News Parkiet

Telecommunications

TP raises dividend to 0.12 zloty per share

Poland?s national phone company Telekomunikacja Polska has raised its annual dividend from 0.1 to 0.12 zloty per share. Shareholders of the company, controlled by France Telecom and Kulczyk Holding investment group have agreed to pay as much as 168 million zloty from last year?s earnings as dividends. Yesterday?s meeting recalled one of two board members representing the Polish government, which reduced its stake in TP to less than 5 percent over the last year.

Mining

Kopex wins big in Vietnam

Publicly traded mine building company Kopex S.A. has signed a 106 million dollar contract with Vietnamese coal mine holding Vinacoal to upgrade three local coal mines. Closing of the contract is scheduled later this year after the Vietnamese arrange financing for the project.

Construction

SEC investigating terms of Polnord

- Energobudowa merger

Polish Securities and Exchanges Commission is looking into the merger between publicly traded building contractor Polnord with privately held Energobudowa. Net assets of Warsaw-based Energobudowa shrunk from 52 to just over 7 million zloty because of apparent financial irregularities. Earlier this week Polnord fired two senior executives originally from Energobudowa.

The two firms merged after a one for one stock swap, with Energobudowa?s shareholders receiving 62 percent interest in the new company.

Banking

BPH, Bank Austria post stronger profits

BPH Bank, Poland?s third largest in terms of assets posted said its first quarter earnings rose by half thanks to higher mortgage lending and lower provisions for bad loans. BPH, which is controlled by Bank Austria Creditanstalt said quarterly income totaled 162 million zloty ($40 million) versus 104 million zloty in the same period last year. Kraków-based BPH said provisions for bad loans fell to 71 million zloty. Mortgage lending was up 70 percent to PLN 5.6 billion. Second quarter earnings will include proceeds from the sale of regional bank GBG and a dividend from Commercial Union insurance group, BPH?s Chief Executive Joseph Wancer said at a news conference yesterday.

Also on Thursday Bank Austria, BPH?s parent company announced 32 percent increase in net earnings. Profits for the first quarter totaled 133 million euros, with Central European subsidiaries contributing over a third of Bank Austria?s pretax earnings. Shares of Bank Austria, which is listed on Warsaw Stock Exchange fell 3.5 percent to 223 zloty. BPH eased 0.7 percent to close at 434 zloty.

Equity markets

WSE to retain stake in over-the-counter exchange

Warsaw Stock Exchange will retain a substantial stake in Centralna Tabela Ofert (CeTO), a small Polish OTC exchange providing trading platform for Treasury bills. By mid-May CeTO will have another major shareholder, Italy?s MTS Group, which may buy approximately 25 percent stake in the company.

Separately, CeTO said it posted 10 pct. Return On Equity last year, earning at least 750.000 zloty.

Equity markets

Hygienika sees profits after IPO

Maker of personal care products Hygienika S.A. plans net earnings of 3.1 million zloty versus 0.8 million zloty loss last year after an IPO on the Warsaw bourse, scheduled by July this year. Hygienika, which makes baby diapers and feminine hygiene products expects 17 percent sales growth to 64.4 million zloty. The company seeks approximately 20 million zloty ($5.1 million) to pay for new equipment.

Construction

Energomontaż-Północ on sale again

Warsaw building company Energomontaż-Północ is talking with potential buyers trying to expand on EU markets, CEO Wiesław Różacki told PARKIET yesterday. Energomontaż, which specializes in construction projects for power industry customers says it needs more cash because of expanding order backlog. Energomontaż lost ov

Power industry

SNC Lavalin to continue expansion of ZE PAK

Canada?s SNC Lavalin engineering group will become the new prime contractor at Pątnów II power block of Zespół Elektrowni PAK power plant. SNC Lavalin signed a preliminary contract on the resumption of 300 million euro project after PAK?s owner, Elektrim power and telecoms holding arranges financing for its subsidiary.