News Parkiet

Retailing

Neonet earnings higher because

of one-time gains

Last year?s earnings of home appliance retailer Neonet SA would be much lower than the 9.4 million zloty reported by the company if it wasn?t for a real estate deal with its owner. Neonet, which plans to go public later this month, reported a 2.7 million zloty gain after selling one of its warehouses to Marek Majewski, founder and CEO. The company posted an additional 1.8 million zloty in earnings after taking back a large provision on payments owed to PRFON disabled workers? fund.

Media

Broker FM to buy Ukrainian radio station

Poland?s no. 1 commercial radio broadcaster, Kraków-based Broker FM said it has agreed to pay an equivalent of 145 000 US dollars for a controlling stake in a fledgling Ukrainian radio station. Broker FM, the owner of RMF FM pop radio station says it has been working with Lviv-based Radioman for six months now, getting to know the company and its managers. Broker FM plans to turn Radioman into one of Ukraine?s top three or four radio stations. Founded last year, Radioman is the eighth top-rated radio station on the local Lviv market.

Information Technology

Hewlett-Packard to grow along with the market

Hewlett-Packard Polska is expecting 10 to 11 percent growth this year, boosted by outsourcing services, chief executive of the Polish unit said on Friday. The biggest IT company in Poland, HP Polska reported fiscal 2004 sales of 1.98 billion zloty, or about 600 million dollars. The company is working on new accounting services outsourcing contracts at the Wrocław outsourcing center, Andrzej Dopierała said.

Statistics

Inflation falls below MPC target

June inflation rate fell to just 1.3 percent, below the target set by Monetary Policy Council, Polish Finance Ministry said in a report published on its website on Friday. Senior Finance official Jacek Krzyślak is expecting less than 1 pct. inflation in July, falling towards 0.8 percent by December 2005.

Financial services

Being on WSE a ?humbling experience?, Eurofaktor CEO says

Being a public company teaches you humility, especially if your stock trades below IPO price, chief executive of factoring services company Eurofaktor says in an interview six months after the offering. Bogdan Fiszer says he and his wife have faith in Eurofaktor?s long-term prospects. The two bought 1 million zloty worth of shares since the IPO. Silesia-based company plans to sell shares of several manufacturing firms held through GFR private equity fund as soon as possible, making Eurofaktor more transparent for investors, Fiszer says.

On Friday Eurofaktor closed at 17.45 zloty, some 55 grosze below IPO price of 18 zloty a share. The stock traded as low as 13 zloty earlier this year.