News Parkiet

Equity markets

WSE reports stronger earnings

Warsaw Stock Exchange reported profits of more than 23.2 million zloty last year, three times its initial estimate. Total trading volume at Poland?s biggest securities exchange rose 65,4% to PLN 110 billion.

WSE profits would be even higher if it wasn?t for the 30 percent cut in fees paid by stockbrokers.

Personal savings

Fund investors must pay extra taxes, officials say

Investors who buy global mutual funds have to pay capital gains taxes on their investments even if they actually lose money, Polish tax authorities said recently. The ruling applies to funds that only accept payments in US dollars whenever Polish zloty falls against the currency when fund investors decide to liquidate their holdings.

Building materials

Koelner may buy Treasury stake in Wapienica tool factory

Publicly traded fastening systems manufacturer Koelner SA may buy 25 percent of FPiN Wapienica tool factory despite government demands for a premium for its minority stake. Koelner spent almost 9 million zloty from last year?s IPO to buy nearly 75 percent of Wapienica at 12 zloty a share. Polish Treasury Ministry, which handles the sale of government-held stake, is now demanding 16 zloty a share for its stake in Wapienica.

Adult beverages

Ambra cuts IPO size

Wine distributor Ambra SA says it will go ahead with its 130 million zloty spending plan despite a last minute decision to price its IPO at 9.5 zloty a share, near the bottom of the preliminary range of 9 to 13 zloty. If the offering is successful, Ambra will raise about 60 million zloty minus IPO expenses.

Ambra?s main shareholder, Germany?s Sektkellerei Schloss Wachenheim has pulled its plans to sell 6.3 million existing shares because it said it believes the value of its Polish holding will continue to appreciate in the future.

Petrochemicals

Lotos unlikely to gain much on IPO,

analysts say

Shares of Grupa Lotos, Poland?s second largest oil refinery has only a limited growth potential when they start trading on Thursday, equity analysts polled by PARKIET said. Most expect a small gain of one or two zloty from Lotos IPO price of 29 zloty a share, noting that almost 11.5 million shares given out to employees for free will hit the market along with 35 million new shares sold as part of the offering. Lotos IPO was thirty times oversubscribed by retail investors, many of whom took expensive loans from their brokers to buy the stock.