In Brief: Agora; Bourse Slump; LG Petrol; Microsoft for ZUS; Thomson

Poland's largest media-group Agora S.A. will not go ahead with plans to jointly set up a financial portal with Softbank. Instead, Agora will go it alone. (Gazeta Wyborcza, Aug. 5-6, page 26) ... LG Petrol Bank has recorded zl. 22.6 million in pre-tax profits for the first half of this year, 50% higher than the same time last year. (Rzeczpospolita, Aug. 5-6, page B2) ... The Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) is sluggish because of poor performance by information-technology (IT) companies and luke-warm interest by foreign companies in investing in Polish stocks. (Puls Biznesu, page 1) ... Apple Computers has threatened to sue the government unless the state-owned Social Insurance Company (ZUS) withdraws its plans to install Platnika program, which runs on Microsoft-Windows operating system. It is estimated that between 100,000 and 150,000 PCs will have the program installed. (Puls Biznesu, page 8) ... The French electronics-company Thomson is planning to invest $32 million this year in its television-plants. The company has previously invested $296 million in Poland. (Rzeczpospolita Aug. 5-6, page B2) S.M.