Amica halts investor talks

Household equipment producer Amica Wronki suspended its negotiations with candidates for a strategic investor. Within several weeks it will attempt to sell its shares to domestic investors. Jacek Rutkowski, the chairman of Amica's supervisory board, who is also the largest shareholder, said that talks with LG of Korea had failed. "We have decided to give up attempts to win a sector investor," he said. "There are no plans to relaunch any negotiations." So far, 2002 has turned out to be a bad year for the company. Sales revenues for the first half were 12.5% of the expected annual total, with profit of zł. 1.3 million ($317,000). Nevertheless, Amica's president, Wojciech Kaszyński said that the company would meet this year's sales forecast of zł. 955 million ($233 million) and profit of zł. 14.9 million ($3.63 million). "Sales of our products are heavily influenced by the seasons," he said. "Our largest turnover is usually recorded at the end of the year." - Compiled from local press reports