Onet share price profits as WP looks set to sink

While the company's share prices has risen by 90% since January, the current figure marks the highest value recorded by the company since February 2002. The main reason for the improved results is the current situation of the company's largest competitor, Wirtualna Polska (WP), which is on the verge of bankruptcy. As a consequence of WP's misfortunes, advertisers have been looking for a more stable portal, and thus Onet has picked up much of WP's business. "We are not happy that our main rival is in trouble. We would prefer it if the market was more competitive and had more active portals," said Paweł Kosmala, Grupa Onet's president. However, WP's woes are not the sole reason for the group's rise in revenues. "The Internet advertising market is constantly on the rise. Also the number of online transactions is growing. Therefore internet-based ventures are showing better results," Kosmala explained. (Parkiet, p. 2) A.K.