News Parkiet

Insurance

Government plans new subsidies for farmers

Polish Ministry of Agriculture is working on a draft bill that would give away as much as 450 million zloty to farmers, subsidizing voluntary farm insurance policies. Insurance firms are now selling less than 35 million zloty worth of farm insurance products, but the figure could rise to over one billion zloty ($355 million) if the project goes through.

Information technology

Air Polonia?s financial woes hurting others

Internet payment processing agency eCard SA suffered a sharp blow yesterday on news that low-cost carrier Air Polonia is suspending operations due to lack of funds. Sources at eCard say it will take several months before the company, which is controlled by BRE Bank, Bank Zachodni WBK and ComputerLand, restores sales it lost with Air Polonia?s insolvency

Utilities

Praterm up 3.5 pct. on IPO

Shares of district heating systems operator Praterm SA rose 3.5 percent to close at 20.7 zloty on their first day of trading on the Warsaw Stock Exchange yesterday from their IPO price of 20 zloty per share. Praterm, which owns stakes in a dozen regional heating plants across the country, raised 90 million zloty ($28.7 million) in an offering that was three times oversubscribed by retail investors. Warsaw-based group sold 3.8 million giga joules of energy last year, or four percent of the local market.