News Parkiet

Personal savings

Mutual funds, brokers, seek excess cash from PKO BP

Mutual funds and stockbrokers are launching special investment products to attract investors with cash left over after the initial public offering of PKO BP, Poland's no.1 bank by assets. Retail investors got back an estimated 2.6 to 3.6 billion zloty after the IPO, which was ten times oversubscribed. Now brokers like BDM PKO BP and mutual fund companies are offering lower commissions and special savings bonds to retain their clients' money.

Equity markets

Broker added 78K new accounts in October, survey shows

Polish stockbrokers have added 78.000 new accounts, or 9.9 percent of the total in just four weeks leading up to privatization IPO's of PKO BP bank and WSiP textbook publisher. A informal survey conducted by PARKIET shows that CDM Pekao opened more than 18 thousand new accounts, while several smaller brokers, including DB Securities and BISE, reported 40 to 47 percent increase in the number of customers.

Telecommunications

SM-Media to use Energis backbone network for telco services

Warsaw Voice Over IP operator SM-Media has signed an interconnection agreement with Energis Polska, the owner of one of Poland's largest backbone networks. Publicly traded SM-Media said it would start selling long distance phone services using Energis telecommunications links. SM-Media initially said it would build its 'points of presence', or access points to networks of other telecommunications providers, with Telekomunikacja Polska, the country's main phone company.

Chemicals

Dwory to list on WSE

Firma Chemiczna Dwory, Poland's no. 1 synthetic rubber manufacturer, expects to list its shares on the Warsaw Stock Exchange within months, possibly as early as this year. Its shareholders, led by NFI Foksal privatization fund and the Polish government plan to sell approximately 76 percent of Dwory's outstanding shares in an IPO. Oświęcim-based company won't be selling new shares of its own, Dwory's chief executive Zdzisław Ingielewicz told PARKIET yesterday. Also yesterday Dwory said it expects revenues of more than one billion zloty ($303 million) for all of 2004. Dwory plans to invest as much as 450 million zloty to raise output of polystyrene and rubber products.

Apparel

Artman warns again

Artman SA clothing retailer warned that its twelve-month earnings may be even lower than its earlier forecast, once again blaming poor weather for lower than expected profits. Kraków-based company, owner of 'House' clothing chain, said it would earn 4.8 million zloty as recently as four months ago. It now says it expects profits of just 1 million zloty on slightly lower sales. Artman initially promised before its IPO in June it would earn 6 million zloty on sales of PLN 109 million.