PTR keen to reinsure everyone east of the Elbe

The new president of Polskie Towarzystwo Reasekuracji (PTR), Marek Czerski, wants PTR to become a leading reinsurance company in the region. "PTR may become a leading reinsurance platform in this part of Europe", stated Czerski. He believes that PTR may benefit from contracts with a value of up to EUR 0.5 million, which are not profitable for large reinsurance companies. "We should increase our activities in the Baltic states, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Russia and the Balkans", declared Czerski. He also said that acquisitions were inevitable. In order to fulfill expansion plans, PTR is to carry out a share issue and hopes to collect around zł.50 million from the floor. "I hope that the planned issue will not be the last", stated Czerski. For the time being the company has to deal with worse results. In H1 2006 it collected premiums of zł.103.4 million, which is 2% less compared with the same period in 2005. The net profit decreased from zł.11.8 million to zł.3.8 million. "The decrease of revenues results from resignation from unprofitable contracts", Czerski explained, and he assured that revenues from sales would increase by the end of the year. (Puls Biznesu, pp.1, 9) E.B.