Business notes
Pharmaceuticals firm Polfa Kutno laid off 45 of its 1,170 workers July 7 and more dismissals may loom, Polfa's personnel director said July 3. The layoffs are part of a larger restructuring project to make Polfa Kutno exclusively a producer of pharmaceuticals, baby food and intravenous fluids. "Forty-five workers received notices of dismissal ... and 250 to 270 others received offers to take up work in a subsidiary of Polfa in sectors Polfa is abandoning," Jerzy Mogielnicki told Reuters. "I hope this will be the end of the layoffs, but more will take place if workers decline the offer to work in a subsidiary (of Polfa)," Mogielnicki said. Polfa is expecting its sales to rise by 22% this year to zl. 204 million ($58 million). Net profit is expected to reach zl. 14 million ($4 million) in 1998, a 31% increase from last year.
Hotels Poland, a service of Internet Polska, was named one of the top 50 Internet or intranet sites in the second annual "CIO Web Business 50/50 Awards" in Massachusetts July 1. The award program recognizes innovative Internet and intranet initiatives by organizations around the world and is decided by a panel of CIO magazine editors, designers and Web development experts who evaluate business value delivered by nominated sites. The judges focus specifically on integration of design, technical attributes of the site, contribution to the overall business and the degree to which the blend of technology and design matched the needs of the site's target audience.
Construction company Beton Stal said in a statement July 7 it would receive zl. 21.8 million ($6.28 million) for building a block of flats in Warsaw. Beton Stal said it had signed an agreement with Warsaw Commercial Park for the construction.
Electromagnetic relay maker Relpol said July 7 it hopes to sign a deal on the delivery of electronic parts to General Motors-owned Adam Opel, which plans to open a car assembly plant here this year. "The company counts on signing an agreement with Opel on the delivery of electronic car components," Relpol president Krzysztof Prucnal said. Later this year Germany-based Opel wants to open a car plant in the southern city of Gliwice to assemble up to 150,000 cars annually.
Hotel chain Orbis will pay a total of zl. 42.5 million ($12 million) by May 2000 for a 9.2% stake in motorway construction company Autostrada Wielkopolska (AW), Orbis said in a statement last week. In exchange, Orbis will be granted the right to build and service hotels along the 364 kilometer A-2 motorway linking the western border town of Swiecko and the central city of lodz, which AW plans to build, Orbis said. "The formal agreement of Orbis' shareholders is needed to complete the transaction. This is expected in a few weeks," Orbis said. It said it had already paid out zl. 10.6 million ($3.02 million) for the AW stake, which totals 424,950 shares. Next year, it will pay zl. 15.9 million ($4.57 million) and the remainder in 2000. AW, a consortium of Polish and foreign companies, estimates that the construction of the first 149 kilometer stretch of the Swiecko-lodz motorway will cost about $1.3 billion. AW holds a transport ministry license to build the motorway, on which it will be entitled to collect tolls.
French insurer Cardif and state-owned savings bank Powszechna Kasa Oszczednosci Bank Panstwowy (PKO BP) signed an initial agreement on cooperation in life insurance here, the president of Cardif's Polish subsidiary said July 7. Jan Rosciszewski told Reuters that PKO BP and Cardif would cooperate within Cardif's life insurance firm Towarzystwo Ubezpieczen na Zycie Cardif Polska. "We will carry on common activity within the confines of Cardif's currently existing insurance company in Poland," Rosciszewski said. He said it was too early to say whether PKO would buy a stake in Cardif Polska, which received a life insurance license from the Finance Ministry in January.
Food inspectors rejected 9,000 tons of rice shipped from India because of pest infestation, an official said July 7. "The cargo of rice came from the Indian port of Kandla. The contamination with pests was so great that inspectors did not allow the rice into Poland," Krystyna Oziewicz, an official of the State Plant Protection Inspectorate, told Reuters. The discovery was made July 5, she added. Stanislaw Krol, spokesman for the northwestern port of Szczecin where the ship was to be unloaded, said the Panama-registered vessel Jordan II entered the port on June 30.
Metal pipe maker Huta Ferrum forecasts it will double exports by the end of 2001 so that they generate 20% of its revenue in that year, a company spokesman said July 7. Maciej Szurma told a news conference the increase would be thanks to an investment program, launched last year, in which zl. 112 million ($32 million) will be spent until the end of 1999. He said 33% of the investment program would be financed from the company's own funds with the rest coming from loans.
n Banking notes
Germany's Bayerische Landesbank is still interested in buying a Polish bank despite failing to take over Polski Bank Rozwoju (PBR) earlier this year, daily Gazeta Wyborcza quoted a member of Bayerische's board as saying. "We want to buy a Polish bank or - if the NBP's (National Bank of Poland) policy changes - to open branches. The purchase of a bank is more likely," Dietrich Wolf told Wyborcza, but did not give any details. "The bank we want to buy should have a similar range of activities as Bayerische Landesbank. It should concentrate on services for large firms and also deal with investment banking. Generally speaking, we are looking for a good bank without a network of outlets," he said.
