KGHM's malleable profit prediction

In revisions to its 2005 budget and business plans for 2005-2009, the company's management board also said it hoped to pay out a dividend of 30 percent annually.

"In the event that no unforeseen circumstances appear... the management board will recommend an annual payout of a dividend amounting to 30 percent of the company's profit after tax," a statement issued by the company said.

In June, KGHM's biggest shareholder, the Polish state treasury, forced it to pay out a 29-percent dividend on last year's zł.1.4 billion net profit, more than four times the dividend managers had planned earlier.

The company is maintaining its 2005 prediction for electrolytic copper output at a flat 552,000 tonnes, but said it raised its sales forecast for 2005 to zł.7.217 billion from the earlier zł.5.936 billion.

Helped by near-record global copper prices, KGHM, the world's sixth largest copper producer, has already beaten its full-year profit forecast in the first half of 2005 and had said it would raise its forecast for the whole year.

Last Tuesday, the company's stock closed at a lifetime high of zł.40.20, boosted by a booming stock market which has also hit record levels in recent months. (Reuters)