Hardware distributor off to a good start

The shares of hardware and electronics distributor AB hit zł.11.70 in their first few session on the bourse, before settling around zł.11.60 towards the end of last week.

The high of zł.11.70 represented a 1.7-percent increase on the issue price.

Rights to shares also saw significant rises in their value, rising by 1.35 percent to zł.16. Turnover was much less fluid, however, as all new shares were bought by financial investors.

Millennium analyst Adam Zajler said that the price of AB shares was quite high, indicating a successful debut on the stock exchange. AB president Andrzej Przybyło is confident of future forecasts, while Piotr Nowjalis, the financial director, said AB wants to maintain last year's growth rate at 45 percent for net profit and for revenues at 22 percent.

In H1 AB's net profit amounted to zł.2.21 million compared to zł.0.98 million in 2005. Revenues also totaled zł.499.16 million compared to 400.06 million in 2005.