Warsaw steel mill ready to sell excess grounds to cover liabilities

Italian-owned Huta Lucchini Warszawa steelworks (HLW) believes its fortunes are about to improve. Deputy president Severo Bocchio told a press conference yesterday that, "The enterprise will start showing positive financial results in two years, with a small profit perhaps next year". For this year at least, losses are still expected, although they should not be as bad as those of 2001, which stood at zl. 119 million on a turnover of zl. 479 million. The steelworks is in the final stage of restructuring program. Employment has been slashed from 4,700 in 1991 to 1,300 in 2001. Severo believes that selling about a third of work's surplus land would help to pay its liabilities and lower costs. The Italian concern, which owns an 80% stake in HLW, has sunk euro 110 million and zl. 380 million into the plant over the last ten years. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B5, Prawo i Gospodarka, p. 7) M.T.