The bi-weekly business report by Bonnier
POLAND
| No 481 | 27 August 2012 | Creating transparency in emerging markets since 1991 | www.news2biz.com |
” Poland is one of our focused centers of recruiting. Marcus Ryu, CEO of Guidewire Software PAGE 5
MANUFACTURING Sweden's Electrolux sets up regional CEE
head office in Warsaw PAGE 2
FINANCE Agri sector bank BGZ goes 100% Dutch
after Rabobank's hefty bid PAGE 4
PROPERTY & CONSTRUCTION Skanska acquires premium Warsaw site
in controversial deal PAGE 9
ENERGY & RESOURCES Germany's RWE adds two wind farms
to its Polish portfolio PAGE 11
TRANSPORT & LOGISTICS New Modlin Airport receives 0.2m
passengers in first six weeks PAGE 13
FOOD & AGRICULTURE GoodMills Group to invest PLN 50m in
Polish grain processing business PAGE 14
IT & TELECOM Netia expands cooperation with
Sweden's Ericsson PAGE 17
RETAIL & SERVICE France's Carrefour bets on franchise as
way forward in Poland PAGE 19
ECONOMY & POLITICS Poland's five-year bond yields drop to
their lowest level in history PAGE 22
Thousands of Poles fall victim to Ponzi scheme The August collapse of unregulated in-
vestment company Amber Gold left
thousands of Poles wondering whether
they would ever see any of the PLN 90m
they entrusted its founders, and raised a
lot of questions about the effectiveness
of Polish regulatory authorities. Operat-
ing since 2009, Amber Gold was one of a
number of Polish "para-banks" offering
investors higher returns than those be-
ing given by formal banks. Established
by a convicted fraudster, the scheme at-
tracted some 50,000 clients. PAGE 21
Most important updated key figures in this issue Industrial output & PPI in July PAGE 4
Property investments in 1H PAGE 8
Retail sales in July PAGE 21
CPI inflation & company results PAGE 23
SEE ALL KEY FIGURES PAGES 24–26
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: ▶ news2biz talks to Marcus Ryu,
CEO of Guidewire Software PAGE 5 ▶ PKO orders mobile payment
system from the Swedes PAGE 7
▶ US giant C.H. Robinson to acquire Poland's Apreo Logistics PAGE 14
▶ Danish-owned malting plant ex-
pands on exports to Asia PAGE 15 ▶ US PerkinElmer to launch offshor-
ing centre in Krakow PAGE 21
Bonnier Group/Äripäev publishes similar business reports on Esto-
nia, Latvia, Lithuania and China. As a subscriber you have access to
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write [email protected] or phone +372 667 0251.
HP seeks to create hundreds of service outsourcing jobs in Lodz. Photo: n2b archive
HP lands in Lodz with giant new project IT giant HP has decided to expand its Global Delivery Centre be-yond Wroclaw, where the US company already employs close to 2,500 staff. At its new location in the central Polish city of Lodz, HP seeks to recruit several hundred employees to provide book-keeping, HR, and CRM services for international clients. PAGE 16
Property investors stay busy Although real estate investments in Central Europe fell by 40% in 1H 2012, in Poland the decline was merely 6% and outlook remains optimistic. With EUR 877m worth of assets transacted in 1H, Poland contributed 70% of the total transaction volume in CEE. PAGE 8
Key CEE market in 1H 2012
Property investment volume in EURm
0100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
Hungary
Romania
Czech Rep.
Poland
Swedish Electrolux, one of the top
investors in Poland's household ap-
pliance sector, has decided to estab-
lish a regional headquarters covering
Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia,
and the Baltic states, in the Polish
capital.
"We are in the process of setting
up an international team of approx-
imately 20 professionals, based in
Warsaw, who will be coordinating
projects in sales, marketing, control-
ling, human resources and product
development in the countries con-
cerned," Adam Cich, General Man-
ager Eastern Europe North at Elec-
trolux tells news2biz. "A regional HQ
will enable us to react faster to
changing economic environment in
the region. Shared cultural values,
geographical proximity, and similar
customer preferences will help us
maximize synergies of Electrolux
operations in the region."
Little more than half a decade
ago the Swedes chose Poland as
their European production hub. To-
date, the company has invested in
excess of EUR 400m in Poland, with
factories in Zarow (dishwashers),
Olawa (washing machines),
Swidnica (cookers & ovens), and
Siewierz (laundry dryers), together
employing some 4,200 staff.
"In 2010 our production in Po-
land came to 3m units and last year
the figure was 3.4m, so the upward
tendency is clear," says Adam Cich.
"In April we received permission for
a new project in Zarow. At the cost
of approximately PLN 42m we will
launch production of narrower,
45cm-wide dishwashers. Further ex-
pansion will depend on market situ-
ation in Europe," says Adam Cich.
Poland is already home to Elec-
trolux's global bookkeeping centre in
Krakow. With some 450 staff the fa-
cility handles accountancy and fi-
nancial processes for 21 Electrolux
units in Europe and North America.
Unlike Poland's automotive sec-
tor, which has been badly hit by the
Eurozone crisis, the country's white
goods industry continues to experi-
ence robust growth. According to
the domestic equipment makers'
employer association CECED, over
the first half of the year Polish facto-
ries produced 6.1m large appliances,
marking a 5% increase y/y.
"The current economic situation
discourages consumers from really
large investments such as new
homes or even cars, instead making
many of them more likely to embark
on small-scale home improvements
and therefore replace appliances. A
much smaller expense, but still one
that gives some satisfaction. Perhaps
that is why our sector is doing better
than others."
This positive outcome is also
largely the result of huge invest-
ments by global appliance producers
in Poland and relocation of produc-
tion from Western Europe to the still
much more cost-effective Poland.
Italy's Indesit, which has recently
embarked on the construction of a
EUR 30m factory of kitchen hoods
and plastic appliance components
near Lodz, aims to boost the com-
bined output of its Polish plants to
3.8m units in 2012 and 4m units
next year.
South Korean Samsung, which
has recently launched production of
side-by-side refrigerators at the for-
mer Amica plant in Wronki, seeks to
triple its production volume over the
coming three years to become a
number one in Europe. Currently, its
Polish production units can make
2,700 fridges and 1,800 washing
machines per single shift.
Germany's BSH, maker of Bosch
and Siemens appliances, is to main-
tain production at 3m units this
year, while FagorMastercook is hop-
ing for an 11% increase, to 1.3m
units.
The main markets for Polish ap-
pliances are Germany, France, and
the UK, which together receive a half
of the sector's total exports.
Swedish steel and metal trader BE
Group is doing poorly in its Central
and Eastern European business area
which covers the Baltics, Poland, the
Czech Republic and Slovakia. In Q2
2012 sales in CEE declined by no
less than 22% to SEK 239m (11%
during 1H 2012) which almost equal
to the market losses in the compa-
ny's two largest markets, Poland and
the Czech Republic.
Following the Central and East-
ern European business area's Q2/H1
result which came after a loss of SEK
35m in 2011, the BE Group has de-
cided to sell of its Czech operations
which include a production unit in
Prerov and a distribution centre in
Ostrava. Despite the difficulties, the
company remains in Poland where it
has a production unit in Trebaczew
south of Warsaw and a sales office in
Gdynia.
In 2011, BE Group invested SEK
14m in the Trebaczew unit which
covers 45,000 sq.m of which 4,000
sq.m are under roof. The Swedes are
increasing production from the site
gradually during 2012, but so far it
has not boosted sales figures. The
problem for BE Group in CEE has
been that compared to its operations
in Sweden and Finland, it has far too
many small customers.
"We have stopped selling inven-
tory products in Poland, typically for
smaller companies, and focused on
selling pre-processed products from
Trebaczew," says Nikolai Makarov,
head of the CEE Business Area, to
news2biz. "The aim is to focus on
large international clients," says
Makarov who also pints to the fact
that the whole CEE market has seen
dropping steel prices year-to-year.
The facility in Trebaczew is BE
Group's largest investment so far in
Central and Eastern Europe and
production has been in progress
there since the beginning of the
year.
Nasdaq OMX Stockholm listed BE
Group saw a turnover of SEK 5.9bn
in 2011, but made just SEK 20m in
profits after tax. The company,
which is based in Malmö in southern
Sweden, has 900 staff in ten coun-
tries.