n Privatization notes
Pharmaceuticals distributor Orfe said July 2 it wants to conduct its initial public offering (IPO) in September, said Andrzej Stachnik, a member of Orfe's management board. The firm wants to offer 850,000 new shares and rights, and current shareholders will offer 2.3 million existing shares. Another 170,000 shares are earmarked for management options, Stachnik said. Orfe has said it wants a listing on the Warsaw Stock Exchange's (WSE) main market. The firm is now 100%-owned by Orphe Holdings, which in turn is held by Western European drug distributors and financial institutions. Stachnik said the firm is the largest pharmaceuticals distributor here, and that it had an 11.3% market share.
Copper and silver miner KGHM Polska Miedz sold a 51% stake in each of three of its subsidiaries for a total of zl. 5.5 million ($1.57 million), KGHM said in a statement July 2. KGHM said it sold 51% in Hutmech for zl. 2.2 million ($628,500), 51% in Remy for zl. 2 million ($571,400) and 51% in Suwir for zl. 1.3 million ($371,400). It said the shares were bought by construction firm Przedsiebiorstwo Budowlane Urbex. The sale leaves KGHM with 48.9% stakes in the firms. KGHM, which has about 20 subsidiaries, has said it wants to sell 10 subsidiaries and concentrate on metals mining and processing and benefit from its 19.25% stake in cellular telephone operator Polkomtel (Plus GSM).
n Capital markets
One of trading firm Universal's largest creditors, banking group Pekao, reduced the trader's debts in exchange for some of the company's buildings, Universal said in a statement July 2. Universal said the transaction was worth zl. 41.9 million ($12 million) but gave no other details and no one at the firm was immediately available for comment. Two weeks ago Universal said a creditor to which it owes $1 million, Raiffeisen Centrobank, had filed for its bankruptcy. Universal also said its financial liquidity was deteriorating, its basic activity was threatened and that it had filed for a debt deal with its creditors. The firm did not disclose the amount of its debts. A local Warsaw court will consider both the bankruptcy and debt settlement motions on July 15. Universal said it had an option to buy the buildings back from Pekao.
n Government and macro
The European Union's (EU) executive body on July 2 said that Poland needed to do more work on its steel restructuring plan and provide details on the privatization of steel mills. Poland's plans to overhaul its unprofitable and overstaffed coal and steel industries are crucial to the country's efforts to join the EU. The EU executive body has said it will allow Poland to protect its steel market with customs duties longer than originally agreed only if it adopts a sound scheme to restructure the industry. Under Poland's planned steel reform, the sector's employment is to fall to about 40,000 workers from more than 90,000 now.
Hotels Poland, a service of Internet Polska, was named one of the top 50 Internet or intranet sites in the second annual "CIO Web Business 50/50 Awards" in Massachusetts July 1. The award program recognizes innovative Internet and intranet initiatives by organizations around the world and is decided by a panel of CIO magazine editors, designers and Web development experts who evaluate business value delivered by nominated sites. The judges focus specifically on integration of design, technical attributes of the site, contribution to the overall business and the degree to which the blend of technology and design matched the needs of the site's target audience.
Construction company Beton Stal said in a statement July 7 it would receive zl. 21.8 million ($6.28 million) for building a block of flats in Warsaw. Beton Stal said it had signed an agreement with Warsaw Commercial Park for the construction.
Electromagnetic relay maker Relpol said July 7 it hopes to sign a deal on the delivery of electronic parts to General Motors-owned Adam Opel, which plans to open a car assembly plant here this year. "The company counts on signing an agreement with Opel on the delivery of electronic car components," Relpol president Krzysztof Prucnal said. Later this year Germany-based Opel wants to open a car plant in the southern city of Gliwice to assemble up to 150,000 cars annually.
Hotel chain Orbis will pay a total of zl. 42.5 million ($12 million) by May 2000 for a 9.2% stake in motorway construction company Autostrada Wielkopolska (AW), Orbis said in a statement last week. In exchange, Orbis will be granted the right to build and service hotels along the 364 kilometer A-2 motorway linking the western border town of Swiecko and the central city of lodz, which AW plans to build, Orbis said. "The formal agreement of Orbis' shareholders is needed to complete the transaction. This is expected in a few weeks," Orbis said. It said it had already paid out zl. 10.6 million ($3.02 million) for the AW stake, which totals 424,950 shares. Next year, it will pay zl. 15.9 million ($4.57 million) and the remainder in 2000. AW, a consortium of Polish and foreign companies, estimates that the construction of the first 149 kilometer stretch of the Swiecko-lodz motorway will cost about $1.3 billion. AW holds a transport ministry license to build the motorway, on which it will be entitled to collect tolls.
