Optimus at a junction

Optimus' recovery from the blows it received from its row with the state is a long and painful process. In a bid to smooth the ride, the company's president, Piotr Lewandowski, appealed to shareholders to support the issue of another series of shares. A general shareholders' meeting is scheduled for November 3. "We hope that the shareholders will help us rebuild the company's position," Lewandowski said.

If the issue takes place, the company wants to raise up to zł.39 million. "Our primary goal is to rebuild the turnover capital; without it we can't talk about rebuilding the company," the president explained. He said that the company needs zł.25 million for turnover capital. "If we manage to carry out the issue, Optimus could be profitable in the second quarter of 2007," Lewandowski added.

His declarations met with skepticism from shareholders. They said that the strategy lacks vision and concrete plans on how to make the company profitable again. They were also worried about the lack of alternative options (other than the share issue) and too much reliance on Optimus' brand name.

Lewandowski said that if the issue does not take place a new strategy will have to be worked out. "This would be the worst possible scenario (...) We would have to pay back our zł.8-million debt to Bank BPH and in effect we could lose our liquidity," Lewandowski said.

But that could be just the beginning of the company's problems. The former chairman of the company's supervisory board, Barbara Sissons, said that the board's June decision to issue D-series shares was illegal as the board's statement was forged.

As a result of the share issue, and subsequent changes of shareholder votes, the current management board was elected. Sissons appealed that no decisions regarding Lewandowski's proposed new issue be taken until the court makes a decision on the authenticity of the supervisory board's documents and thus on the legality of the current management board.

Michał Pakulniewicz