Wólczanka and Vistula sign merger agreement

Rafał Bauer, Wólczanka's president, became the head of Vistula and he will be responsible to ensure that the consolidation will be a smooth process which should be completed by the end of July. According to the agreement, Vistula is to take over Wólczanka and the latter company would then disappear from the stock exchange. The aim of the merger is to strengthen the market position of both companies in order to enable them to successfully enter foreign markets. "The concerns should head in one direction. This solution will be cheaper and more effective" said Michał Wójcik, Vistula's deputy director. Vistula has over 65 shops in Poland and 5 abroad, while Wólczanka over 100. Vistula expects to make a 2006 profit of zł.17 million on revenues of zł.150 million, while Wólczanka expects revenues of zł.105 million and a profit of zł.7.5 million. (Parkiet, p. 4; Puls Biznesu, p. 12) M.K.