Pol-Aqua goes public

Pol-Aqua, a construction and engineering company which has worked on projects such as the Złote Tarasy and Galeria Mokotów shopping centers, is going to debut on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in June or July as the 11th listed company from the construction sector.

"The goal of the share issue is first of all to increase our turnover capital in order to be able to carry out contracts we have already signed. We also want to purchase new equipment and increase the capital in our subsidiaries," said Marek Stefański, Pol-Aqua CEO. In 2006, the company has already signed contracts worth zł.145 million and is negotiating more long-term agreements.

"We will soon sign new deals and these are not going to be one-year-long engagements. Currently, we try not to take part in tenders worth less than EUR 10 (zł. 38.8) million," Stefański explained.

He also said he expects the financial results of the company to grow by a couple of hundred percent. In 2005, Pol-Aqua's net profit amounted to zł.16.4 million against zł.6.1 million a year earlier. The revenues grew from zł.103.8 million in 2004 to zł.132.1 million last year.

"We are planning an offer worth at minimum zł.100 million. The rest will be left to investors. However, the success of [construction firm] PBG makes us hope that Pol-Aqua will also let investors get a decent profit," said Grzegorz Leszczyński, CEO of IDM brokerage house, which is preparing Pol-Aqua's IPO.

In 2005 the WIG Construction index grew by a record 63 percent, reaching historical highs. This year it has already gained 40 percent.