News Parkiet

Equity markets

Polish SEC seeks tighter disclosure regulations

Polish Securities and Exchanges Commission wants broader powers and tighter regulations over insider transactions. Market watchdog, known by its Polish acronym KPWiG has asked the parliament to change proposed amendment to the Securities Law, SEC spokesman Michał Stępniewski told PARKIET on Friday.

The SEC wants more authority to prosecute insiders, including the right to conduct its own investigations of suspicious trading activity. The commission is also demanding tighter regulations over corporate insiders. At the moment, publicly traded companies must disclose all transactions by their board members and senior executives. KPWiG wants to broaden the definition of 'corporate insiders' to include their relatives, as well as lower-ranking managers.

Separately, the SEC is pushing for a new regulation that would allow private stock offerings by high-risk companies that want to go public without undergoing lengthy listing procedures. The proposal restricts new IPO rules to 'qualified investors' with assets of 50.000 euros or more.

Engineering

Ferrovial consortium wins Spanish highway contract

Grupo Ferrovial said on Friday a consortium that includes its Polish subsidiary Budimex S.A. has won a 526 million euro contract to build and operate a new highway connecting central and eastern parts of Spain. Budimex has 10 percent stake in the project, sources close to the transaction told PARKIET.

Shares of publicly traded Budimex rose 9.6 percent to close near its 52-week high on the news. Ferrovial owns 59 percent of Budimex, a former communist-era engineering services export company.

Information Technology

Comp earnings rise before IPO

Net earnings of Rzeszów-based banking systems provider Comp S.A. rose 40 percent to 10.1 million zloty last year, the company said on Friday. Its sales were up 20 percent to PLN 97 million.

Comp has already announced plans to list its shares on Warsaw Stock Exchange in the second quarter of 2004.

Statistics

Unemployment rate back at 18 percent

Polish unemployment rate edged up to 18 percent from 17.6 percent in December, Main Office of Statistics (GUS) said in a statement published on Friday. GUS statistics show about 3.1 million adult Poles were officially unemployed at the end of last year.

Economists say Poland must raise its GNP growth rate until at least 4 percent per year before the country's unemployment levels start declining.

Personal savings

Banks lose deposits to insurance firms

Polish insurance firms gained one billion zloty ($270 million) in additional funds at the expense of local banks last year. Industry watchers say Poles are taking advantage of capital tax exemption offered by life insurance companies and by higher returns offered by many short-term investment products.