News Parkiet

Equity markets

WSE may set up special market

for institutional investors

Warsaw Stock Exchange could create new market segment designed specifically for institutional investors, senior WSE official said yesterday during a seminar in Kraków. New, as-yet-unnamed market segment would be used to trade high-risk stocks issued by companies that haven't applied for SEC permission to list on regular exchange, WSE vice-president Andrzej Sopoćko said. Only large institutional investors, including brokerage houses, investment funds and pension funds would have access to new market, Sopoćko said.

Taxes

Poland may start taxing stock swaps

Long-term investors who receive newly issued shares as a result of stock swaps may lose their capital gains tax exemption, legal experts said yesterday.

Shares of publicly traded companies purchased before January 1st are exempt from 19 percent capital gains tax. Questions about possible loss of tax-exempt status first appeared after news of planned takeover of Telmax software house earlier this week in a stock swap deal with Ster-Projekt.

Chemicals

Plast-Box expands into Ukraine

Plast Box packaging maker says it will use part of the proceeds from 14 million zloty IPO scheduled for early February to build a new plant in Ukraine, its largest export market. The company, which has annual sales of 42 million zloty ($11 million), expects its Ukrainian subsidiary to generate sales of PLN 3 million this year. Słupsk-based company has equity of just 3 million zloty. Its debts total 27 million zloty.

Plast-Box makes plastic boxes and buckets sold mainly to Polish paint-makers and food processing companies.

Food processing

Agros Nova announces spending plans

for 2004

Agros nova juice-maker will spend as much as 103 million zloty ($28.7 million) to expand its market share, CEO Robert Niewiadomski said at a news conference yesterday. Marketing and sales support will consume about three-quarters of this year's budget, Niewiadomski said on Thursday. The remainder is split between equipment upgrades (PLN 21 million) and R&D (PLN 3.5 million).

Agros Nova was created several months ago by US private equity fund Enterprise Investors, which merged Pernod Ricard's local juice-making subsidiary with privately held company Sonda S.A.

The company now has 17 percent share of the Polish market.

Insurance

Insurers cut their losses in Poland

Several small insurance firms will close down their Polish operations this year, sources told PARKIET on Thursday. The number includes two local subsidiaries of Zurich Financial Services which is finalizing its merger with Generali. Five others are liquidating inactive companies that are no longer selling new insurance policies.

Information Technology

DM BZ WBK rates Prokom 'market outperform'

Analysts at AIG group's Dom Maklerski BZ WBK brokerage house have raised their rating for Prokom Software to 'market outperform' from 'neutral'. Order backlog at Poland's largest IT systems provider rose 25 percent compared with last year. After signing several large contracts with state-owned PKO BP bank, PZU insurance group and the Polish Interior Ministry, Prokom and its subsidiaries have accumulated orders worth some 450 million zloty.

Target price for Prokom stock was raised from 172 to 204 zloty per share. Prokom closed at 181.5 zloty at the end of yesterday's trading session in Warsaw.