Prokom serves up big losses but still has time for tennis

The Prokom group, Poland's largest software integrator ran up a loss of zł.19.5 million in the first half of this year, while its revenues dropped from zł.693 million in the first half of 2003 to zł.650 million. "The results are much below expectations, particularly at the operating level. This is mainly caused by higher costs of management and results from subsidiaries," says CA IB analyst Przemysław Sawala-Uryasz. In its commentary to the results, the Gdynia-based company promises an improvement in the future, hoping to sign new, lucrative deals, including those with the Polish Post and Poland's largest insurer, PZU. According to the company, advanced negotiations are in progress on several deals with a combined value of more than zł.300 million. Despite the poor showing in the first half of the year, Prokom is splashing out on the Idea Prokom Open tennis tournament, currently being held in Sopot with total prize money of around $1 million. (Puls Biznesu, p.9) T.J.