News Parkiet

Petrochemicals

Orlen to name new CEO by Sept. 30

Board of Directors of PKN Orlen is still receiving CVs for the top job at Poland's largest refinery after August 31 deadline. Sources close to the situation say the most likely candidates include deputy Finance Minister Igor Chalupec, CEO of JP Morgan's Polish unit Paweł Gricuk and another senior banker, deputy head of PKO BP Piotr Kamiński. New chief executive of PKN Orlen will be named on September 30. The company is being run by deputy CEO Janusz Wiśniewski since the boardroom coup in early August and the ouster of Jacek Walczykowski. Mr. Walczykowski lost his of after just three weeks under pressure from the Polish government. Poland retains a 28 percent stake in PKN Orlen.

US economy

Economic growth picking up again, Greenspan says

US economic growth is picking up again after a brief slowdown earlier this year and inflation remains low, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said yesterday in a testimony before Congress. FED chairman once again criticized federal budget deficit, but said he is less worried about inflation despite the rise in oil prices.

Media

Bankruptcy cleanup at 4Media hampered by incomplete records

Court-appointed bankruptcy administrator is trying to locate the remaining assets of 4Media, a maverick new media holding that went under in early April after a brief stint on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. His efforts are hampered by messy accounting and incomplete records left behind by 4Media's managers.

'At this point I can't even make an estimate of 4Media's debts', Krzysztof Strugała says. 'My records are incomplete. In some cases, as a bankruptcy administrator I can't even say if I'm supposed to be the debtor or creditor', he adds. The group, which run a string of community papers, Internet-related projects and at one time owned 'Życie' daily newspaper, owns two industrial properties in Lodz and in Braniewo, inherited from 4Media's predecessor, Chemiskór, a former tannery. Mr. Strugała says the company also has an investment account with 'several thousand zloty' worth of stocks listed on the WSE. It has no cash or any other liquid assets.

Food industry

Żywiec outperforms industry despite weather

Heineken subsidiary Grupa Żywiec reported 16 percent increase in revenue in the six months of this year after closing the purchase of several beer brands from Brau Union Polska. The market as a whole grew by just 0.5 percent because of dismal weather in the early summer.

Six-month sales of the biggest Polish brewery totaled 1.7 billion zloty. Żywiec, which has 37 percent market share, reported 33 percent increase in earnings, netting 134.2 million zloty.

'The season is basically over and I can tell you already that the industry will grow by 1 to 2 percent this year', chief executive Nico Nusmeier said at a news conference yesterday.

Health services

Swissmed cuts IPO size

Swissmed S.A., the first private hospital going public on the Warsaw bourse, has reduced its offering from 19 to 12.2 million zloty after setting IPO price range at 2.8 to 3.8 zloty. Gdańsk-based Swissmed wants to sell up to 3.5 million shares to institutional and retail investors, with another 3.55 million shares going to bondholders in an IPO that ends September 17.

If the IPO is successful, most of the proceeds will be used to pay suppliers and contractors who helped build Swissmed's first hospital.

Information Technology

Softbank to take 20 pct. stake in Comp Rzeszów

Softbank S.A., one of Poland's biggest providers of IT services for the banking industry, has agreed to buy up to 23 percent of its local competitor Comp Rzeszów software house in a surprise announcement yesterday. Warsaw-based company said it would buy 14.3 percent of Comp Rzeszów for up to 46 million zloty in an IPO that ends later this month. Under the agreement with ComAnalyst say Softbank, which has a fairly consistent record of posting disappointing results, can't afford to buy Comp Rzeszów without taking on more short-term debt. Włodzimierz Giller from DB Securities says Softbank will have to sell new stock or issue bonds to pay for the acquisition.