News Parkiet

Banking and finances

Raiffeisen subsidiary may go public

in Warsaw

Austrian Raiffeisen Zentralbank Osterreich has announced plans to list its Central European unit on one of regional stock exchanges in 2005. The stock may be listed in Warsaw, joining Raiffeisen?s local competitor Bank Austria Creditanstaldt. ?Warsaw remains the largest regional bourse and if only for that reason we are looking at the WSE as one of main contenders for the possible listing?, Michael Palzer from Raiffeisen?s press office said yesterday.

Information Technology

Softbank CEO forecasts 30 pct revenue growth next year

Polish banking IT services group Softbank S.A. expects 30 percent sales growth in 2004, its founder and CEO Aleksander Lesz told PARKIET yesterday. The firm has recently signed two large public contracts with state-owned PKO BP retail bank and the Polish Interior Ministry, as well as its first large contract with a Russian banking client, Dialog-Optim Commercial Bank. Net earnings are set to triple compared with this year?s figures.

Softbank already has order backlog worth some 200 million zloty, Lesz said in an interview with PARKIET. ?At the end of 2003 Softbank group expects revenue level similar to last year and net earnings of several million zloty?, Lesz said on Monday.

Softbank, once a rising star of the Polish IT sector lost 154 million zloty in 2002 after writing off most of its stake in an Internet joint venture with Denmark?s TDC. Consolidated sales totaled 349 million zloty, down 21 percent from the year before.

Equity markets

IPO market in recovery mode, Socha says

Privately held companies are coming back on the Warsaw bourse, spurred by the success of several recent Initial Public Offerings. If the recovery on the IPO market continues, the bourse could see the return of late 1990?s when it listed about 100 companies in its best twelve-month period.

?Assuming that our economy remains stable, Poland meets its GDP growth targets and the Warsaw bourse remains a place where retail investors can make money, that?s obviously possible?, SEC chairman Jacek Socha told PARKIET.

Right now, Securities and Exchanges Commission, also known by its Polish acronym KPWiG has ten new companies in the pipeline. At least some of these firms may receive SEC stamp of approval for an IPO at the next official meeting, scheduled for January 13. Revival of the IPO market may extend into 2004 and 2005, Socha says.

Socha, who serves as head of KPWiG since 1991, adds that retail investors are being squeezed out of the market by declining free float of many publicly traded firms. Polish government has virtually stopped privatization through the WSE in late 1999, forcing private pension funds to accumulate large chunks of blue chip companies.

Automotive industry

Polish automakers see more misery

ahead

Poles will buy some 350 000 new cars in 2003, with car sales growing at a double-digit rate after three years of shrinking sales, automotive industry consulting firm Samar says in a recent research report. However, industry sources predict this year?s fragile recovery won?t last long due to a combination of several negative factors. Adam Kołodziejczyk, the head of Ford Polska expects 15 percent decline of new car sales figures after Poland?s entry into the EU in May next year. He says the market is bracing for higher VAT taxes on some passenger cars and higher prices on all cars in general, in line with EU figures. On top of that, Kołodziejczyk expects further decline of the zloty against the euro, pushing up prices of new components and imported vehicles.

Wood industry

Pfleiderer cuts stake in Grajewo

Germany?s Pfleiderer Grajewo has sold a 5 percent of its Polish subsidiary Grajewo, booking profits just a few days before the year?s end. Pfleiderer has accumulated controlling stake in Grajewo several yeIt now received 167 zloty per share, netting some 30 million zloty ($7.5 million).

Earlier this month, Grajewo has announced plans for a secondary offering, raising cash to build a new factory in Russia. Pfleiderer, which now owns 78 percent of Grajewo is said to have decided not to participate in the new offering.