News Parkiet

Civil engineering

Polimex-Mostostal to launch shareholder incentive program

Polimex-Mostostal Cekop, one of Poland?s top construction groups, plans to launch shareholder incentive program, giving away free shares to investors who won?t sell its stock for at least a year. Warsaw-based Polimex said it would offer an incentive plan after the hotly contested merger with Mostostal Siedlce. Minority shareholders of Mostostal tried to block the merger with privately held Polimex because of the latter?s heavy debt load and losses at unprofitable subsidiaries.

Equity markets

SEC investigating Penetrator ?investment

system?

Polish Securities and Exchanges Commission is looking into a trading system offered to clients of DM Penetrator, a small, Warsaw-based brokerage. SII investors? association wants to take Penetrator to court because of massive losses suffered by one investor, who followed the system trading futures contracts last year.

Forwarding

TUP reports first earnings in five years

Trans Universal Poland, a mid-sized trucking company whose shares are listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, turned profitable for the first time in five years, deputy CEO told PARKIET yesterday. TUP, which is controlled by UK-based investment company Eagle International Trading, reported 4.7 million zloty loss back in 2003, but since then it has merged with much-larger CJ International, another trucking firm. Its shares closed at an all-time high of 4.6 zloty yesterday, more than double last November?s price of around 2 zloty.

Media

Kostrzewa named ITI president

BRE Bank?s former high-flying chief executive officer Wojciech Kostrzewa was picked as new president of ITI Holdings, Polish media group said in a statement released Monday night.

Kostrzewa, who was BRE Bank?s chief executive for over six years before resigning in November, will buy an unspecified stake in Luxembourg-registered ITI. He served on ITI?s board of directors for several years before the appointment.

Personal savings

Pioneer to liquidate Poland?s first hedge fund

Pioneer Pekao Investment Management, an asset management firm of Bank Pekao and Boston-based Pioneer Group will begin liquidation of Poland?s first hedge fund later this month. Set up three years ago, Pioneer Arbitrażowy initially suggested that returns on the fund?s assets could go as high as 75 percent from the initial unit price of 100 zloty. However, the fund ended up investing most of its assets in T-bills and real returns over three-year period totaled just 16 percent.

Retailing

Redan stock price won?t recover after CEO?s legal problems

Shares of Redan SA clothing retailer are still trading close to their all-time low several weeks after bribery investigation involving its CEO and main shareholder, Polish businessman Radosław Wiśniewski. The stock closed at 12 zloty yesterday, the same level as Redan?s IPO price over a year ago.

Mr. Wiśniewski was briefly detained and interrogated by police in Łódź after allegedly giving bribes to customs officers there. The stock crashed the very next day despite Mr. Wiśniewski?s claims he was blackmailed by local officials and a statement by public prosecutor saying the company itself is not being investigated.

One research analyst who follows Redan says the stock price won?t recover until it starts reporting stronger than expected earnings. Redan cut its earnings forecast to 15 million zloty last year.

Petrochemicals

MOL falls to their lowest since Warsaw listing

Shares of Hungarian national oil and gas company MOL Rt. closed at 208 zloty yesterday, the lowest since their WSE listing just before Christmas when it begun trading at PLN 220. Polish stockbrokers say MOL share price is declining because of relatively low liquidity, limited institutional interest and higher valuation than Poland?s own PK