News Parkiet

Petrochemicals

Government regains control over PKN Orlen

Polish government has regained control over PKN Orlen oil refinery after purging its board of directors and forcing out several representatives picked by Kulczyk Holding. PKN has announced the appointment of Jacek Bartkiewicz as the new, non-executive chairman. Bartkiewicz, the head of state-owned BGŻ Bank, replaced Jan Waga from Kulczyk Holding. Six out of seven board members were either replaced or resigned on their own yesterday. Polish government and OFE pension funds now each have three seats on the board. Two other board members - one of them working for a government utility, are designated as 'outside directors'.

Rubber industry

Goodyear unit's 2Q below expectations

Firma Oponiarska Dębica, one of two European production facilities of Goodyear Co., reported lower than expected second quarter earnings yesterday because of seasonal factors and rising zloty. Firma Oponiarska Dębica posted net earnings of 27.5 million zloty, just 0.7 million higher than last year. Sales were up 8.5 percent to PLN 369 million. Most analysts expected earnings of about 40 million zloty. Dębica, which is part of WIG20 blue-chip index, expects stronger sales in the second quarter, thanks in part by used car imports from the EU.

Media

Agora 2Q profit jumps on higher ad sales

Agora S.A., Poland's largest newspaper publisher, said second quarter earnings rose 62 percent on higher circulation revenue and advertising sales. Net income rose to PLN 21.1 million ($5.8 million) from 13 million zloty based on Polish Accounting Standards. "The advertising market is really taking off", Agora's Zbigniew Bąk said. The group said it now expects 9 percent growth of Poland's advertising market this year, up from 4 percent it forecasted earlier.

Agora's advertising revenue increased 4.4 percent to 119 million zloty in the second quarter. Its flagship daily 'Gazeta Wyborcza' sold 16 percent more copies in the three-month period, the company said.

Retailing

Artman falls hard after cutting forecasts

Shares of Artman S.A. clothing retailer dropped 7.4 to close at 21.4 zloty after the company warned of lower earnings. Artman, which went public just weeks ago in a 26 million zloty IPO, said it now expects 4.8 million zloty in profits for all of 2004, down from PLN 6 million. Sales forecast was reduced from 109 to 106 million zloty. Chief executive Krzysztof Bajołek blamed poor weather and quotas on textile imports from the Far East. Artman lost PLN 1.4 million in the second quarter, wiping out its profits in the January to March period.

Engineering

BICK losses higher topping quarterly sales

Second-quarter loss at BICK SA, a publicly traded building contractor controlled by Mostostal Export, widened to over 3 million zloty even as its sales fell to PLN 2.6 million, the company said. Earlier this year creditors of the cash-strapped firm have agreed to wipe off 40 percent of BICK's outstanding debts after the firm promised it would repay the rest. On August 14 BICK is scheduled to report consolidated figures, including sales at Trakt road-building group.

Airlines

LOT announces cost-cutting,

tentative IPO plans

LOT Polish Airlines wants to reduce fixed costs by as much as 120 million zloty this year before the possible IPO on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. State-owned carrier, formerly part of Swissair group, will do away with free on-board meals in the economy class. It is also planning another round of job cuts. 'Job restructuring is inevitable', CEO Marek Grabarek says cautiously. LOT isn't working on IPO plans right now, but it could go public to reduce excess leverage, Grabarek told PARKIET.

Information Technology

ComArch wins outsourcing contract

with TescoShares of ComArch S.A. software house climbed 4.5 percent yesterday to a three-year high after an outsourcing contract with Tesco, Poland's biggest food retailer. The stock, part of MIDWIG mid-cap index, closed at 62.6 zloty after the company announced it has signed a three-year, 7.5 million zloty ($2 million) contract to design, build and operate Tesco's Wide-Area Network. Retail industry and services accounted for about 30 percent of last year's sales at ComArch, totaling PLN 85 million. Paweł Przewięźlikowski, sales manager at ComArch, says his company expects 100 million zloty in sales to retail and services clients this year.