Polish Crist shipyard has delivered a
EUR 200m special purpose vessel for
German and Belgian investors. The
"Innovation," which is said to the
most powerful crane jack-up vessel
on the market, marks Crist's
strengthening position as supplier of
vessels and components for Europe's
offshore industry.
The investors behind the "Inno-
vation" are German construction
group Hochtief and GeoSea, part of
the Belgian DEME group, which had
together created a dedicated com-
pany HGO Infra Sea Solutions to
build and operate special-purpose
offshore jack-up vessels.
"Construction of the big offshore
wind farms follow ambitious targets
and timelines," Ulrich Trottnow of
Hochtief Solutions tells news2biz.
"Crist was able to build the Innova-
tion in the requested timeline, quali-
ty and budget and they had deliv-
ered two jack-up platforms for us be-
fore."
The new ship built in Gdynia is
147 meters long, has a beam of 42
meters, and can operate at depths of
up to 50 meters. With an 8,000-
metric-ton payload and 1,500-
metric-ton crane lift capacity, the
vessel is ideally suited for installing
all types of offshore foundations -
and the only one of its kind any-
where in the world. The "Innovation"
can be deployed in erecting turbines
with outputs of 5-10 MW and will
substantially reduce assembly and
service times for this latest genera-
tion of offshore wind turbines.
Hochtief and its partner designed
the ship, which they will together
operate and charter out. The vessel's
first assignment will be at the Global
Tech I wind farm, which Hochtief
Solutions will be building in the
German North Sea.
As demand for special-purpose
equipment exceeds current supply,
the German company has more work
for Crist. Hochtief Solutions has re-
cently commissioned the construc-
tion of a further heavy-lift jack-up
vessel from the Polish shipyard. The
vessel, dubbed "Vidar" is scheduled
is to start operating in 2013. It will
be Hochtief's fourth heavy-duty
craft, following its sister vessel, the
"Innovation", as well as the "Odin"
and "Thor" jack-up platforms, like-
wise delivered by Crist. The "Vidar's
main features will be a 1,200-metric-
ton crane, a loading capacity of up
to 6,500 metric tons, a powerful en-
gine allowing speeds of up to 12
knots, and the ability to work in wa-
ter depths of up to 50 meters. Paral-
lel to this order, Hochtief Solutions
has commissioned the construction
of three large work pontoons.
"We also have to mention, that
almost 70% of the purchasing vol-
ume comes from German suppliers,
for instance Schottel for the drive
systems, Liebherr for the crane and
Siemens for the jacking system,"
Trottnow stresses.
Largely due to its high-performance
fleet made in Poland and innovative
solutions, Hochtief has made a name
for itself as a major player in the off-
shore wind market. The company of-
fers planning, development, con-
struction, and operation of offshore
farms, and is expecting work done in
the triple-figure millions in this seg-
ment in the coming years.
"The offshore business in Germa-
ny, like in other EU-countries, is a
business with European dimensions.
Together with our partner Deme we
will build for example the EnBW
Baltic 2 wind farm in the Baltic Sea."
By 2020, up to 10,000 MW of
capacity is to be installed in German
offshore wind power installations,
and ten years later the figure is to
reach 25,000 MW according to Ger-
man government targets. The Cen-
tral Federation of the German Con-
struction Industry (HDB) expects
that EUR 25–30bn will be spent on
building wind farms in the North
Sea and the Baltic Sea. A considera-
ble chunk of that money is likely to
land with Polish contractors, as the
country's ship making industry has
been realigning lately to focus on
products and services for the off-
shore market.
Crist is the brainchild of two
Polish engineers, who set up the
business two decades ago and have
since turned out 300 ships. With
some 1,100 staff (including seasonal
workers), the shipyard builds vessels
and steel structures for customers
from Poland, Germany, Norway,
Denmark, France, Belgium, Iceland,
the Netherlands and United States.
Its turnover came to PLN 600m last
year. In 2010 Crist acquired a dry-
dock and other key production as-
sets from the closed-down Gdynia
shipyard, where it has since restored
production., for PLN 213m.
Earlier this year, Crist teamed up
with Germany's Bilfinger Berger to
build a factory of steel structures for
offshore wind towers in Szczecin
(see no 476 page 8). The EUR 50m
project is to create 400 jobs.
It took the Polish government an aw-
ful lot of time, despite the huge
premium on offer, to finally agree to
sell its remaining 25.5% stake in ag-
ricultural lender Bank BGZ to Dutch
co-operative Rabobank.
Owning 60% of BGZ, Rabobank
placed a PLN 1.25bn (EUR 287m)
bid in April for the remainder of the
bank (see no 477 page 5), offering a
massive 54% premium to the share
price on the Warsaw Stock Ex-
change. The offer was open to the
Polish state, which had a 25.5% in
BGZ and holders of the 15% free
float. The government floated BGZ a
year ago, after failing to sell its re-
maining holding to Rabobank, alt-
hough it had to reduce the stake it
sold to a mere 12% due to weak
demand.
"BGZ was on the list of scheduled
privatizations of the Polish State
Treasury. Rabobank is committed, as
a long term investor, to develop
BGZ, hence the offer," Rabobank's
Milou Verhaegh tells news2biz.
During the tender offer, which
had been extended since its original
deadline of May 31st, almost all of
the outstanding shares in BGZ were
offered to Rabobank, giving the
Dutch investor nearly 100% of
shares in the Polish bank. According
to many analysts, the long term ex-
tensions of the hefty offer by the
Dutch buyer were indicative of some
kind of backroom bartering with the
treasury ministry. For other inves-
tors, the offer was said to be a no
brainer.
The Dutch bid survived the deep-
ening Eurozone problems in Q2 as
well as downgrade's from Moody's
for both Rabobank and BGZ in mid-
June. In fact, the ratings agency said
it was only the Rabobank offer - and
presumed parental support - that
kept BGZ from a further cut. "The
current three notches of uplift in
BGZ's long-term rating of Baa2 -
which remains one of the highest of
Western European bank subsidiaries
in the region - is driven solely by pa-
rental support assumptions,"
Moody's analysts wrote on June 19.
Earlier reports suggested that the
Dutch bank was looking to offload
some non-core assets in a bid to
raise capital ratios, but their alleged
quest for cash in no way affected
their appetite for BGZ shares.
"Our aim has been and will be to
strengthen BGZ, with a distinct focus
on serving the food and agricultural
sectors and rural communities in Po-
land. There's sufficient room for
growth in this space."
In the first half of 2012 the BGZ
Group saw its net earnings total PLN
39.5m, down from PLN 60.3m in
January-June 2011. This significant
contraction was mainly due to net
impairment losses on loans and ad-
vances, which increased by PLN
104m i.e. 194%. It was mainly the
result of higher impairment allow-
ances for the corporate loans, in-
cluding construction sector, which
saw one of BGZ's large clients file for
bankruptcy.
The bank's assets totaled PLN
35.1bn in June, up from PLN
28.1bn, whereas its solvency ratio
dropped from 11.3% to 9.5% over
the same period.
"This controlling stake gives
Rabobank increased flexibility to
promptly deal with more strategic
issues such as the capital position of
Bank BGZ. The bank will remain
listed at the Warsaw stock exchange,
in line with customary practice in
Poland," says Ms. Verhaegh.
BGZ Bank has 396 branches with
a further nine under development
and manages close to 0.58m ac-
counts, with some 0.2m clients ac-
tively using online banking.
In late 2011 BGZ launched an
online savings platform BGZOptima,
modeled after Rabobank's
RaboDirect.
"BGZOptima can be regarded a
success to date. We launched
BGZOptima in November 2011 and
since then BGZ Optima has acquired
around 55.000 clients and raised
PLN 2.5bn."
BGZ's original plan (see no 468
page 5) was to acquire 100,000 cli-
ents and PLN 2.5bn in deposits in
two years. Looks like the financial
target was met in little more than
half a year.
It came as a bit of a surprise to mar-
ket observers when Poland's biggest
insurer PZU selected an offer from
California-based Guidewire Inc for
its new products-oriented IT system,
instead of awarding to contract to
Polish IT giant Asseco. With a turno-
ver in the region of USD 200m, the
US software firm is approximately
seven times smaller than its Polish
competitor and the PZU deal will
mark their debut in Poland.
