Elektrim shares continue fall after rating downgrade

Elektrim shares yesterday ended at their lowest value ever, amid fears that the company may have to sell off key assets. The stock plummeted almost 11% from Friday's close, to end the day at zl.5.30. Earlier in the day Schroder Salomon Smith Barney (SSSB) cut its rating for Elektrim from "neutral, speculative" to "underperform, speculative" and lowered its target price for the company's stock to zl.4.50. Elektrim has already announced that it plans to sell off its valuable telecoms assets, and the SSSB report says it may also be forced to sell its energy interests. "Although BRE Bank has guaranteed its support for the development of the holding in the power industry, we doubt that it will have a long-term character," the report reads. Mariusz Pawlak, equity salesman at SG Securities in Warsaw, supported this view. "There are growing fears that Elektrim may sell its power business and be left with nothing. In the most pessimistic scenario the stock may fall to zl.2.80," he commented. (Prawo i Gospodarka, p. 5; Puls Biznesu, p. 5; Reuters) P.W.