Netia shares plunge following announcement of zl.390 million first half loss

Shares in fixed line telecom operator Netia plunged yesterday by over 17%, to close the day's trading at zl.9.90. The fall followed the publication by the Netia board of the company's quarterly report. Investors seemed unconvinced by assurances from Netia president Mattias Gadd that the company was taking measures aimed at improving efficiency, with the current focus on providing sufficient financial support for its further development in Poland. Gadd admitted, however, that Netia was unable to finance its development using internal sources, but he failed to reveal whether it plans to issue more shares or turn to debt financing. During the first six months of the year Netia suffered a zl.390 million net operating loss. According to market analysts, Netia will not be profitable until 2005, but even this is uncertain considering its zl.4 billion of debt and the slow expansion of its subscriber base. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 14; Puls Biznesu, p. 7; Prawo i Gospodarka, p. 11) M.T.K.