News Parkiet

Corporate rankings

PKN Orlen tops Polish ranking

PKN Orlen oil refinery won award as the best Polish company in the ranking of 500 top Polish corporations published by Gazeta Giełdy Parkiet based on data provided by the Polish Academy of Sciences and Ministry of the Economy.

American International Group Polish subsidiary AIG Bank Polska and Philips DAP Industries Poland took the first place as the most effective financial and manufacturing firms respectively, while Polkomtel mobile phone operator won as the best infrastructure-type company.

Mining

KGHM posts 461 million zloty 1Q earnings

KGHM copper mining conglomerate almost tripled its first quarter earnings thanks to rising commodity prices. KGHM, one of Poland?s top ten stocks by market value posted net earnings of 461 million zloty on sales of PLN 1.5 billion.

Apparel

Artman announces IPO details

Artman clothing retailer said on Wednesday it expects its shares to start trading on the Warsaw bourse by mid-June after a late May IPO. Krakow-based company plans to sell up to 1.25 million shares to the public. Initial price range for the IPO will be published on May 14, but the firm has indicated it would seek between 25 and 30 million zloty. Artman, which sells streetwear-type clothing via a chain of ?House? brand retail outlets wants to use IPO proceeds to open up to 90 new stores in Poland and in other countries across the region.

Construction

Polnord boosts sales after merger

with Energobudowa

First quarter sales of Polnord construction group rose 50 percent to over 66 million zloty after a merger with Energobudowa, another mid-sized building contractor. Earnings were down to just 262.000 zloty, or $67.000.

Gdańsk-based firm doesn?t expect an improvement this year until it completes planned restructuring of Energobudowa, including streamlining of accounting and administration, Polnord said in a statement accompanying its quarterly earnings. Polnord also said its order backlog now stands at 260 million zloty.

Manufacturing

Relpol up on analyst rating

Shares of automatic controls maker Relpol S.A. rose 4.6 percent to close at 102 zloty after BDM PKO BP raised its target price for the stock from 103 to 130 zloty citing an extension of key contract with Italy?s Carlo Gavazzi. Existing, 20-million zloty a year contract runs out in 2008.

BDM PKO maintained its ?buy? rating for the stock.

Steel industry

Stalprofil posts record 1Q earnings

Net earnings of Silesia-based Stalprofil steel-trading group more than doubled to 13 million zloty in the first quarter as the company increased market share and sales of higher-margin products. Sales were up 13 percent to 190 million zloty, or 49 million dollars. Sales of steel products accounted for 70 percent of Stalprofil?s total 1Q revenues, up from 50 percent the year before.

Stalprofil, whose stock is part of MIDWIG mid-cap index, has a market value of approximately 240 million zloty.

Real estate

Echo gains on GTC offering

Shares of Poland?s sole publicly traded real estate developer, Kielce-based Echo Investment closed at 85.5 zloty, near its three-year, ahead of an IPO by another real estate company. Echo?s competitor Globe Trade Centre is scheduled to start trading today after a 400-million zloty IPO completed several days ago.

Echo, which started out as newspaper publisher and went public in mid-1990?s initially lost more than 10 percent as investors sold the stock to buy shares of much-larger GTC.

Real estate

BZ WBK to sell REIT trust to the public

Bank Zachodni WBK?s mutual fund subsidiary said it is planning to raise between 150 and 350 million zloty selling Poland?s first Real Estate Investment Trust in an IPO scheduled later this month.

BZ WBK, a subsidiary of Allied Irish is looking to raise funds to buy up to 25 commercial properties for lease to third party tenants. Its investment portfolio will be split evenly between office properties and commercial facilities, warehouses and residential properties.

BZ WBK said it expects annual returns of more than 10 percent. Subscriptions for the fund start on May 11, ending June 4, BZ WBK said. Minimum investment in Poland?s first REIT is 5000 zloty ($1250), roughly twice the typical monthly wage in Warsaw.