News Parkiet

Banking

Banks to hire more customer service staff

Polish banks are hiring new staff again after years of massive layoffs. Several major lenders said they plan to hire more than 2000 workers, mainly bank tellers and other ?frontline? staff. One of the biggest, Bank Austria?s BPH, said it needs 800 more people to staff new branches. Other major banks that say they need more workers include BRE, Pekao, Millennium and Eurobank.

Banks? hiring spree comes after years of drastic job cuts because of mergers, new IT systems and overall economic situation. Commercial banks trimmed their payroll by eliminating 28.000 jobs since the year 2000, although the figure fell to just 2500 last year.

Poland?s biggest lender, state-controlled PKO BP has no plans to hire new people. Industry sources say the bank is overstaffed by a third. PKO BP has about 35.500 workers on its payroll. It shed 1100 workers last year through natural attrition. Another big state-owned bank, BGŻ, slashed its workforce by more than 10 percent even before it was acquired by Rabobank and the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development.

Equity markets

Spring cleanup at the WSE

Polish Securities and Exchanges Commission may decide to kick out six troubled companies that were cleared for trading on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, SEC spokesman said on Thursday. ?For starters, we are planning to take back public status of six stocks that won?t meet our regulatory disclosure regulations?, Łukasz Dajnowicz said in a phone interview with PARKIET. The list may include Wielkopolska-based food company Miro-Mark, GK Inwest property developer, Ocean trading company, Leta and ŁDA Invest, two small industrial conglomerates. All six are officially bankrupt and only ŁDA Invest is still listed on the WSE.

About 300 Polish corporations now have public status and can be listed on the WSE, but only 236 firms are actually traded on the exchange, Dajnowicz said.

Conglomerates

Elektrim bankruptcy hearing

to be set within weeks

First bankruptcy hearing of Elektrim power and telecoms group will be set within one month, Piotr Zimmerman, a judge from Warsaw bankruptcy court told PARKIET this week. The conglomerate, a diversified group with a major stake in PTC mobile phone company and various interests in energy sector is facing two bankruptcy filings. One was made by The Law Debenture Trust on behalf of Elektrim?s bondholders, the other by Alstom Power engineering group. Alstom is demanding back payments from Elektrim-Megadex, a power industry subsidiary.

Insurance industry

Second-tier insurers scramble

for market share

Mid-sized insurance firms, led by Nationwide fought hard to increase their market share to make it into the top five last year. Among the fastest growing, Nordea?s Nordea Polska TUnŻ life insurer rose from 19 to ninth spot by offering innovative, tax-sheltered insurance products. Fifth-largest Warta-Vita, a subsidiary of Belgium?s KBC, fell to eighth place because of lower market demand. Its place was taken by Nationwide, which collected 641 million zloty in premiums last year, half of which from clients of Citibank Handlowy and DZ Bank.

Pharmaceuticals

Three bidders seen for Jelfa

Three international pharmaceutical companies are expected to make their bids for government-owned stake in Jelfa SA, a major Polish drug and ointment-maker, Treasury officials said. Potential bidders include Italy?s Recordati, which tried and failed in its attempt to buy publicly traded Polfa Kutno drug-maker.

Polish -government and state-controlled Industrial Restructuring Agency and PZU insurance group plan to sell 47 percent stake in Jelfa, whose shares are also listed on the WSE. Based on Thursday?s closing price of 60.7, Jelfa has market value of some 413 million zloty, or 130 million US dollars.

Information technology

Oracle PolsPolish subsidiary of US database maker Oracle Corporation said this week its third-quarter sales in a three-month period ending February 28 were 30 percent higher thanks to rising demand from telecommunications industry. Revenues in US dollars were up more than 50 percent. Oracle Polska wouldn?t reveal actual sales figures citing company policy.