Lately PZU has been trying very
hard to shed its image of a rigid, bu-
reaucratic Moloch, dating back to its
monopolistic market position during
communist times. The recent logo
change, supported by a massive ad-
vertising campaign, and the new IT
platform are part of these efforts.
PZU explains that the current 17-
year-old product IT system has
ceased to comply with its needs, es-
pecially due to its lack of flexibility.
PZU sought new underwriting, poli-
cy administration and billing sys-
tems to provide a strong foundation
to bring products to market faster,
better serve its more than 10,000
agents, and support multi-channel
communications with policyholders
and agents. The new system will be
implemented as a pilot project in H1
of 2013, while the client base and
insurance policies will gradually mi-
grate to the new framework by
2015, the company reported.
The NYSE-listed Guidewire Soft-
ware is a provider of core system
software to the global proper-
ty/casualty insurance industry. Be-
sides California, the company has of-
fices in Beijing, Dublin, Hong Kong,
London, Munich, Paris, Sydney, To-
kyo, and Toronto and it has imple-
mented more than 100 core systems
projects in 13 countries. In the fi-
nancial year ended July 2011,
Guidewire's sales revenues came to
USD 172.5m and its net income to-
taled USD 35.6m. Guidewire has
customers in 16 countries, including
the US, Australia, Russia, Japan,
Germany, France, Italy, Finland,
Brazil and the UK.
The flexibility and scalability of
Guidewire solutions was said to be
the main reason PZU chose their
platform. Guideware's CEO & found-
er Marcus Ryu told news2biz
POLAND his company had already
inked another contract in Poland,
with an undisclosed party.
Guidewire has set up a Polish sub-
sidiary Guidewire Software Poland
and its local alliance partners in-
clude Sollers Consulting and Ernst &
Young Poland.
PZU is the market leader in the
Polish insurance services market,
particularly in property and casualty
insurance, with 32.6% market share
at the end of 2011. It is the oldest
Polish insurance group with the
broad range of insurance and finan-
cial products. The principal product
group offered by PZU is a motor in-
surance for retail and corporate cus-
tomers. PZU Zycie is the market
leader in Polish life insurance ser-
vices in terms of gross written pre-
miums - 30.8% market share at the
end of 2011.
Under its current strategy, the
PZU group focuses on maintaining
profitable growth and its lead posi-
tion on the Polish insurance services
market. Since 2009 PZU has down-
sized its workforce by some 3,600
employees, and in July the company
came to an agreement with trade
unions regarding restructuring of
further 955 jobs.
"The new IT system will make it
possible to implement a multichan-
nel, integrated sales and customer
service model aimed at achieving
full process automation," PZU's CEO
Andrzej Klesyk said in a statement.
More automation certainly means
fewer clerks.
Marcus Ryu: The scope of the
PZU implementation is consistent
with other "tier one" implementation
projects which Guidewire is engaged
in. 40% of Guidewire's customers
overall - and 90% of our customers
in Europe - have over USD 1bn in
premiums. We also have 12 custom-
ers with over USD 5bn in premiums.
PZU is in our top 30 customers by
total premium, and in our top 15
customers in its number of policy-
holders.
MR: As with all core system re-
placements for insurance companies,
the PZU project will be highly de-
manding and complex. PZU will
need disciplined scope management,
timely decision-making, and compe-
tent internal staff assigned to the
program. PZU is a high-performing
organization that is well aware of
the requirements to succeed, and
they have put in place appropriate
strategies to mitigate risk.
MR: Guidewire’s Polish subsidi-
ary has four Polish employees since
February and is actively recruiting in
Poland and our other European
countries. We have the ability to hire
employees in England, Ireland,
France, Germany, Italy and Poland.
Guidewire works in 16 countries but
we only open entities in countries
where we hire employees. Guidewire
is actively seeking other opportuni-
ties in the Polish non-life insurance
market, and we have signed a se-
cond customer since the PZU an-
nouncement. It is an insurer we are
not able to publicly name at this
time.
MR: Guidewire is actively recruit-
ing across Europe, and Poland is one
of our focused centers of recruiting.
We typically recruit people with a
computer science background in-
cluding Java or C Sharp skills.
Guidewire employees go through a
recruiting process, an intense 4-7
week training program, and a formal
certification test. Our employees
from Poland have completed our
training and shadow program with
impressive results. We are continu-
ing to recruit in Poland and expect
to significantly increase the number
of full-time Polish employees in our
organization. Our Polish consultants
like all European consultants are
committed to accepting assignments
throughout Europe. We are continu-
ing to recruit across Europe, in the
Americas, in Japan, and in Australia.
MR: Guidewire has a regional
Consulting Services Center in Dub-
lin, Ireland, and we do not have cur-
rent plans for a 2nd regional center.
In the event that we decide to open
a second regional center we will cer-
tainly consider Poland amongst our
choices. We have high regard for the
strong talent pool in the country and
look forward to substantially grow-
ing our Polish subsidiary over time.
MR: Each Guidewire system of-
fers a highly functional set of fea-
tures out of the box - designed to
perform the specific tasks the given
system is intended for. Insurers often
configure their Guidewire systems to
meet their unique geographical or
regulatory requirements. Our sys-
tems are designed to make this kind
of configuration possible and in fact
the changes that the insurer makes
are protected from future version
upgrades they take from Guidewire
which enables them to preserve the
configuration changes they have
made while taking advantage of
functional enhancements provided
by the new software release. Anoth-
er major advantage of a standard-
ized product is that it incorporates
the insights and best practices across
many different insurers - at this
point, the 130+ insurers in
Guidewire's customer community.
MR: Guidewire's software prod-
ucts share a common technology
platform making them more cost-
effective for an insurer to operate,
maintain, and enhance. They share
functional attributes so that the in-
surer's IT staff can work on each sys-
tem interchangeably with little if any
additional training. Our applications
also share a common data model
which facilitates the exchange of in-
formation between them. This is a
key benefit to an underwriter for in-
stance who can now access the claim
information of a policyholder upon
renewal to ensure they are correctly
assessing the risk. They can do this
is real-time which is a huge change
over what the insurer can do with
their existing systems which are of-
ten built on older technology.
Aiming to keep up to date with its
smaller competitors, Poland's lead-
ing lender PKO BP has named the
suppliers of a mobile financial ser-
vices platform: US giant HP and
Swedish Accumulate. The value of
the contract remains undisclosed.
Unlike other Polish banks, which
are testing SIM-centric mobile plat-
forms (whereby one's SIM card es-
sentially plays the role of a payment
card), PKO BP has gone for an appli-
cation-based system. By download-
ing a smart phone app, users get ac-
cess to their bank account or pre-
paid card. After logging in, they can
pay for shopping at stores, make
cash withdrawals, or purchases
snacks from vending machines. All
transactions have to be confirmed
with a PIN code.
"SIM-centered solutions often
store and communicate sensitive in-
formation (like card number, CCV,
expiry date, account number) during
a transaction. In the Accumulate so-
lution no sensitive data is stored on
the mobile nor communicat-
ed/transmitted upon payment," ex-
plains Lars Aase, Vice President
Marketing at Accumulate. Mr. Aase
declined to talk about the PKO deal
citing contractual obligations.
PKO's system will be similar to
the WyWallet service, which Swe-
den's four leading mobile network
operators (Telia, Tele2, Telenor and
3), launched in June. The mobile
wallet joint venture is the first ser-
vice of its kind and one that has
been covering 97% of the mobile us-
ers in Sweden from the start.
Swedish mobile payment solu-
tions company Accumulate has been
part of the development of WyWallet
from the start. The mobile technolo-
gy and security behind the WyWallet
mobile wallet service is based on
Accumulate's mobile financial ser-
vices platform Mobile Everywhere,
which will be also the basis for the
PKO system.
WyWallet enables person-to-
person money transfers, paying for
SMS-services like public transport,
ticketing, voting using WyWallet
mobile app, online shopping, top-up
of prepaid cards. WyWallet also
supports point of sale payments us-
ing NFC (near field communication)
and live tests in Swedish shops have
been underway in since July. Al-
ready after this summer more ser-
vices and features will be launched
for the WyWallet mobile wallet us-
ers.
