The was the week
Debt-ridden clothes manufacturer Vistula has been receiving some much-needed cash. Stopmar confirmed that it had decided to increase its share capital in Vistula to 7.49%, while unconfirmed reports suggested that financial institutions had acquired a further 10% stake. BRE Bank chimed in with the revelation that in December it acquired a 9.99% interest in the company.
A receiver for bankrupt Dom Wydawniczy Wolne Słowo, Mariusz Hinz, who was being sought by prosecutors after going missing, finally turned up in court. While insisting the company could pay all its creditors, he admitted that he had not been prepared for the hearing as he had little time to read DWWS's financial data.
Santander Central Hispano, with plans to step up its presence in the retail banking sector, was reported to be negotiating the purchase of BPH PBK's 66% stake in Górnolšski Bank Gospodarczy. An SCH representative was quoted as saying that the bank did not rule out involvement in other areas of banking, such as corporate services and assets and insurance management.
The Austrian supplier of the Pandur II transporter, Steyr Daimler Puch, added its voice to the cries of foul over the Defence Ministry's awarding of an armoured transporter tender. The company called for the tender to be annulled, saying the competitors' bids failed to meet the requirements.
Bank Pekao blamed the failure to close a key deal in the final quarter for missing its profit target. The bank anticipated earnings of €225 million (zł. 900 million) in all of 2002, below its target of €250 million (zł. 1 billion) and a long way short of record earnings of €315 million (zł. 1.26 billion) in 2001. "The main reason was the failure to complete the sale of our stake in Polcard," said an unnamed source.
Meanwhile, Agora was also expecting disappointing results for 2002. Company president Wanda Rapaczyński anticipated a slight increase in revenues, but a dip in profits, with sales of jewel-in-the-crown Gazeta Wyborcza down. She blamed the company's woes on television, which is strengthening its position in the advertising market, at the cost of the print media.
Gazeta Wyborcza can expect the competition to heat up even further, if Axel Springer Verlag, Europe's largest newspaper group, goes ahead with plans to launch its own daily here. It would represent a real departure for a publisher whose 33 Polish titles cover computer, car and women's magazines.
The battle lines for domination of the Central European steel market were drawn between UK-based LNM and US Steel, when both were invited to take part in the tender for Polskie Huty Stali. Although information was sent to a dozen select investors, only these two are considered viable candidates in view of their records of revamping communist-era steel mills and their strong regional presence.
Stanisław Speczik, the chief executive of KGHM Polska Mied, admitted that all was not well with the company's fixed-line calls unit, warning that reserves might have to be created for loss-making Telefonia Dialog. He said KGHM planned to refocus its strategy on its core mining and smelting businesses, and move away from riskier telecom investments.
ComArch is hoping to give a helping hand to the fight against crime - and at the same time make itself €10 million (zł. 40 million) - by supplying the Małopolska police with a command and control system. To test the new system, later this month the company will receive 105 cars from police headquarters, which will be fitted with mobile computer terminals.
Sales of new cars totalled 308,000 in 2002, the lowest figure since 1995. However, the news was not all bad, since in December a 27% year-on-year increase in sales was recorded, the sixth consecutive monthly rise. The year was a particularly good one for Toyota and Ford, which achieved annual sales increases of 56% and 70%, respectively.
The Polish Confederation of Private Employers called on the president to veto the biofuels bill. "The obligation to use biofuels and their high prices may have grave consequences for the overall economy," said confederation head Henryka Bochniarz.
The Finance Ministry said it had revised upwards its forecast for annual inflation in December to 0.8% from 0.7%, following the release of food price figures for the second half of the month that showed they grew by 0.3% during the same period in November. A 0.8% figure for December would still be below November's 0.9% record low.
Having earlier witnessed banks, enterprises and the public turning a deaf ear to his exhortation to buy foreign currencies as a way of weakening the złoty, the finance minister turned his sights directly on the Central Bank. Reopening the government's war of words with the National Bank of Poland, Kołodko said: "The złoty's exchange rate is decisively overvalued as a result of speculative flows which are caused by excessive interest rates of the central bank."
The finance minister also indicated that personal and corporate income taxes will not be cut until the economy enters a clear recovery. "The issue of lowering taxes will be considered only when we have sufficient economic growth," he said. However, he failed to explain what "sufficient" would entail, or indeed when he expected the growth to occur.
