Polkomtel takes a loan in order to pay out dividends

At the end of 2005 the telecom operator had only zl.158 million in cash. "We will acquire the funds needed to pay out the dividend, partially using the zl.1.6 billion credit the company had received recently from a bank consortium, but in majority it will come from operational revenues," said Polkomtel's financial director, Tomasz Wardak. However, analysts claim that the State Treasury is trying to pump out as much money out of the company in order to help cover the budget deficit. "Polkomtel is one of few profitable companies dependent on the State Treasury. This is tempting for the shareholders, but rather unbeneficial for the company," said Bankowy Dom Maklerski PKO BP's analyst, Dorota Puchlew. In the previous years the operator had a policy to earmark half of its annual profits for dividends. (Puls Biznesu, p. 8) A.K.