News Parkiet

Banking

State bank may receive PZU shares

State-owned Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego, a small lender which finances public projects and manages the finances of several government-backed funds is waiting for a 750 million zloty injection worth of new assets, chief executive Andrzej Dorosz told PARKIET yesterday. The bank has already received small stakes in various publicly traded firms worth about 240 million zloty earlier this month. BGK, whose own equity hovers around 1 billion zloty, says it expects additional financing, which may include shares in PZU insurance group, Grupa Lotos refinery and Polish Oil and Gas Company. All three are supposed to go public in the near future.

Overall, BGK estimates it will receive some 2 billio nzloty in extra funds, including stocks, over the next four years.

Equity markets

NYSE joins forces with Archipelago

The New York Stock Exchange has announces plans to merge with electronic trading firm Archipelago yesterday. The merger means that the combined firm would be publicly traded, ending NYSE?s non-profit status.

Information Technology

Techmex inks first big GIS deal with ARMiR

Geographical Information Systems provider and hardware distributor Techmex SA said it has signed its biggest deal to date, a 15-million zloty contract with Poland?s ARMiR agricultural agency. The company, which operates satellite data processing and digital map-making center build together with the military, said it would take satellite measurements of farms in four Polish provinces.

Techmex sold 30 million zloty worth of GIS-related services last year, accounting for just 8 percent of total revenues. Founder and CEO Jacek Studencki says his company is negotiating several new deals and expects much higher GIS sales in 2005.Bielsko-Biała-based IT firm raised 90 million zloty in last year?s IPO, when it sold 3 million shares priced at 30 zloty each but many investors soon became disenchanted and sold the stock since Techmex took more time than expected to expand its GIS business. The stock closed at 22 zloty, losing 0.9 percent in very light trading yesterday, valuing the entire company at 190 million zloty, or 23 times last year?s earnings.

Real estate

REIT funds begin first investment projects

Two publicly traded Real Estate Investment Trusts have finally begun investing in real estate recently, months after they first sold certificates to the public last year. BZ WBK?s Arka FRN spent about 20 percent of the funds previously kept in bank accounts and money market instruments buying a small shopping mall in Warsaw?s Targówek district and an office tower in Gdynia. The fund?s net assets total nearly 352 million zloty, or 110 million dollars. BRE Bank?s Skarbiec REIT invested 16 to 18 percent of its assets, which total just 88.6 million zloty in two residential development projects.

Both funds initially promised average annual returns of around 12 percent, but so far their yields are well below that threshold. Net assets of Arka FRN rose 3.6 percent since last July, while Skarbiec posted 1.4 percent returns in the last seven months.