Boasting best in class mobile se-
curity, PKO's system will handle all
mobile payment, mobile banking
and mobile security fea-
tures/functions on a single platform.
It will work on almost all mobiles:
Android, iPhone, Java, Blackberry
and Windows Mobile/Phone and it
will be independent of mobile opera-
tor, network or mobile subscription
type. Moreover, it allows for easy
updates without having the user to
re-download, reinstall and reactivate
the mobile client app.
With a staff of 30, Accumulate
operates from offices in Stockholm,
London and Beijing. Since its first
commercial launch in 2004 its solu-
tions have seen more than 100m
unique installations.
PKO BP has already inked its
main framework agreement with HP
for implementation of the mobile
platform, and it is currently discuss-
ing details with the two providers.
Accumulate will provide the tech-
nology, while HP is responsible for
project management, all integration
and customer support. The platform
is to be launched by the end of the
year. PKO BP's key competitor, the
Italian-owned Pekao bank is to be
ready with its mobile financial ser-
vices offering in early autumn.
Although in 1H 2012 the CEE real
estate market saw a 40% y/y drop in
volumes transacted, reaching EUR
1.26bn, in the case of Poland the de-
cline came to merely 6%, according
to a recent CEE Investment Market
report by property consultancy Jones
Lang LaSalle (JLL). Poland remained
the most active market over that pe-
riod with more than 70% of the total
volume (EUR 877m).
JLL experts emphasize that in
spite of the general market slow-
down, investor sentiment towards
Poland remains very positive. Total
assets transacted included over EUR
283m in offices, almost EUR 460m
in retail and some EUR 113m in the
industrial sector.
According to JLL, the high trans-
action volume was largely a result of
postponed 2011 closings as virtually
none of the most significant transac-
tions were both initiated and sealed
in the January-June period. The
largest deal completed in 1H 2012
was the sale of the 77% stake in the
mixed-use retail and office scheme
Zlote Tarasy in Warsaw. Dutch ING
Real Estate sold the property to a
consortium of Unibail-Rodamco and
CBRE PFCE for a reported price fo
EUR 475m. Other major transactions
in the retail sector included the sale
of Galeria Tecza in Kalisz by Polish
developer Rank Progress to US
Blackstone for EUR 37m. In another
regional city, Olsztyn, Arka Fund
sold the Alfa Centrum mall to
Rockspring for EUR 84m.
The office market witnessed six
major deals, the largest one being
the sale of Harmony Office Centre II
in Warsaw's Mokotow district to
Spain's Azora for EUR 54m. The
seller was Polish developer Eko Park.
The second largest deal saw Spanish
fund Falcon Investments (arm of
CBREI) sell its Renaissance Building
in Warsaw to GLL Partners for a ru-
mored EUR 27m.
As for the industrial segment, the
full-year volume is likely to reach
the record 2007 level, when EUR
318m worth of properties changed
hands. The 1H saw Hines acquire
the Prologis portfolio at just below
EUR 100m which together with the
sub EUR 10m Ideal Idea deal almost
matched the total 2011 transaction
volume in the industrial segment
(EUR 116m). A number of other sig-
nificant deals are said to be under
preliminary agreements and/or due
diligence.
"We believe that the overall in-
vestment sentiment and outlook for
Poland will continue to be good with
the total investment volume settling
between EUR 2bn and EUR 2.5bn,
marking only a slight decline from
the exceptionally strong 2011, when
EUR 2.75bn worth of properties
were transacted," says Tomasz
Trzoslo, Head of Capital Markets
CEE at JLL.
Indeed, the past few weeks have
seen another two major deals, which
together represent approx. two
thirds of the 1H volume. Apsys,
Fonciere Euris and Rallye have
signed a preliminary agreement with
Union Investment’s UniImmo:
Deutschland open-ended fund for
the sale of the Manufaktura shop-
ping and entertainment center in
Lodz in central Poland. The German
investor has agreed to acquire the
landmark property with a gross
lettable area of 91,000 sq.m for a
reported EUR 350-400m. In the of-
fice sector, another German fund Al-
lianz Real Estate has purchased
Warsaw Financial Center for EUR
210m (see in-briefs).
"At the mid-year point we esti-
mate prime office yields to be at
6.25%, retail yields at 5.75%n and
warehouse yields at around 8.0%.
We forecast prime yields to remain
stable in the short term but this will
highly depend on how the situation
in the Eurozone and the banking
sector evolves in the coming months.
The yield gap between prime and
secondary product is 100 to 200 bps
and we remain this spread to remain
in place."
In related news, Poland ranked
as number 19 globally in JLL's Glob-
al Transparency Index, a survey that
calculates transparency in 97 real es-
tate markets worldwide based on 83
different factors. With transparency
of the country's real estate market
described as "high" Poland was put
on par with Western European mar-
kets such as Germany, Denmark,
Norway, Belgium, Ireland and Spain,
and ahead of its CEE peers.
Skanska Property Poland, the devel-
opment arm of Sweden's construc-
tion giant Skanska has made head-
lines in the Polish media after it ac-
quired an office building in central
Warsaw that houses the Institute of
National Remembrance (IPN), a
controversial state institution creat-
ed back in 2000 to investigate
Communist and Nazi crimes.
The IPN had been renting the
building from the listed press distri-
bution and retail giant Ruch. The
latter used to belong to the state, but
since 2010 majority ownership in
Ruch has been in private hands. As
part of its ongoing restructuring, the
company has been disposing of all
sorts of non-core assets, including
the attractively located IPN property.
The building in question is situ-
ated at Rondo Daszynskiego, at the
corner of Warsaw's key thorough-
fares: Prosta and Towarowa, and sits
almost directly on top of a future
subway station. Its surroundings
have transformed over the past years
from industrial wasteland into one
of Warsaw's top office destinations.
A number of huge office projects,
such as Ghelamco's Warsaw Spire,
are currently under construction in
direct vicinity of the IPN building
and many other skyscrapers are in
the pipeline. This may explain
Skanska's decision to get involved in
the project, despite the unpleasant
political undertones.
Despite its laudable cause, which
is defined as "investigating crimes
against the Polish nation" and shed-
ding light onto certain poorly re-
searched parts of the country's re-
cent history, the IPN has earned an
infamous reputation for its meddling
in current politics. The communist
secret service files, which remain in
IPN's care, have been repeatedly
used by the populist Law & Justice
(PiS) party to bash political oppo-
nents, including the legendary Soli-
darity leader Lech Walesa. Over the
years, PiS leaders have been among
the staunchest defenders of the insti-
tute, which employs many radical
historians. In small wonder then,
that PiS were the first to raise alarm
when IPN's headquarters changed
hands.
IPN used to pay Ruch monthly
rent of PLN 30,000, before the land-
lord raised the figure in excess of
PLN 100,000 in May. Under an
agreement with Ruch from October
2000, the government were to give
Ruch a different property in ex-
change for the IPN building, but no
such transaction has ever taken
place. Ruch also sought to sell the
building to IPN, but the Finance
Ministry failed to provide the neces-
sary funding. Although officially the
lack of additional funding for IPN is
part of the large-scale spending cuts
the government embarked on last
year, the opposition views the deci-
sion as politically motivated.
"We acquired the IPN building as a
business investment and quite frank-
ly it came to a surprise to us that a
transaction like this would stir up so
much political debate. However, we
are a developer; we are not involved
in party politics and we will treat
our tenant the way we would treat
any other. Any issues we will work
out through discussions with our
tenant as we usually do," says
Nicklas Lindberg, President of
Skanska Commercial Development
Europe (CDE), Skanska's business
unit that develops properties in Cen-
tral and Eastern Europe, to
news2biz.
"Our interest in the property in
the longer perspective is also as a
developer - the building is right next
to a future metro station and we be-
lieve that this is where Warsaw's
central business district will expand,
Tishman Speyer is here; our own
Green Corner is here and we have
plans for the area that would con-
nect it to our Atrium developments
on Aleja Jana Pawla. However this
requires some more pieces to the jig-
saw puzzle and we are right now
trying to secure them," says Mr.
Lindberg.