French insurer Cardif and state-owned savings bank Powszechna Kasa Oszczednosci Bank Panstwowy (PKO BP) signed an initial agreement on cooperation in life insurance here, the president of Cardif's Polish subsidiary said July 7. Jan Rosciszewski told Reuters that PKO BP and Cardif would cooperate within Cardif's life insurance firm Towarzystwo Ubezpieczen na Zycie Cardif Polska. "We will carry on common activity within the confines of Cardif's currently existing insurance company in Poland," Rosciszewski said. He said it was too early to say whether PKO would buy a stake in Cardif Polska, which received a life insurance license from the Finance Ministry in January.
Food inspectors rejected 9,000 tons of rice shipped from India because of pest infestation, an official said July 7. "The cargo of rice came from the Indian port of Kandla. The contamination with pests was so great that inspectors did not allow the rice into Poland," Krystyna Oziewicz, an official of the State Plant Protection Inspectorate, told Reuters. The discovery was made July 5, she added. Stanislaw Krol, spokesman for the northwestern port of Szczecin where the ship was to be unloaded, said the Panama-registered vessel Jordan II entered the port on June 30.
Metal pipe maker Huta Ferrum forecasts it will double exports by the end of 2001 so that they generate 20% of its revenue in that year, a company spokesman said July 7. Maciej Szurma told a news conference the increase would be thanks to an investment program, launched last year, in which zl. 112 million ($32 million) will be spent until the end of 1999. He said 33% of the investment program would be financed from the company's own funds with the rest coming from loans.
n Banking notes
Germany's Bayerische Landesbank is still interested in buying a Polish bank despite failing to take over Polski Bank Rozwoju (PBR) earlier this year, daily Gazeta Wyborcza quoted a member of Bayerische's board as saying. "We want to buy a Polish bank or - if the NBP's (National Bank of Poland) policy changes - to open branches. The purchase of a bank is more likely," Dietrich Wolf told Wyborcza, but did not give any details. "The bank we want to buy should have a similar range of activities as Bayerische Landesbank. It should concentrate on services for large firms and also deal with investment banking. Generally speaking, we are looking for a good bank without a network of outlets," he said.
n Privatization notes
Pharmaceuticals distributor Orfe said July 2 it wants to conduct its initial public offering (IPO) in September, said Andrzej Stachnik, a member of Orfe's management board. The firm wants to offer 850,000 new shares and rights, and current shareholders will offer 2.3 million existing shares. Another 170,000 shares are earmarked for management options, Stachnik said. Orfe has said it wants a listing on the Warsaw Stock Exchange's (WSE) main market. The firm is now 100%-owned by Orphe Holdings, which in turn is held by Western European drug distributors and financial institutions. Stachnik said the firm is the largest pharmaceuticals distributor here, and that it had an 11.3% market share.
Copper and silver miner KGHM Polska Miedz sold a 51% stake in each of three of its subsidiaries for a total of zl. 5.5 million ($1.57 million), KGHM said in a statement July 2. KGHM said it sold 51% in Hutmech for zl. 2.2 million ($628,500), 51% in Remy for zl. 2 million ($571,400) and 51% in Suwir for zl. 1.3 million ($371,400). It said the shares were bought by construction firm Przedsiebiorstwo Budowlane Urbex. The sale leaves KGHM with 48.9% stakes in the firms. KGHM, which has about 20 subsidiaries, has said it wants to sell 10 subsidiaries and concentrate on metals mining and processing and benefit from its 19.25% stake in cellular telephone operator Polkomtel (Plus GSM).
n Capital markets
One of trading firm Universal's largest creditors, banking group Pekao, reduced the trader's debts in exchange for some of the company's buildings, Universal said in a statement July 2. Universal said the transaction was worth zl. 41.9 million ($12 million) but gave no other details and no one at the firm was immediately available for comment. Two weeks ago Universal said a creditor to which it owes $1 million, Raiffeisen Centrobank, had filed for its bankruptcy. Universal also said its financial liquidity was deteriorating, its basic activity was threatened and that it had filed for a debt deal with its creditors. The firm did not disclose the amount of its debts. A local Warsaw court will consider both the bankruptcy and debt settlement motions on July 15. Universal said it had an option to buy the buildings back from Pekao.
n Government and macro
The European Union's (EU) executive body on July 2 said that Poland needed to do more work on its steel restructuring plan and provide details on the privatization of steel mills. Poland's plans to overhaul its unprofitable and overstaffed coal and steel industries are crucial to the country's efforts to join the EU. The EU executive body has said it will allow Poland to protect its steel market with customs duties longer than originally agreed only if it adopts a sound scheme to restructure the industry. Under Poland's planned steel reform, the sector's employment is to fall to about 40,000 workers from more than 90,000 now.
