News Parkiet

Equity markets

Most Polish investors own less than 50K,

survey shows

More than half of all Polish investors owns a portfolio worth less than 50 000 Polish zloty, a recent survey by the Association of Individual Investors shows. Just 15 percent of AII respondents said investing on the stock market is their main source of income. On average, their portfolios underperformed WIG all-share index, gaining just 21.2 percent last year. Broad-market index rose as much as 30 percent in 2004. Over half of those polled complained about trading liquidity on the WSE, while about 40 percent said publicly traded firms pay little or no attention to the rights of individual shareholder. Almost two-thirds said they read PARKIET, while 42 percent said they visit our website, at www.parkiet.com in search of the latest news about the stock market.

Equity market

KDPW adopts new strategy

Main Polish securities clearing house, Krajowy Depozyt Papierów Wartościowych has adopted a new five-year strategy that postpones key decisions until the privatization of both the WSE and KDPW, or until the end of 2006, whichever comes first. KDPW strategy focuses on compliance and interoperability with other European clearing houses, formal acceptance of the existing non-profit model, launching new clearing services and achieving a status of a central counterparty recognized by other market participants.

Banking

Deutsche Bank unit to quit the WSE

Deutsche Bank?s Polish retail banking unit will be delisted from the Warsaw Stock Exchange within two weeks after being taken private by its main shareholder. DB owns 93.5 percent of Deutsche Bank PBC, a small regional lender it purchased several years ago. Once private, DB PBC plans to double its network within two years, increasing the number of clients to about 200 000 by 2008.

Health care

Swissmed announces another equity increase

Private hospital operator Swissmed Centrum Zdrowia says it plans yet another stock sale as early as next month, raising up to 13 million zloty to help the fledgling company. Swissmed raised just 4.3 million zloty in an IPO last year, far less than the 18 million zloty it hoped for. Gdańsk-based firm now says it plans to sell up to 5 million new shares to pay off suppliers, expand its franchise network, increase its working capital and prepare for the construction of a new hospital in Warsaw.

Information Technology

MacroSoft working on new sales strategy

Warsaw-based software house MacroSoft SA says it is working on new IT security and electronic signature applications as it tries to keep sales from declining after last year?s frenzy of last-minute spending by corporate customers before May 1st EU entry. Its first-quarter sales were down about 20 percent to 8 million zloty. MacroSoft has raised about 2 million zloty in an unsuccessful secondary offering in April, but the company says it has enough cash to launch new products.