The Swedish-owned construction
group Skanska has launched a new
subsidiary Skanska Residential De-
velopment Poland to join its Polish
office development business and
Skanska SA – one of the largest con-
struction companies on in the coun-
try.
The residential unit has just bro-
ken ground on its first project, Park
Ostrobramska, for which the Swedes
acquired a 7ha site last year in War-
saw's Praga district some 5km east
of the city centre. The project will
include some 1,700 residential units
and its first two buildings (7 & 13
stories respectively, housing a total
of 300 apartments) are already un-
der construction with completion
scheduled for 2013 and 2014. The
average price is PLN 7,000 (EUR
1,700) per sq.m.
The company is getting ready for
another project in Warsaw's
Mokotow district (Jasminowa St.)
with 800 units. Due to its fantastic
location in Warsaw's most sought-
after district, close to major thor-
oughfares but also parks and green-
ery, this undeveloped area is said to
be the new development hotspot in
Warsaw. This is where billionaire
Leszek Czarnecki, owner of the
Getin group, has built his mansion,
so Skanska will be certainly aiming
at wealthy customers with its next
project.
Similar to its sister company, the
office developer Skanska Property
Poland, the residential arm aims to
focus on "building green," reducing
the environmental footprint of its
projects. One shall see whether the
Polish customers will agree to pay
extra to live in eco-friendly apart-
ment blocks. Should the resulting
savings prove substantial (Skanska
argues that its technology may bring
water and energy bills down by up
to 40%), perhaps they will.
Skanska's return to the residen-
tial sector (years ago the company
built an apartment complex in War-
saw's Zoliborz district) at this partic-
ular moment has raised many an
eyebrow, however, as the Polish
market suffers from a record supply
of completed dwellings while banks
are very reluctant when it comes to
financing homes. The worsening
economic conditions are bound to
only aggravate this situation in a
short to medium term. Moreover,
the company's residential develop-
ment business in the Nordics, Czech
Republic and Slovakia has been in
doldrums for some time, forcing the
company to write off SEK 380m in
June and cut about 150 jobs (mainly
in Sweden).
"We want to get into the residential
market to build apartments that
Poles can afford. Most of the resi-
dential units that are left on the
market date back from the boom pe-
riod when developers did not focus
on the price," says Nicklas Lindberg,
President of Skanska Commercial
Development Europe (CDE),
Skanska's business unit responsible
for property development in Central
and Eastern Europe, to news2biz.
A key aspect in building what
Poles can afford to reduce the size of
apartments.
"The standard unit in our
Ostrobramska development is a two-
room apartment of 55 sq.m. Our key
for getting back into the market is to
focus on price, from finding the right
locations, like we have done in
Praga and Mokotow, and in the rest
of the development process as well -
and letting the buyer enjoy the bene-
fits. We are a developer and we have
access to construction from own
group which is a definite bonus for
us," says Lindberg.
In Mr. Lindberg's mind the extra
investments in keeping a green pro-
file for the development do not con-
flict with the focus on price.
"We have seen the sustainability
thinking spread in commercial de-
velopments over the past years and
as for Skanska, this is just the way
we build now and we are sure this
trend will extend into residential
construction as well. We believe that
clients will focus the environment
aspect but also on the fact that in
this way we reduce living costs in
the long term," says Lindberg.
Skanska SA is one of the largest
construction companies in Poland,
with sales of PLN 4.8bn and operat-
ing gains of PLN 489m. The compa-
ny employs some 7,700 staff. In ad-
dition to its construction business as
well as office and residential devel-
opment units, the Swedish giant is
present in Poland via Skanska Infra-
structure Development which partic-
ipates in public-private partnership
projects.
Skanska is one of the world's ten
largest construction companies, em-
ploying 53,000 employees in select-
ed home markets in Europe (Swe-
den, Norway, Finland, Poland, Czech
Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, UK),
the US and Latin America. In 2011,
NASDAQ OMX listed Skanska turned
over SEK 123bn (EUR 13.8bn)
With the acquisition of two wind
farms, RWE Innogy, the renewable
energy division of German utility gi-
ant RWE, has boosted its installed
capacity in Poland up to 152 MW.
The most recent additions to
RWE's Polish portfolio are wind
parks in Krzecin (70km southeast of
Szczecin) and Taciewo (10km
northwest of Suwalki, near the bor-
der with Lithuania), both developed
by Spain's Gamesa.
With 15 wind turbines of the
Gamesa G90 type, the 30 MW
Taciewo borders directly on the
32MW Piecki wind farm commis-
sioned by RWE Innogy back in 2010.
Seven turbines of the same kind,
with a hub height of 100 meters and
a rotor diameter of 90 meters, were
installed at the 14MW Krzecin farm,
which is located near RWE's 35MW
wind farm at Tychowo that has been
supplying electricity to the grid since
the end of 2010.
"Taciewo and 152MW now mark
the midpoint of our Polish develop-
ment targets. We intend to operate
about 300MW in Poland in 2015.
Owing to the excellent Polish wind
sites, we are on a good path and in-
tend to continue our investments
here. At present, our Nowy Staw
wind farm with a capacity of 39MW
is under construction [see no 479
page 8; ed.]. It is due to be commis-
sioned early in 2013," commented
Hans Bünting, CEO of RWE Innogy.
"Development of wind energy is
RWE's priority in Poland," Robert
Macias, Member of the Management
Board of RWE Renewables Polska,
told news2biz. "Our plan is to invest
about PLN 2bn in Poland by the end
of 2015."
Overall, RWE Innogy now oper-
ates six onshore wind farms in Po-
land: Suwalki with over 41MW has
been on stream since 2009, followed
by Tychowo (35 MW), Piecki (32
MW) , Krzecin (14MW) and Taciewo
(30MW).
With more than 72,000 employ-
ees, RWE is one of Europe's five
leading electricity and gas compa-
nies. In fiscal 2011, RWE recorded
just below EUR 52bn in revenue.
The largest RWE subsidiary in
Poland is RWE Polska, which plays a
dual role – of an electricity trading
company and a business unit re-
sponsible for development of the
RWE Group in Poland. In 2011 RWE
Polska sold 6,354 GWh worth of
electricity and its revenues came to
PLN 2.77bn. RWE Polska employs
610 staff.
Warsaw-based United Oilfield Ser-
vices (UOS), which earlier this year
received a EUR 21m capital injection
from private equity fund Enterprise
Investors (see no 475), has just bro-
ken ground on its logistics base in
Łowicz, 75km west of Warsaw.
Thanks to the investment, starting
from next year, the company's brand
new fleet of trucks with fracturing
and drilling equipment will be able
to easily access all of Poland, a third
of which is covered by shale explora-
tion concessions.
Located on a 12-ha site in the
Lodz special economic zone, the PLN
35m project will include seven build-
ings with a combined area of 8,862
sq.m. With Japanese-owned Kajima
Poland as the general contractor, the
investment is to reach completion by
the end of the year, creating some
120 jobs. Around the same time,
UOS is to receive 63 custom-made
trucks with specialist equipment for
fracking which will be stationed in
Łowicz. Overall, the company is in-
vesting USD 118m into customized,
state-of-the-art equipment, including
the said 60,000 horsepower truck
and a production-ready drilling rig.
UOS offers seismic, drilling and
well completion services to compa-
nies involved in oil and gas (both
conventional and unconventional)
exploration and production in Po-
land. UOS founders have many years
of experience in the oil & gas service
industry in the United States. Be-
sides EI as a minority shareholder,
the investors behind UOS include
CSL Capital Management, an ener-
gy-focused private equity firm based
in the US, and a number of private
investors. UOS currently employs
some 110 staff, including 65 special-
ists and by the end of the year its
workforce is to reach 500 people.
Company representatives told
news2biz POLAND that their goal is
to transform UOS into a leading oil-
field services company in the region
with a staff of 1,000-1,200 in a cou-
ple of years.
"As of July we had some 100 em-
ployees, in line with plans, and their
number will continue to grow. The
market is competitive, with many
companies seeking oilfield special-
ists, but we haven't experienced any
recruitment problems so far. We are
seeking both experienced mining
professionals as well as young engi-
neers and technicians," Ryszard
Woronowicz of UOS tells news2biz.
