Telefonia Dialog turns KGHM's 2002 profit into loss

Yesterday copper conglomerate KGHM reported a steep group net loss for the fourth quarter of 2002 as its wholly-owned telecom service provider Te lefonia Dialog (TD) again depressed its bottom line. The world's seven th-largest copper producer and number two by silver output, said its c onsolidated net loss reached zl. 272 million against a previously-reported profit on core operations of zl. 48 million in the third quarter. Its full-year group net loss reached zl. 270 million, much less than the zl. 839 million loss in 2001, but still a negative surprise for investors, who had been encouraged by positive nine-month figures. KGHM, one of the Warsaw bourse's flagship stocks, said its troubled fixed-line arm TD lost zl. 452 million, erasing the entire zl. 255 million net profit from its metals production business in 2002, as revealed last month. Company president Stanislaw Speczik announced that KGHM would spend zl. 480 million on the construction of two power-plants. This should allow annual savings of zl. 150 million. (Reuters, Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 7) M.M.