Vobis expands and prepares November IPO

The company will submit its issue prospectus to the Financial Supervisory Commission in August, but for the time being it is not revealing details of the offer. It is known Vobis needs around zł.200 million for planned investments, which it hopes to finance mainly by funds raised from the floor. "The vast majority of this sum will be earmarked for the development of retail sales in Poland and abroad," said the president of Vobis, Dariusz Pietraszkiewicz. The company will develop its network of digital equipment stores under the brand Vobis Digital, and build a new network of stores selling telecom services called Vobis Mobile. Vobis has been present on the market since 1992 and owns 160 sales outlets. It plans to open 15 Vobis Mobile stores by the end of the year, a figure which is to grow to 79 by 2009. In 2006 it had a net profit exceeding zł.20 million, which was 117% higher than in 2005. (Parkiet, p. 5; Rzeczpospolita, p. B3) A.K.