Share sale delays impinge on Polkomtel's performance

According to Q1 results released by Polkomtel, the owner of the Plus GSM mobile phone operator, it seems the company is failing to keep up with the competition. Bob Creamer, an analyst at CDM Pekao, believes this is closely related to the long-delayed sale of shares in the company by major domestic shareholders, including PKN Orlen, KGHM and the National Grid (PSE). "It is hard to implement an aggressive market strategy in such a situation,” he said. “Polkomtel is still ahead of Centertel [the owner of the Idea mobile operator], but the latter is developing much faster. If nothing changes, then it will overtake Plus GSM within two quarters," Creamer continued. Indeed, Polkomtel's revenues are growing slower than the 19% market average, with the firm recording a 10% increase in Q1 compared with the same period last year. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 10) M.M.