Warsaw Stock Exchange - top winners and bottom losers in 2006

Top five winners in 2006

PONARFEH Wadowice-based Ponar produces industrial hydraulics and designs hydraulic drive and control systems. It is Poland's leading producer of hydraulic lifting devices, fittings for control systems, hydraulic drives, and complete hydraulic control systems. Its main customers are the mining industry, machine-tool producers, and agricultural, construction and transport machinery firms. The company's Q3 revenues reached zł.11.9 million and its net profit was zł.976,000.

STALPROD Stalprodukt is a leading manufacturer and exporter of highly processed steel products, including grain-oriented electrical steels, cold-formed sections, road barriers and toroidal cores. The domestic market covered about 55 percent of sales and its key domestic customers are Elektrim Motor and Zelmer-Rzeszow. Stalprodukt's main foreign customers are SBG, Siemens and Toshiba. In Q3 2006 the company's revenues reached zł.370 million and its net profit amounted to zł.86.2 million.

POLNORD This Gdańsk-based construction and civil-engineering company was founded 30 years ago and since February 1999 it has been listed on the WSE. In Q4 of 2003 the company merged with Energobudowa. Its main activity concerns general building work. Beside this, Polnord also designs, produces and installs facades and PVC and aluminum carpentry, and provides development services through its daughter company, Polnord-Dom. The company's Q3 revenues accounted for zł.90.9 million and its net loss reached zł.4.2 million.

NAFTA Kraków-based Naftobudowa is a construction and assembly company providing complex services. Its main markets include the refinery-petrochemical industry (including the Gdańsk Refinery), the power industry (MPEC Kraków), and the construction industry. The company's main shareholder is Polimex-Mostostal. The company's Q3 revenues amounted to zł.36.3 million and its net profit reached zł.1.4 million.

CENSTALGD Gdańsk-based Centrostal is a local distributor of metal materials, mainly for construction firms, operating in the Western Pomerania region. The firm's activity includes construction and aluminum components. Złomrex is the firm's strategic investor, with a 50-percent stake. Centrostal's Q3 revenues reached zł.39.2 million and net profit reached zł.423 million.

Bottom five losers in 2006

LUBAWA Lubawa produces a wide variety of technical goods. The firm produces around 300 products in four major categories: tourist equipment; safety equipment for those working at extreme heights; military equipment for special services; and technical items. The company has been in business since 1951 and was first listed on the WSE in 1996. Net profits at the end of 2004 amounted to around zł.3.045 million.

SKOTAN Zaklady Garbarskie Skotan is one of the largest tanneries in Poland, specializing in leather for shoes, clothing, linings and other goods. Half of its production is exported to the US and various countries in the EU. The firm sells 90-95% of its products to shoe makers and is Poland's largest leather exporter.

ALCHEMIA Alchemia SA was originally based in Warsaw, but in 2004 the company established its formal headquarters in Chorzów. Currently the company deals with production and trade in areas concerning artificial materials, metallurgical materials and fuels. Alchemia manufactures steel products, usually pipes, and is involved in recycling projects, as well as foam manufacturing. The company is owned by Roman Karkosik and it owns 100 percent of the shares in Huta Batory.

AGORA Agora Group is the publisher of Poland's largest daily newspaper (Gazeta Wyborcza), a free paper available at peak times on weekdays (Metro), and 16 other color periodicals. Metro is Poland's most widely-read free paper in cities around the country. The company, along with Gazeta Wyborcza, was created on the eve of the parliamentary elections in 1989. It is listed on the WSE and the LSE.

SKYEUROPE was the first low-cost airline in Central Europe. It is the leading and largest Central European low-cost airline, with bases in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. The airline began operations on February 13, 2002. On September 27, SkyEurope became the first and only publicly-listed airline in CEE quoted on the Vienna and Warsaw Stock Exchanges.

Compiled from results quoted on the WSE from January 2, 2006 to December 14, 2006