Financial Times CEE ranking: TPSA surges ahead of Russian oil giants

Telekomunikacja Polska S.A. (TPSA) is the largest company in Central and Eastern Europe, according to a Financial Times ranking, based on companies'market value. TPSA was ranked ahead of the Russian oil and gas giants Surgutneftegaz, Lukoil and Gazprom, second to fourth, respectively. Czech and Hungarian national telecom operators were fifth and sixth. In its editorial, FT stressed that TPSA overtook last year's regional leader Lukoil by increasing its value, even though other telecom companies were losing value. Four other Polish companies are in the FT Central European top 20: Bank Pekao S.A., which is 9th; oil group PKN Orlen, 11th; media group Agora,18th; and copper conglomerate KGHM,19th. FT published the ranking as a supplement to its ranking of the world's 500 largest companies, led by General Electric. (Gazeta Wyborcza, May 12-13, p.26) T.J.