PKO promises to issue privatization prospectus presently

"I believe that a realistic deadline for submitting a prospectus to the Securities and Stock Exchange Commission (KPWiG) would be July this year," said Andrzej Podsiadło, PKO BP's president. He also added that the bank would pay out dividends once it has been privatized as the institution was planning to further improve its results. PKO BP's net profit amounted to zł.408 million in Q1 2004 and was over 23% higher than for the same period of the previous year. The bank plans to carry out various investments before being privatized, including the takeover of Kredyt Bank's Ukrainian operation. "We are also looking for other targets in the region," Podsiadło revealed. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 6) M.M.