A team from Warsaw University's Astronomy Institute had its discovery of the most distant planet from Earth confirmed by international scientists at a congress of the American Astronomy Association. The "Polish" planet, with the unlikely name OGLE-TR-56b, is located some 5,000 light-years away from Earth and is slightly larger than Jupiter.
The state treasury managed to cause a few surprises when it released preliminary data showing just how bad privatisation revenue was in 2002. The figure, €700 million (zł. 2.8 million), would have been even lower were it not for the controversial sale of Stoen, which brought in €375 million (zł. 1.5 billion). One analyst pointed out that revenues have never been so low in the history of privatisation.
Half of the civil servants at the Agency for Agricultural Restructuring and Modernisation, who were tested on their knowledge of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy, failed to achieve the 60% pass mark. "I did not expect the result to be so poor," said Henryk Grocholski, the head of the team supervising the work of the agency. "I guess the people who sat the exam simply did not take it seriously."
The Health Ministry raised eyebrows with its purchase of two luxury cars costing more than zł. 300,000 each. "By no means were the cars bought with money designated for health care," a ministry spokesperson insisted. "The Ministry finalised this purchase with funds allocated for the functioning of the institution."
European Parliament president Pat Cox described his home country Ireland as a role model for countries joining the EU in 2004. He said the rags-to-riches Irish success story was one many joining countries from central and eastern Europe wished to copy. "The periphery in Europe has grown faster, with regional dynamics, than the centre," he said.
The Securities and Stock Exchange Commission (KPWiG) and the board of directors of the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) stepped up calls for the introduction of the capital income tax, scheduled for the beginning of 2004, to be postponed. "We suggest the new regulation take effect one year later. Of course, the best solution would be to abandon the whole idea," said Wiesław Rozłucki, chairman of the WSE.
While the prime minster was flying high in an F-16 and the health minister was looking forward to a drive in one of his brand new zł. 300,000 luxury cars, the mayor of Warsaw took his thermometer for a trip on the city's public transport. On discovering a temperature as low as minus 11 on one bus, Lech Kaczyński ordered an immediate ban on the practice of rewarding drivers who save fuel, and the MZA was told to spend an additional zł. 100,000 on heating its buses.
A receiver for bankrupt Dom Wydawniczy Wolne Słowo, Mariusz Hinz, who was being sought by prosecutors after going missing, finally turned up in court. While insisting the company could pay all its creditors, he admitted that he had not been prepared for the hearing as he had little time to read DWWS's financial data.
Santander Central Hispano, with plans to step up its presence in the retail banking sector, was reported to be negotiating the purchase of BPH PBK's 66% stake in Górnolšski Bank Gospodarczy. An SCH representative was quoted as saying that the bank did not rule out involvement in other areas of banking, such as corporate services and assets and insurance management.
The Austrian supplier of the Pandur II transporter, Steyr Daimler Puch, added its voice to the cries of foul over the Defence Ministry's awarding of an armoured transporter tender. The company called for the tender to be annulled, saying the competitors' bids failed to meet the requirements.
Bank Pekao blamed the failure to close a key deal in the final quarter for missing its profit target. The bank anticipated earnings of €225 million (zł. 900 million) in all of 2002, below its target of €250 million (zł. 1 billion) and a long way short of record earnings of €315 million (zł. 1.26 billion) in 2001. "The main reason was the failure to complete the sale of our stake in Polcard," said an unnamed source.
Meanwhile, Agora was also expecting disappointing results for 2002. Company president Wanda Rapaczyński anticipated a slight increase in revenues, but a dip in profits, with sales of jewel-in-the-crown Gazeta Wyborcza down. She blamed the company's woes on television, which is strengthening its position in the advertising market, at the cost of the print media.
Gazeta Wyborcza can expect the competition to heat up even further, if Axel Springer Verlag, Europe's largest newspaper group, goes ahead with plans to launch its own daily here. It would represent a real departure for a publisher whose 33 Polish titles cover computer, car and women's magazines.
The battle lines for domination of the Central European steel market were drawn between UK-based LNM and US Steel, when both were invited to take part in the tender for Polskie Huty Stali. Although information was sent to a dozen select investors, only these two are considered viable candidates in view of their records of revamping communist-era steel mills and their strong regional presence.
