Portal to profit

The first half of the year brought the best results in the history of Kraków- based Interia.pl. The web portal achieved a net profit of zł.5.1 million, which is 43-percent higher than in the same period last year. Interia's revenues for H1 this year were 20-percent higher and amounted to zł.30.9 million, while revenues from advertising saw a 53-percent rise on H1 2006.

"We are very pleased that we did even better than the excellent results we achieved in 2006, which set very high goals for 2007," said the president of Interia's management board, Grzegorz Błażewicz. "These great results provide us with a steady base for the development of our future projects," Blażewicz added.

In line with its development strategy, Interia.pl will remain a website offering a broad range of services, including professional news. This month Interia.pl launched Fulmido.pl, which offers movies, music and audiobooks for rent or sale. The company is also preparing to launch Grosso.pl, which will give online communities' members an opportunity to run their own internet shops.

The firm is also close to completing a project aimed at Poles living abroad. The purpose of the project, called Wyspy (Islands), is to create a website for Poles in the US and UK which offers useful information, blogs and discussion boards. "We are now talking with potential advertisers in the US and to the people who would be responsible for these projects locally, but we are also ready to launch new projects similar to Wyspy [targeting Poles in various other countries] in the near future," said Interia's financial director, Dariusz Mazurkiewicz.