Poland is believed to have sub-
stantial shale gas reserves, with es-
timates ranging from 346bn cb.m to
5.3 trillion cb.m (see no 474 page
10). Some 20 companies, including
global giants, are investing in explor-
ing for these reserves. So far, less
than 23 exploration wells have been
drilled throughout Poland. Another
40 or so are to be completed by the
end of the year.
"We have successfully completed
a number of geophysical projects for
our clients and we see huge demand
for this type of services in Poland
and abroad. When it comes to hy-
draulic fracturing, we hope to be op-
erational by December, and we
should be ready for drilling in Q1
2012. We hope to start drilling the
first well for our clients in Poland at
the beginning of Q2 next year."
Shale formations started to be
commercially exploited to great suc-
cess beginning in the late 1990s in
the United States and subsequently
in other markets. The production of
natural gas from shale formations
has rejuvenated the natural gas in-
dustry where such technologies have
been introduced, giving Poland some
hope for reducing its dependence on
Russian imports. Gas price in the US
have dropped below USD 70m per
1,000 cb.m, while Poland pays Gaz-
prom some 6-7 times the amount.
Poland and Lithuania have made
another baby step towards linking
their natural gas pipeline systems, a
project that they hope will increase
energy security in the Baltics.
The gas transmission operators in
both countries – Gaz-System in Po-
land and Lietuvos Dujos in Lithuania
– have selected Austria's ILF Consult-
ing Engineers Polska to carry out a
feasibility study for the project,
which according to current plans
could be completed in 2018.
Co-financed by the European
Commission within the
TransEuropean Energy Network
Program and the Baltic Energy Inter-
connection Plan, the project is part
of the development of the North-
South Energy Corridor in Europe.
The operators hope that the pro-
ject will lead to enhanced competi-
tion in the regional gas market and
will ensure safer and more reliable
supplies of gas to the Baltic States,
which essentially means making the
Baltic region less dependent on Rus-
sian gas. Both countries are current-
ly building LNG terminals (Poland in
Swinoujscie and Lithuania in
Klaipedos).
The interconnector between Po-
land and Lithuania will provide "a
broader range of benefits, enabling
access both to EU gas and global
LNG markets," Joachim Hockertz, di-
rector of commerce at Lietuvos
Dujos, said in a statement. He added
that the capability to transmit gas in
both directions would lead to "a
higher security of supply for the
connected countries."
Jan Chadam, president of the
management board of Gaz-System
said he expected that a "significant"
portion of the investment would be
financed by Brussels, "because this is
a priority project in the scope of
eliminating energy islands in Eu-
rope," he said. Indeed, most experts
agree that without public aid the
project will not be profitable.
The pipeline will have an annual
capacity of 2.3 cb.m of natural gas
and stretch 562 kilometers, the
companies said, although with addi-
tional investments its capacity could
easily be doubled. According to ini-
tial estimates, the investment is to
cost EUR 472m with Poland ex-
pected to foot two thirds of the bill.
Results of the feasibility study
are set to be available in the first
quarter of 2013, which will deter-
mine further plans for linking the
systems.
During its six weeks in service, War-
saw's new Modlin airport welcomed
more than 200,000 travelers.
Opened on 15 July, the project looks
destined to succeed and according to
estimated in 2013 it will become Po-
land's 5th largest airport with more
than 2m passengers – a capacity its
terminal was designed for. By the
end of this year the figure is to reach
900,000.
Located over 35km north of the
city center, the airport is used by
low-cost airlines for both domestic
and international passenger flights.
Currently it is only the Irish low-cost
carrier Ryanair and its Hungarian
competitor WizzAir that fly to
Modlin but the new airport is likely
to become popular with charter op-
erators, especially at nighttime when
airline traffic at Warsaw's main
Chopin Airport is restricted.
The low-cost Irish carrier Ryanair
says it plans to carry 1.5m passen-
gers on routes from and to Modlin.
The airline will be flying from
Modlin to 19 European airports—
starting with Brussels, Budapest,
Dublin, London, Milan, Oslo, Rome
and Stockholm. The carrier will thus
be operating a total of 109 connec-
tions from 10 Polish airports, includ-
ing Modlin. In 2011, Ryanair carried
a total of 75m passengers, and its
CEO Michael O'Leary told a press
conference at Modlin that his goal is
to carry 5m passengers on routes
from and to Poland this year.
As for Wizz Air, it will fly to
around 20 destinations from Modlin,
to where the carrier has relocated its
Warsaw hub.
It takes around 40 minutes to get
from Warsaw city center to the new
airport by car and only a bit longer
by rail. In June, rail carrier Koleje
Mazowieckie launched a train ser-
vice between Warsaw and Modlin,
with 14 trains daily. Passengers need
to take a bus to get from Modlin
railway station to the airport. The
buses, painted in the railway opera-
tor’s colors, shuttle between the air-
port and the railway station every 20
minutes and can take 70 passengers
on board. Additionally, trains will be
shuttling between the two Warsaw
airports, Okecie (Chopin) and
Modlin.
Travel by train from the Warsza-
wa Centralna railway station in the
city center to Modlin railway station
takes 44 minutes. Then it takes an-
other 10 minutes to get from the sta-
tion to the airport by bus.
Sixteen modern Elf trains are op-
erated on the line from Warszawa
Centralna to Modlin railway station.
Each train has almost 190 seats for
passengers. One taxi company intro-
duced a flat-rate service to Modlin,
at PLN 99 (EUR 25) from downtown
Warsaw .
Despite the launch of its first lo-
cal competitor, Warsaw's Chopin
airport welcomed 1.084m passen-
gers in July 2012, some 9% more
than in the same month of 2011. In
the whole of 2011 the Chopin air-
port handled 9.3m passengers,
which represented 43% of Poland's
total airline traffic.
Starting next year life will get just a
tiny bit easier for Poles with a taste
for luxury shopping and architectur-
al insanity in a desert setting, with
Emirates and Qatar Airways launch-
ing direct flights to Warsaw. Jokes
aside, the two Middle Eastern air-
lines may introduce some much-
needed competition in flights from
Poland to the Middle East, Africa
and Asia Pacific.
Qatar Airways first announced
plans to enter Poland in November
last year, but the exact timeline of
the entry has been undisclosed until
now. In July 2012, its regional com-
petitor Emirates decided to launch
flights from Warsaw to Dubai from 6
February 2013. Qatar Airways re-
sponded with the announcement of
a Warsaw-Doha connection, sched-
uled to launch on 5 December 2012.
The flights will be operated by Air-
bus A320 aircraft, four times a week.
Qatar Airways Chief Executive
Officer Akbar Al Baker said the addi-
tion of Poland and Serbia demon-
strated the airline's commitment to
launch destinations that are largely
underserved.
"Over the past two to three years
we have identified great opportuni-
ties to probe markets across Europe
that are largely underserved by full
service international airlines. We are
delighted to have subsequently
started services to some of these des-
tinations and are extremely pleased
by their performance so far," he said.
The 50% state-owned Qatar Air-
ways has seen rapid growth in just
15 years of operation, currently op-
erating a modern fleet of 110 air-
craft to 118 global destinations.
Based in Dubai, Emirates is the
largest airline in the Middle East, fly-
ing to 122 cities in 72 countries
across six continents. Its fleet in-
cludes 177 Airbus and Boeing air-
craft, and it has orders for 90 Airbus
A380s, 20 of which are already in
service. Emirates is a subsidiary of
The Emirates Group, which has over
50,000 employees, and is wholly
owned by the government of Dubai
directly under the Investment Cor-
poration of Dubai, United Arab
Emirates.
Although neither of the two car-
riers is particularly well known for
bargains, additional competition is
very welcome on the routes from Po-
land to South-East Asia, Middle East
and Australia, which have been
dominated by Russia's Aeroflot,
German Lufthansa, and Turkish Air-
lines. The most prospective destina-
tions include China (Beijing, Shang-
hai), Thailand (Bangkok, Phuket)
and India (Delhi). According to un-
official reports, their competitors are
putting together new price lists
ahead of the upcoming market debut
of Emirates and Qatar Airways on
the Polish market.
Abu Dhabi's Etihad, another air-
line from the Persian Gulf operating
in Europe, has just announced plans
to acquire Irish carrier Aer Lingus.
