Lukas plans to list on Nasdaq
After initially gaining success by focusing on customer service and later announcing bold plans to become an e-banking leader, Lukas Bank is now toying with the idea of going public.
Sources told the Business Journal last week that Lukas Bank is not only considering listing on the U.S. Nasdaq, but it may also go to the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE).
"Maybe next year in Poland, but we have no details about it," said Anna Wozniak, Lukas' public relations manager. Lukas President Mariusz Lukasiewicz and Marketing Director Piotr Stepniak also declined further comment, but Lukasiewicz said his bank was thinking about trading publicly, which he said could push the company's value to $1 billion from about $200 million.
However, Artur Szeski, a banking analyst with CDM Pekao Securities, said "It's very difficult to value the company. The market valuation of $200 million is a bit high to me." Szeski said Lukas recorded a net profit of $16 million last year along with a 25% return on equity and a 3% return on assets. In the span of one year, Lukas has grown its customer base of savings-account holders 26-fold, from 5,000 to 130,000.
Szeski said that while the bank wants to be perceived as an "e-bank," it also has plans to expand from 76 to 130 branches. Lukas hopes to have 250,000 customers by the end of 2000.
In comparison, Bank Przemyslowo-Handlowy (BPH) has around 750,000 retail customers and 250 branches, Szeski said. "That's three times more clients and only two times more branches," he said. "It's not a clear strategy. (Lukas) needs a clear strategy."
Lukas' Stepniak said that now is not the time for a firm hoping to become an expert in e-banking to abandon its traditional banking roots. "I don't view bricks and mortar as a liability. Over time it can develop into educational centers for new customers," he said, mentioning one of Lukas' goals of creating e-banking clients through free hands-on training.
However, he said that "the number of branches we're going to open will change depending on the (internet) adoption rate in Poland."
Of Poland's adult population of 29 million, 1.8 million roughly 6% use the internet, according to a survey conducted by SMG/KRC Poland in December 1999. The same study showed that 5.9% of all Polish households have internet access.
Lukas, whose parent Lukas Group also operates loan offices, has seen growing numbers of customers logging onto its web site since it opened for business in April, Stepniak said, declining to discuss how many. By continually monitoring client preferences, Lukas will be better prepared to expand its e-banking offerings, he said.
The bank has entered discussions with several computer firms over the possibility of doing sales tie-ins. As for future offerings for Lukas' web site, Stepniak raised the prospect of mortgages, car loans and other services. Arrangements with a handful of car companies and distributors are also in the planning stages, he said.
