News parkiet

Telecommunications

Netia up after incorrect SEC filing

Shares of Netia SA, Poland?s second largest local phone company rose 7.4 percent in two days before the SEC reversed its previous statement about the purchase of 17 million zloty worth of stock and subscription warrants by a company tied to a board member. On Tuesday evening Securities and Exchanges Commission said it made a mistake and said the unnamed insider sold Netia?s stock.

?We?re sorry?, SEC spokesman Łukasz Dajnowicz said commenting on the situation.

Mining

KGHM plunges on lower earnings estimate

KGHM Polska Miedź, Europe?s second largest copper maker, said it expects net income to fall to 943 million zloty ($306 million) in 2005 from 1.43 billion zloty forecast for this year because of higher expenses. Shares of the company fell as much as 7 percent after the announcement of lower earnings outlook, ending the day at 30.8 zloty, a 4.6 percent decline from Monday?s close.

Telecommunications

Another board reshuffle at Szeptel

Shareholders of Szeptel S.A., a local fixed-line phone company that is trying to turn itself into a provider of value-added telecommunications services, called off two board members appointed to help investigate alleged irregularities, saying the matter is closed. Army general Gromosław Czempiński, a one-time head of Poland?s civilian intelligence service Urząd Ochrony Państwa was chosen by a group of Szeptel?s new shareholders last year to look into a series of suspicious, money-losing investments on the WSE, made by company?s previous management. Ex-CEO Cezary Przybysławski was also picked to serve on Szeptel?s board because of his familiarity with company?s murky investment strategy. At least two people tied to Szeptel were detained by Polish police last year as part of an investigation into alleged misuse of funds raised in a secondary offering.

Also on Tuesday, Szeptel shareholders have agreed to change company?s name to MNI, reflecting its new strategy as specialized telecommunications software and multimedia provider after the buyout of privately held Media Net Interactive, another telecom-related firm.

Information Technology

Hoga settles with BB Investment

Hoga.pl, Poland?s smallest publicly traded IT company said it expects first ever profits of some 1.1 million zloty after negotiating a settlement with BB Investment, ex-owner of an advertising firm hired to promote Katowice-based firm in a barter deal three years ago. It said it has agreed to pay 0.35 million zloty in cash to BB Investment. In turn, Poznań investment fund forgave Hoga?s 2.4 million zloty debt to Art Marketing Syndicate, an outdoors advertising company it later sold to Agora media group. Hoga?s CEO Tomasz Kosobudzki says is expecting sales of around 13.6 million zloty for all of 2004. The company reported nine-month sales of PLN 8.85 million ($2,8 million).

Privatization

EC Bydgoszcz on sale once again

Polish authorities have once again announced plans to sell a large stake in Zespół Elektrociepłowni Bydgoszcz district heating and power generating plant from the city of Bydgoszcz in central part of the country. Bidders have until March 1st to submit their offers for up to 85 percent of ZEC Bydgoszcz, which operates a 197 Megawatt power plant. Sales of the company totaled PLN 294 million last year. ZEC Bydgoszcz reported earnings of PLN 4.3 million for all of 2003. Treasury Ministry tried to sell the company in August, calling off the auction after it received two bids by KPEC Bydgoszcz, another local utility and US-based Insight Energy.

Civil engineering

Stronger zloty won?t hurt bottom line, Budimex says

Rising Polish zloty won?t do much damage to Poland?s no. 1 civil engineering group, Ferrovial-controlled Budimex S.A., sources at the company said yesterday. Warsaw-based company expect sales similar to the 2.14 billion zloty reported last year, chief executive Marek Michałowski said, adding its order backlog is set to rise to around 2.9 billion zloty by the end of this month.

Budimex, which reported nine-month operating loss of PLN 12 million, expects ?huge? foreign exchange gains, even though it loses some of the profits from public contracts denominated in euros.

Manufacturing

Śrubex goes public

Polish SEC has cleared IPO plans of Śrubex S.A., a screw manufacturer from Łańcut in eastern Poland. Its shareholders, including the government and several privatization funds, are expected to sell up to 0.84 of its 1.28 million shares. The company itself said it plans to offer 0.5 million new shares. Pricing range and other IPO details will be published at a later date.

Export sales to EU and elsewhere account for 70 percent of Śrubex? 109 million zloty sales.