The European arm of US logistics gi-
ant C.H. Robinson seeks to acquire
Polish forwarder Apreo Logistics.
Although no official confirmation
has been issued as of yet, the inves-
tor has asked the competition
watchdog UOKiK for permission to
seal the deal.
"At this time we do not have a
comment," Mike Wilken, PR manag-
er at C.H. Robinson, told news2biz.
Apreo Logistics offers warehouse
logistics, full truck load as well as
general cargo, bulk transport, sea
and air forwarding, rail forwarding,
refrigerated transport, and tanker
transport services. It covers Europe,
Turkey, the Middle East and the CIS,
managing a fleet of over 500 trucks
with a capacity up to 120 cb.m and
24 tons.
The company dates its origins
back to 2003, when Dutch Vos Lo-
gistics acquired Polish forwarder
Euroad, headed by Grzegorz
Bielowicki. Four years later, Polish-
American private equity company
Tar Heel Capital, in which
Bielowicki is one of managing part-
ners, acquired the ailing former
Euroad forwarding business in Po-
land from Vos Logistics and trans-
formed it into Apreo Logistics.
In December 2010 Apreo and Tar
Heel Capital expanded the business
further by acquiring a significant
portion of assets and business of the
bankrupt operator Equus (including
Transmlecz, EquusFresh, and
Spedycja Kolejowa i Drogowa). Prior
to the acquisition, in 2010, Apreo
had PLN 130m in revenues, and the
following year the figure rose to
nearly PLN 300m.
Founded in 1905, C.H. Robinson
Worldwide, Inc., is a global provider
of multimodal logistics services,
fresh produce sourcing, and infor-
mation services to 37,000 customers
through a network of more than 230
offices and over 8,300 employees
around the world. The company
works with 53,000 transportation
providers worldwide. C.H. Robinson
turned over USD 10.3bn in 2011
and its net profits came to USD
432m. In Poland the company has
offices in Warsaw and Wroclaw.
Europe's number one milling com-
pany GoodMills Group is uniting its
Polish operation under a single
brand with plans to strengthen its
position in the retail segment. Over
the coming three years the Austrian-
owned flour maker plans to spend
some PLN 50m on boosting its pro-
duction, storage, and packing capac-
ity in Poland.
So far, the company's five Polish
mills have been operating under dif-
ferent logos (Diamant, Aurora, VK
Polska) but following the unification
of its European operations,
GoodMills has decided to do the
same in Poland. Officially, GoodMills
Polska will launch on 1 October.
With annual output of 600,000
tons, GoodMills Polska is the leading
supplier of flour to business custom-
ers, but its goal is be just as success-
ful with individual clients. This will
require stronger promotion of its re-
tail brand Maka Basia and improved
cooperation with grocery chains and
wholesalers.
"Becoming a leading grain pro-
cessing company in Poland is one of
our strategic goals for the coming
years," Rafał Salomon, CEO of
GoodMills Polska told a press con-
ference.
The GoodMills Group is located
in Vienna and leads seven country
organizations with in total 29 mills.
With more than 3m tons of wheat
processed and more than EUR 1bn
in revenues, it is the leading milling
company in Europe and one of the
top four players worldwide. The
subsidiaries of the GoodMills Group
are located in Germany, Austria, Po-
land, Czech Republic, Hungary, Ro-
mania and Bulgaria. The Group also
has a minority stake in a leading
Greek milling company. The
GoodMills Group is owned by
Leipnik-Lundenburger Invest
Beteiligungs AG which in turn be-
longs to the financial sector giant
Raiffeisen.
If you ever happen to order a pint of
ale or any other dark beer in Malay-
sia, Cambodia, or Laos, you will be
likely to end up drinking a beverage
made from Polish malt. The main
supplier of caramel and black malt
to these markets is Danish Malting
Group Polska (DMGP), which ex-
pects its turnover to grow by nearly
a quarter this year, largely due to
growing exports.
"They don't grow barley out there
and due to the massive import of
toys and electronic devices we have
from China, the transport costs are
very reasonable," says Kim
Jørgensen, CEO of Danish Malting
Group, to news2biz. "We mount a
big plastic bag inside the container
and fill it up with malt and we ship
it to Asia for USD 1,000 which is
roughly what it costs to send it down
the road here," says Jørgensen.
Part of the Carlsberg Group, Dan-
ish Malting Group entered Poland in
2004 with the acquisition of two
malting plants, one in Sierpc and a
much smaller plant in Strzegom,
thus immediately becoming one of
the leading malt producers in the
country. In Denmark, DMG has one
malting plant located in Vordingborg
100 km south of Copenhagen.
"When we took over the plants,
they looked like something from an-
other planet, but we have invested a
lot in them and expanded capacity,
so that for instance in Strzegom we
now have four roasters," says
Jørgensen.
Following the sizeable invest-
ments, both plants have been largely
automated and computerized, alt-
hough the Strzegom unit still uses its
original, over 100-year-old Galland
and Linz systems to produce small
but unique quality batches of pils-
ner, Munich, caramel and black
malt. The company is sourcing
spring and winter barley mainly lo-
cally in Lower Silesia and it has de-
veloped substantial storage capacity
to maintain constant supply of raw
materials throughout the entire sea-
son.
"The production in Strzegom is
very much a manual one, the vol-
umes are much lower, but the profits
per unit are much higher," says Kim
Jørgensen.
Danish Malting Group sells 90%
of its Pilsner malt to the Carlsberg
group. When is come to special
malts, some 60% of its output is sold
to companies outside the group,
mainly to European breweries and
food companies (malt is being wide-
ly used in the bakery and confec-
tionery sectors as well), but also to
exotic destinations such as the
aforementioned South-East Asian
markets, as well as Sri Lanka, Nepal,
Malawi and the Dominican Republic.
Last year the plant boosted its ex-
ports by a half and this year a fur-
ther 15% growth is expected.
"We are even supplying special
malt to the UK and for Guinness in
Ireland," says Jørgensen.
Unlike dark barley malt, pilsner
malt is a low-margin product, and in
this segment Polish malting plants
have to compete with Czech and
Slovak producers. Of the total pils-
ner malt used by Polish breweries,
some 70% comes from domestic
producers, and the rest has to be
imported.
As Poland's beer market seems to
have reached the point of saturation,
there is little space for growth for
malt producers. Cost-cutting brewer-
ies increasingly often turn to cheap-
er malt substitutes, especially with
barley prices expected to go up as a
result of drought in the US, Ukraine,
and Russia.
"Fortunately, the recent harvest
has given good quality barley in both
Poland and Denmark. However,
globally harvest problems in US and
Russia have pushed feed grains pric-
es to a very high level giving also
very high prices for malting barley.
Thanks to the good harvest, all of
the Danish and Polish barley basical-
ly has the right quality for malt. This
is in big contrast to the harvest last
year, so we only foresee problems
with the price and not the quality,"
says the CEO whose company will
start using the barley from this year's
harvest a month from now.
Last year DMGP turned over PLN
135m and net-earned PLN 8.2m.
This year the respective figures are
to reach PLN 167m and PLN 13m.
The Polish units have a combined
staff of 50.
Following years of solid growth,
dark clouds are beginning to form
over Poland's dairy sector. In the
first quarter of the year prices of key
dairy products dropped by 20-30%
and outlook for the near future is
grim.
Although dairy companies (ex-
cluding ice cream makers) turned
over a record PLN 26.3bn last year,
their financial results declined,
mainly due to higher prices of raw
materials. Milk purchase prices rose
by nearly 14% last year, while retail
prices increased by only 7%. In the
case of processed products the in-
crease ranged from 4% to 8%. Con-
sequently, the industry saw its gross
profit slide by more than 7%, down
to PLN 583m, according to figures
provided by the IERiGZ agri sector
think tank.
Results of the recent census show
that Poland's dairy sector has under-
gone massive consolidation, with the
number of milk producers dropping
by a half over the past eight years.
Over the 2007-2011 period milk
production per farm doubled, reach-
ing 26,000 l per year, while the
number of producers with 10-49
milk cows increased by 5%. Howev-
er, the total stock had been shrink-
ing steadily, from 2.667m cows in
2007 down to 2.466 last year. An-
nual milk production per cow had
gone up by some 10% since 2006,
topping 5,000 l in 2011. The num-
ber of active dairy farmers shrank
from an estimated 480,000 in 2004,
prior to Poland's EU accession, down
to some 167,000 and experts believe
the figure is bound to go down to
100,000 in not-so-distant future.
