Czech this out

The Polish-Slovak IT group Asseco plans to expand into the Czech market. The group wants to buy PVT - the Prokom-owned market leader of the Czech IT sector. "We plan to buy PVT from Prokom and create a Czech pillar of our capital group based on it," said the president of Asseco Poland, Adam Góral.

The funds for the acquisition will come from the public issue of shares in Asseco's Slovak arm - Asseco Slovakia. Góral says the IPO on the Warsaw Stock Exchange is likely to take place in September.

Apart from PVT, Asseco plans to buy a couple of smaller IT companies in the Czech Republic. It is already negotiating with four smaller firms. "This way a group dominant on the Czech market could be formed," Góral said. Asseco estimates that this new group could have an annual revenue of around zł.230 million.

The Asseco group's revenue in 2005 jumped by 117 percent year-on-year to reach zł.75.3 million. The Polish arm accounted for zł.44.7 million, while the Slovak section posted zł.30.6 million. The group's profit surged by 57 percent to reach zł.6.6 million in comparison to 2004.

The result was mainly due to the acquisition of Softlab and Wa-Pro, as well as increased sales of  software which jumped by 47 percent year-on-year. According to the president's forecast, this year's consolidated profit for the group could reach zł.30 million.