Fota revved up

The capital group which owns auto-parts producer Fota bounced back from its zł.0.3-million net loss in Q1 of 2006 to achieve a zł.2.8-million profit in the first three months of this year. The firm's revenue also grew by 36 percent, reaching zł.122 million. The growth was mainly driven by the Fota company, which posted zł.115.2 million in revenue last quarter and a net profit of zł.3.8 million. The firm's subsidiaries in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Ukraine made losses, but the capital group's president, Bohdan Stankiewicz, expects these subsidiaries to finally break even this year.

"They have significantly increased sales in comparison to last year, while costs remained at the same level," he explained.

Stankiewicz credited last year's investments, particularly in opening new branches and developing a logistics center, for the firm's results. "We are starting to profit from them," Stankiewicz said. He also added that economic growth is helping to drive the market.

However, the company's results after Q1 equaled just 19 percent of the company's predicted annual revenue for the year, and 13 percent of the expected profits. However that doesn't worry Stankiewicz. "Our industry is very seasonal," he explained, adding that auto-parts importers and producers achieve their best results in the second and the third quarters.

Another factor that should positively affect the firm's results are acquisitions. "In June or July we will finalize the takeover of Czech spare-parts distributor Autoprima," Stankiewicz said. Fota also plans to buy 73.4 percent of the shares in Expom Kwidzyn - a company specializing in producing and regenerating starter motors and alternators - for zł.4.4 million.