Chatting up the bourse

Gadu-gadu, used by some 5.6 million web surfers in Poland, has signed a deal with brokerage house IDMSA which is going to prepare the instant messenger's stock-exchange debut.

"We want to further strengthen our position and develop new services, including those connected with communication and VoIP rendered under the Gadu-gadu Nagłos brand. Gadu-gadu's potential leaves much room for development and entering the bourse will make it possible," said Krzysztof Szalwa, the CEO of Gadu-gadu, refusing to give more detailed information. "We are at a very early stage now and still need to change the company's status from sp. z o.o to SA," he told WBJ.

Grzegorz Leszczyński, CEO of IDMSA, says he expects Gadu-gadu to debut at the end of this year or beginning of next year. The issue prospectus will probably be submitted to the Securities and Stock Exchange Commission (KPWiG) in September.

Leszczyński is very optimistic: "I'm sure it will be a hit. With internet advertising expenditures as well as the number of internet users growing steadily, this is a promising business," he said.

The bulk of Gadu-gadu's revenues, which last year amounted to zł.8.2 million, comes from advertising. However, when some time ago Gadu-gadu was looking for a strategic investor the searches ended with no success. The market rumor has it that the highest bidder, Interia, allegedly offered zł.30 million in 2004 before withdrawing from the transaction.

Tomasz Kulisiewicz, an independent IT analyst, believes it just wasn't the right moment and that if Gadu-gadu makes good use of the internet market's potential it can give a good return on investment.

"IT companies enjoy great success on the bourse currently - just look at the example of One-2-One, which operates in a similar segment. But one has to come up with a good project - integrated messaging systems for business users are now a big hit but not easy to implement. That's a big opportunity for Gadu-gadu," Kulisiewicz said.