PTC's profits mean big dividends and debt reduction

The remaining surplus will be used to pay off the company's debts, including bonds. "Although the tempo of debt reduction by the company is impressive, in the mid-year it exceeded zł.4 billion and plunged by over zł.700 million within the next six months... I still doubt whether it's the best time to make such a decision, particularly while competitive pressures arise, and the operator will soon need large sums to launch UMTS," said Michał Marczak, an analyst at the DI BRE investment house. He also proffered the notion that it was Vivendi, ET's co-owner, that insisted on the payment of such a high dividend in order to regain the money ET owes it. Furthermore, ET's other co-owner, Elektrim, is not likely to benefit directly from the dividend at all. The analyst also stressed that the EBITDA margin of the company actually dropped in the last quarter of the year from 45% to 38%, partly due to the cost of introducing the Heyah brand. (Puls Biznesu, p. 5) M.K.