A sobering debut

Belvedere Group, owner of Poland's Sobieski Group and one of world's leading alcohol producers, debuted on the WSE on April 21 with 2.5 million shares. It will trade under the name Sobieski.

The company is now dual-listed on the Euronext in Paris and the WSE, but it does not plan to issue new shares in Poland. The dual listing is expected to help the company improve its share liquidity and valuation.

"We wanted to stronger highlight our presence on the Polish market, which is important for us," said Krzysztof Tryliński, the president of Belvedere Group. Over 40 percent of group's revenues come from Poland, where the group was created, Tryliński added.

"We are focusing on Polish investors with our offer, mainly pension funds which have limited opportunities to buy shares in companies listed on foreign bourses," said Tryliński. "We hope to find several long-term shareholders in Poland who will help decide the company's future," he added. 

WBJ contacted a number of analysts to discuss Belvedere Group's debut but all refused to comment, saying that the share issue was too complicated and the firm's financial structure unclear. "This is a strange company and nobody knows its structure," one expert told WBJ.

This tepid assessment by analysts was reinforced by the market's reception of the debut - the firm's share price fell and turnover was low. The closing price after its debut was zł.421, falling the next day to zł.400. Few shares were traded.

Before issuing any new shares the company plans to dispose of its debts. "We want to sell all those assets which are not strategic for us, which together with our liquid capital amounts to almost €300 [zł.1,026] million," said Tryliński. After three quarters of 2007, the company had a net debt of €320 (zł.1,094) million.

Belvedere Group, through the Sobieski Group, holds around 30 percent of the Polish alcohol market, which is worth almost zł.8 billion. Sobieski was the market leader in Poland until 2005 when it was overtaken by CEDC.