Stanisław Speczik, the chief executive of KGHM Polska Mied, admitted that all was not well with the company's fixed-line calls unit, warning that reserves might have to be created for loss-making Telefonia Dialog. He said KGHM planned to refocus its strategy on its core mining and smelting businesses, and move away from riskier telecom investments.
ComArch is hoping to give a helping hand to the fight against crime - and at the same time make itself €10 million (zł. 40 million) - by supplying the Małopolska police with a command and control system. To test the new system, later this month the company will receive 105 cars from police headquarters, which will be fitted with mobile computer terminals.
Sales of new cars totalled 308,000 in 2002, the lowest figure since 1995. However, the news was not all bad, since in December a 27% year-on-year increase in sales was recorded, the sixth consecutive monthly rise. The year was a particularly good one for Toyota and Ford, which achieved annual sales increases of 56% and 70%, respectively.
The Polish Confederation of Private Employers called on the president to veto the biofuels bill. "The obligation to use biofuels and their high prices may have grave consequences for the overall economy," said confederation head Henryka Bochniarz.
The Finance Ministry said it had revised upwards its forecast for annual inflation in December to 0.8% from 0.7%, following the release of food price figures for the second half of the month that showed they grew by 0.3% during the same period in November. A 0.8% figure for December would still be below November's 0.9% record low.
Having earlier witnessed banks, enterprises and the public turning a deaf ear to his exhortation to buy foreign currencies as a way of weakening the złoty, the finance minister turned his sights directly on the Central Bank. Reopening the government's war of words with the National Bank of Poland, Kołodko said: "The złoty's exchange rate is decisively overvalued as a result of speculative flows which are caused by excessive interest rates of the central bank."
The finance minister also indicated that personal and corporate income taxes will not be cut until the economy enters a clear recovery. "The issue of lowering taxes will be considered only when we have sufficient economic growth," he said. However, he failed to explain what "sufficient" would entail, or indeed when he expected the growth to occur.
A team from Warsaw University's Astronomy Institute had its discovery of the most distant planet from Earth confirmed by international scientists at a congress of the American Astronomy Association. The "Polish" planet, with the unlikely name OGLE-TR-56b, is located some 5,000 light-years away from Earth and is slightly larger than Jupiter.
The state treasury managed to cause a few surprises when it released preliminary data showing just how bad privatisation revenue was in 2002. The figure, €700 million (zł. 2.8 million), would have been even lower were it not for the controversial sale of Stoen, which brought in €375 million (zł. 1.5 billion). One analyst pointed out that revenues have never been so low in the history of privatisation.
Half of the civil servants at the Agency for Agricultural Restructuring and Modernisation, who were tested on their knowledge of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy, failed to achieve the 60% pass mark. "I did not expect the result to be so poor," said Henryk Grocholski, the head of the team supervising the work of the agency. "I guess the people who sat the exam simply did not take it seriously."
The Health Ministry raised eyebrows with its purchase of two luxury cars costing more than zł. 300,000 each. "By no means were the cars bought with money designated for health care," a ministry spokesperson insisted. "The Ministry finalised this purchase with funds allocated for the functioning of the institution."
European Parliament president Pat Cox described his home country Ireland as a role model for countries joining the EU in 2004. He said the rags-to-riches Irish success story was one many joining countries from central and eastern Europe wished to copy. "The periphery in Europe has grown faster, with regional dynamics, than the centre," he said.
The Securities and Stock Exchange Commission (KPWiG) and the board of directors of the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) stepped up calls for the introduction of the capital income tax, scheduled for the beginning of 2004, to be postponed. "We suggest the new regulation take effect one year later. Of course, the best solution would be to abandon the whole idea," said Wiesław Rozłucki, chairman of the WSE.
While the prime minster was flying high in an F-16 and the health minister was looking forward to a drive in one of his brand new zł. 300,000 luxury cars, the mayor of Warsaw took his thermometer for a trip on the city's public transport. On discovering a temperature as low as minus 11 on one bus, Lech Kaczyński ordered an immediate ban on the practice of rewarding drivers who save fuel, and the MZA was told to spend an additional zł. 100,000 on heating its buses.
