Better times ahead

Kielce-based developer Echo Investment has announced that in Q1 of 2008 it recorded zł.26.2 million in profit, a 56.8-percent decrease over Q1 2007. The company's revenue, by contrast, marked a 40-percent increase y/y, amounting to zł.91.6 million.

According to the developer, the increase in the firm's revenue growth was mainly attributable to the sale of apartments in the second phase of the Osiedle Inflancka residential project in Warsaw and higher income from the lease of commercial space. Another contributing factor was updated appraisals of properties owned by the company, which included changes resulting from different exchange rates and rent indexation.

Analysts point out that the company is bound to see weaker results in 2008 and then rebound in the upcoming years.

"This year, the developer's results will be weaker than in 2007. The bulk of the profit on investments will arise in the next years," Dariusz Turkiewicz, an analyst at the AmerBrokers brokerage house told Puls Biznesu.

Echo Investment's strategy for the years 2007-2013 includes the delivery of 46 new investments. The company plans to develop eight new shoping centers, and extend the existing ones, as well as  complete nine office projects. A hotel in Łódź and 20 residential projetcs, four of which are scheduled for completion in 2008, are also in the pipeline.

Echo Investment is one of the largest developers in Poland and has so far completed 79 projects in 28 Polish cities whose total area amounted to approximately 650,000 sqm. The company is active in both the commercial and residential segments of the real estate market. Echo Investment has been listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange since 1996.