News Parkiet

Monetary policy

MPC cuts interest rates

Poland?s Monetary Policy County cut interest yields for the first time in months yesterday because it said inflation may be lower than central bank previously estimated. Benchmark seven-day rate fell by half a percentage point to 6 percent, the lowest since June 2003.

Food industry

Elstar Oils to double capex

Publicly traded maker of Canola oil, Elbląg, northern Poland-based Elstar Oils, said it would double investments in new equipment and upgrades to as much as 75 to 80 million zloty this year and next. Elstar Oils, which also manufactures rapeseed oil gasoline additive, said it expects sales of 140 million zloty, 10 percent more than its initial estimates. Once the expansion is completed, Elstar will increase its rapeseed oil processing capacity to 150 000 tons from 90 000 to 100 000 tons originally planned when the company went public last year. The company has no plans to raise additional money on the stock exchange, CFO Alexander Rysiewicz said in a phone interview with PARKIET. Instead, Elstar will utilize bank loans and IPO proceeds. It may apply for EU subsidies for manufacturers of fuel additives, Rysiewicz said.

Information Technology

Comp Rzeszów to merge

with subsidiary

Financial industry IT services provider Comp Rzeszów said it would merge with Epsilio, a competing IT firm it bought last year for 24.5 million zloty in a deal that was sharply criticized by some equity analysts.

It said the merger would cut expenses and restructure its product portfolio. Comp and Epsilio both sell specialized applications for cooperative and rural banks.

Information technology

New Emax shares start trading

on the WSE

Some 110 000 shares of Poznań-based information technology provider Emax SA begun trading on the Warsaw Stock Exchange yesterday, raising the free float of closely held company. New stock, which represents 3.2 percent of outstanding shares, is held by three ex-owners of Winuel SA, a software house specializing in IT applications for Polish utilities that was acquired by Emax four and half years ago.

Footwear

Protektor raises dividend

Shares of military and police footwear manufacturer LZPS Protektor rose as much as 6 percent yesterday after the company said it would pay some 70 percent of last year?s earnings as dividends. Protektor said it has raised its annual dividend 31 percent to as much as 2.5 zloty a share. Based on yesterday?s closing price of 22.7 zloty, the stock now has a dividend yield of 11 percent.

Chief executive Piotr Kwaśniewski, himself a major shareholder, said he expects the company to match last year?s gross earnings of nearly 6 million zloty in 2005. Sales are said to rise from last year?s PLN 43 million because of new orders, Kwaśniewski wrote in a letter to shareholders.

Automotive industry

New car sales may fall to ten-year low, official says

Sales of new cars may fall to a ten-year low because of tax code changes and the influx of used cars from the EU, industry source said yesterday. ?We fear that even this estimate of 280 000 new vehicles may be too optimistic?, Przemysław Rajewski, chairman of SOIS Automotive Association said.

Insurance

Regulator clears Tryg Polska merger

Polish insurance market regulator KNUiFE gave a green light to the planned merger between HDI Samopomoc and Tryg Polska, two small insurance groups now controlled by German insurance company Haftpflichtverband der Deutchen Industrie yesterday.

The two firms had a combined 5.9 percent market share, collecting almost 880 million zloty in premiums last year.

Separately, HDI has decided to close down TUW Florian, a small mutual insurance company with insurance portfolio of just 20.8 million zloty. Its assets will be taken over by HDI Samopomoc.

Personal savings

Bond yieldPolish Finance Ministry has reduced interest payments on two-year and four-year bonds even before yesterday?s interest rate cut by the country?s central bank. Starting Friday, the yield of popular two-year retail bonds will be cut to 5.1 percent versus 5.4 percent for the existing bond series.