MarcPol buys Robert; More cuts on alcohol excise? Redundancies at Pudliszki

The bankrupt chain of ten Warsaw supermarkets, Robert, in which the French Auchan had a stake, has been taken over by MarcPol. This chain, Polska Siec Handlowa MarcPol, was founded in 1988 and with 136 supermarkets is now one of the largest retail chains with domestic capital ... In the middle of this year producers of alcoholic beverages intend to approach the Finance Ministry with a request for another reduction in the excise levied on alcohol. They hope to win a further cut of 30% as in October 2002 ...The fruit and vegetable processing company Pudliszki, owned by the American food concern Heinz, is to make 80 of its 700 employees redundant this year. The job cuts are part of the current stage of the company's restructuring plan. (Retail News is C/O Polish Market Review Retail Update No. 8, www.polishmarket.com)