In Brief: ING Bank Slaski; Bank Handlowy; Orbis; Netia; Investmart

The net loss ING Bank Slaski shrank to zl. 1.29 million in the fourth quarter of last year from the zl. 85.9 million loss in the same period of 2001. (Reuters) ... Bank Handlowy, a unit of Citigroup, posted a zl. 17 million net profit in the fourth quarter of 2002, against a zl. 35 million net loss in the same period of 2001. (Reuters). The unconsolidated net profit of Orbis, controlled by France's Accor, fell to zl. 6.2 million in the fourth quarter, down 12% from the period of 2001. (Reuters) ... Netia will return to Warsaw's blue-chip WIG 20 index after finalizing a debt restructuring, to replace white-goods maker Amica. It was dropped from the WIG 20 in September due to low liquidity, but earlier this week the admission to public trade of shares issued in its $850 million debt restructuring raised the number of shares outstanding nine-fold. (Reuters) ... Italian financial group Invesmart intends to spend zl. 100 million for the expansion of Bank Przemyslowy (BP) thus saving it from bankruptcy. BP has been recording losses for two years. (Gazeta Wyborcza, Feb. 15-16, p. 29) A.Z.