Optimus to announce new strategy

IT firm Optimus will announce in early August whether it will concentrate only on computer production and distribution or shift its business focus to systems integration, Zbigniew Mazur, the firm's investment director and a member of the management board, told the WBJ. Mazur declined to give any additional information except that the final decision had not yet been made and that Optimus's management board would spend the next week discussing its plans with the firm's supervisory team. Andrzej Widerszpil, the former general manager of Compaq Computer Polska who was appointed the president of Optimus in early June, had said that he would devise a new strategy for the company by September. After posting a net loss in 2001, Optimus must focus on putting its financial house back in order this year. But IT analysts were certain that Optimus would base its strategy on computer production and distribution since a shift into systems integration would require significant investment and effort to fight off IT powerhouses ComputerLand and Prokom in competing for a limited number of big corporate contracts. Włodzimierz Giller, an analyst at Erste Securities in Warsaw, noted that despite the stagnant computer market, Widerszpil's success at Compaq would be an asset for Optimus's computer production strategy.

"(Widerszpil) knows the market," Giller said. "If (he) is able to control costs in Optimus and to adopt the proper sales strategy, Optimus will have a chance to survive on the market." The firm needs a pricing or a value-added strategy to regain computer market share, Giller said, adding that consumers find its brand name more appealing than the labels of lower-grade PC manufacturers. As part of its new strategy, Optimus will also reveal its plans for its business-to-business e-commerce platform Xtrade, Mazur said. It is believed that Optimus might sell Xtrade if it's not suited to the new strategy. According to a press report in May, Xtrade was mulling a merger with its rival Marketplanet, an electronic-platform created by Telekomunikacja Polska (TPSA) for buying and selling office machines and services. Optimus has plowed about zł. 30 million ($7.3 million) into Xtrade, according to Katarzyna Perzak, an IT analyst at Dom Maklerski Big-BG, who said that a prospective buyer would not likely be willing to dish out the same amount for the platform. Polish press reports earlier this year also speculated that Optimus, the largest producer of PCs in Poland, could acquire Wrocław-based JTT Computer, the country's third largest desktop PC producer. But officials at both Optimus and JTT said that they were not holding any merger talks. Such a merger, Perzak said, would be sensible for Optimus in the future once it sorts out its financial situation because it doesn't have enough cash on hand now to purchase JTT shares. Last January, Optimus split into two companies - the computer hardware producer Optimus Technologie and the Internet portal Grupa Onet.pl.