Comarch full speed ahead

Kraków-based IT company Comarch reported revenues of zł.491 million and net profits of zł.52.9 million for 2006, growing on the previous year's results by 11 and 89 percent, respectively.

The company credits its diversified client portfolio for these results. "We are not dependent on a single sector - that is why the standstill in public-sector tenders hasn't hit us so hard," Rafał Chwast, Comarch's vice president explained.

The telecommunications and financial sectors each made up 25 percent of the company's sales last year. The public sector accounted for 17 percent of the company's 2006 contracts, compared with 30 percent in 2005. The company also has a strong presence abroad, with export sales accounting for 20 percent of the firm's revenue (up from 15 percent the year before).

The company's order portfolio for this year as of the end of February was at the level of zł.294 million - 40 percent higher than for the corresponding period in 2006. Foreign contracts make up 20 percent of the order portfolio. "We have strong reasons to assume that this year's revenue will be 20 percent higher," Chwast predicts. The vice president claims that this growth will be achieved organically. "We are not interested in acquiring any other companies [on the local market]," Chwast concluded. Chwast would not rule out the possibility of acquisitions on foreign markets, but did not disclose any details.