Ciech's annual projection begin to bubble upwards

Chemical concern Ciech, which is comprised of a dozen domestic and foreign subsidiaries, increased its consolidated 2006 net profit forecast from zł.121 million to zł.134 million. According to group's estimate the result will stand at zł.89 million after H1, while for the whole of last year it stood at zł.117.9 million. According to the latest estimates net profitability will stand at 6.8% in 2006, which marks a growth of 1.5% in relation to 2005. "This is a signal for the market that it is fine, while the group is operating efficiently at the consolidated level. But at the same time, the chemical market is in worse shape than last year," said Ludwik Klinkosz, president of Ciech. The forecast was boosted due to higher growth of sodium prices (4% against an earlier planned 2%) and lower manufacturing costs. According to the plan, sales revenues will drop from zł.2.21 billion in 2005 to zł.1.97 billion in 2006. "Lower revenues is the result of withdrawing from the sales of products not bringing any profits. Our strategy envisages the creation of our own group and selling our own products," said Klinkosz. (Puls Biznesu, p. 10) M.M.