the FŁT ball-bearing factory in southeastern Poland. The company now owns ten district heating system operators in fifteen Polish cities. Chief executive Edward Kowalewski said Praterm may decided to raise its earnings guidance of PLN 11 million on 135 million zloty in sales later this year.