News Parkiet

Transportation

More red ink at PKP

Polish state railways PKP SA won?t say how much money it has lost in the nine months to September despite confusing rumors about massive losses at one of its subsidiaries.

Senior managers at the state-owned firm are said to have asked its board of directors to keep its third-quarter report secret, possibly to make the company look better before the planned acquisition of German railway carrier RBH.

Sources close to the situation say PKP Cargo, a shipping company controlled by PKP, has serious problems collecting payments from some of its clients. Another source close to the company claims that PKP Przewozy Regionalne, PKP?a passenger arm, lost as much as 1.1 billion zloty ($330 million) between January and October.

Grupa PKP lost more than 1.46 billion zloty last year, mainly due to weak performance of PKP Przewozy Regionalne.

Hedge funds

Man Group to sell investment products in Poland

UK?s Man Group, the world?s biggest publicly traded hedge fund management company, has plans to start selling investment products in Poland, sources close to the situation told PARKIET this week. Advanced Financial Services, a Polish company that was set up to help facilitate Man?s entry says it is still looking at various options to obtain sufficient regulatory approvals.

Utilities

Praterm sets IPO price range

Local heating plant operator Praterm S.A. said it plans to raise about 100 million zloty ($30 million) in its initial public offering after setting initial pricing range at 18.5 to 22 zloty.

Praterm, which owns and operates eleven heat generating plants across Poland, said it will use IPO proceeds to increase its market share by buying up municipal heating plants that are being privatized by various Polish cities.

Forwarding

Pekaes is worth 9.9 zloty per share, broker says

Shares of state-owned trucking company Pekaes S.A. are worth 9.9 zloty each, Bankowy Dom Maklerski PKO BP said in a brief research note published last Friday. Pekaes and its subsidiaries plan to sell about 16.1 million shares at 9.5 to 11.5 zloty per share.

BDM?s Sebastian Słomka, who didn?t rate Pekaes, estimates its earnings for the full year will fall short of company?s own target of 27.6 million zloty.

Civil engineering

Projprzem sees record sales

Publicly traded building contractor and supplier Projprzem S.A. is expecting record sales this year and the next, chief executive Henryk Chyliński told PARKIET recently.

?I don?t think we?ll have any problems posting sales of more than 100 million zloty?, Chyliński said. Bydgoszcz-based Projprzem is bidding for contracts worth more than 70 million zloty.