At the beginning of the year pro-
ducers had been hoping to keep pro-
curement prices unchanged, fearing
that their lowering might bring
about a reduction in milk supply, but
most have since been forced to re-
consider their stance. Hence, dairy
farmers are squeezed between a rock
and a hard place, with fuel, fertiliz-
er, and feed costs going up, and pro-
cessors cutting the price they are
ready to pay for fresh milk. To make
the matters even worse, many farm-
ers are still repaying loans they drew
to pay for upgrading their buildings
and equipment to EU quality stand-
ards.
The situation is hardly better for
small dairy processors, especially
those making only basic types of
products. Retailers are pressurizing
them to cut prices, citing shrinking
spending power and worsening eco-
nomic conditions, while farmers are
demanding better rates on milk,
pointing to growing production
costs.
As of March 2012, 309 dairy
plants were registered with Polish
veterinary authorities, including 18
with suspended operations. The
number of milk purchasers topped
287 last year, of which only two
thirds of which submitted financial
reports.
Although consolidation in the
processing industry is a fact, many
say its pace could be faster. Small
producers and cooperatives are not
exactly enthusiastic about joining up
with the leading players, while the
latter are primarily interested in get-
ting access to more milk suppliers.
Experts argue that in many cases it
may be more beneficial for large
dairy firms to wait for their small
competitors to go bankrupt and then
simply take over their supply con-
tracts. It is insufficient milk supply,
not scarce processing capacity, that
remains the key issue for the sector.
Dairy exports, which have quad-
rupled since Poland's EU accession
to total EUR 1.35bn last year, have
likewise been negatively impacted
by the global situation. In March and
April prices of exported dairy prod-
ucts dropped by 30% on the back of
growing global production, unfavor-
able currency exchange rates, and
economic crisis, which affects a
growing number of countries. Po-
land's dairy industry exports approx-
imately a fifth of its output and pric-
es on foreign markets directly influ-
ence prices at home.
IT & outsourcing giant Hewlett-
Packard is opening a global service
center in the Polish city of Lodz in
Q4 2012, the company announced.
The project will create hundreds of
new jobs for graduates with foreign
language skills.
"Initially we will recruit candi-
dates fluent in Italian and German,
but further languages will be added
in time. One of the key characteris-
tics of our Global Business Centre is
cultural and language diversity and
therefore the linguistic scope of our
Lodz centre will be broad and we do
not intend to limit it to only a few
selected languages," Renata Sima,
managing director of the Lodz centre
told news2biz.
Similar to the Wroclaw center,
the Lodz will support the business
activities of HP global customers,
providing Business Process Out-
sourcing (BPO) services to external
contractors in finance and account-
ing, HR, payroll and customer rela-
tionship management.
"The two centers will operate in
tandem, as a single business unit
and their employees will exchange
experiences, know-how, and sup-
port. It is not our intention to differ-
entiate the two centers based on
their specialization. As for the Lodz
center, however, it will be working
primarily for external clients, at least
initially."
HP's initial plan for Wroclaw was
to recruit 1,000 staff in five years.
The company achieved that bench-
mark in merely three years and cur-
rently it has an estimated 2,500 em-
ployees in the Lower Silesian city,
including some 200 foreigners.
"When HP arrived in Wroclaw
back in 2005 we were operating
from a single office. Now we have
three office locations in Wroclaw
and HP is one of the best known
employers on the local market. We
recruit students, graduates and high-
ly skilled specialists and our goal is
to keep growing to become Poland's
best employer."
The key pull factor in Lodz's case
was availability of qualified staff, as
due to the ongoing investment
boom, competition in Wroclaw is
becoming a problem for BPO em-
ployers. Like others, HP has decided
to spread its service centers across a
number of destinations within Po-
land. The former textile heartland of
Poland, Lodz is located in the middle
of the country, only 130 kilometers
from Warsaw, while the recent
opening of the A2 motorway to the
capital has slashed travelling times.
Education too is a bonus for the city:
Lodz is home to both a university
and a technical university, both of
which have good reputations. Be-
sides its solid talent pool and central
location, HP mentioned growing
traffic at the local airport among
Lodz's main assets.
At 11%, unemployment remains
quite high in Lodz, compared to oth-
er major Polish cities and the local
authorities are hoping the HP project
in the city to catch up in size with
the Wroclaw centre.
"Our goal is constant develop-
ment an innovation, and similar to
the Wroclaw center, the Lodz loca-
tion will be developing over time. At
this moment we are planning to cre-
ate several hundred positions but we
are ready for further expansion in
the future."
HP has signed an agreement to
lease office space in the University
Business Park developed by Globe
Trade Centre (GTC) in Lodz. The
University Business Park is between
Kościuszki Avenue and Wólczańska
Street near the Lodz University of
Technology campus. The first com-
pleted building within the University
Business Park offers 19,300 sq.m m
of Class-A office space and 300 park-
ing spaces. The building has seven
floors, with each floor 2,700 sq.m in
size on average.
As of end of 2011 there were 37
service outsourcing centers in Lodz
with a combined staff of 7,700 em-
ployees, making it’s the fourth larg-
est BPO market after Warsaw, Kra-
kow and Wroclaw. Currently the
largest BPO investor in Lodz is the
Indian giant Infosys. The company's
current Lodz facilities are getting
cramped, prompting the company to
move to a new office building in the
city to house its 1,000 local employ-
ees. According to estimates, total
employment in Poland's BPO sector
will come in excess of 100,000 next
year.
The summer of 2012 has been a
busy period for Swedish communica-
tions technology giant Ericsson's
Polish unit. Shortly after securing a
huge contract with mobile operators
Polkomtel and Aero2 (see no 480
page 16), the Swedes inked a four-
year managed services agreement
with Netia, Poland's leading fixed-
line telecom.
Under the contract, Ericsson is
responsible for the maintenance and
management of Netia Group's net-
works, as well as supporting the
provision of services to the opera-
tor's residential and business users.
Although the deal is an extension of
an earlier agreement with Netia, its
geographical footprint has been ex-
panded to include Telefonia Dialog
and Crowley, two networks that
joined Netia Group in late 2012.
Moreover, as part of the agree-
ment, some 190 Netia employees are
to be transferred to Ericsson
The agreement covers two main
areas: services provision, and the
transfer of contracts concerning em-
ployees, assets and agreements of
Netia Group. About 190 additional
Netia Group employees will be
transferred to Ericsson Poland.
Valter D'Avino, Vice President
and Head of Managed Services, Er-
icsson, says: "The contract we signed
with Netia in 2006 was one of the
first worldwide fixed-line Ericsson
contracts. This is the second time we
prolonged this managed-services
partnership, and it is a clear
acknowledgement from Netia of the
work we have done together to pro-
vide high-quality, unified services to
Netia Group's entire user base, in-
cluding the users added through
Netia's recent acquisition of opera-
tors Telefonia Dialog and Crowley."
The Warsaw-based Netia is one
of the largest Poland-based inde-
pendent fixed-line telephony opera-
tors. Its service portfolio comprises a
range of fixed-line telecommunica-
tions services including voice, data
transmission and internet access, as
well as wholesale network services.
Last year Netia turned over PLN
1.5bn and its operating profit topped
PLN 304m. As of Q1 2012 the com-
pany had 912,000 broadband and
1.77m voice clients. Its workforce of
more than 2,800 employees is to be
downsized by some 500 staff by the
end of 2012.
Earlier this summer, Polish oper-
ators Polkomtel and Aero2 have
chosen Ericsson to supply WCDMA
and LTE infrastructure in Poland.
Under the agreement, Ericsson will
also provide a range of services in-
cluding design, deployment, integra-
tion and support for the upgraded
mobile broadband network for a pe-
riod of three years, followed by an
automatic extension for an indefinite
period. The upgrades will allow for
expanded WCDMA and LTE cover-
age in northern and western Poland
to keep pace with rapid uptake of
smartphones and increased demand
for mobile broadband.
Ericsson has been a partner of
Polkomtel, one of Poland's top three
mobile operators since 2002, provid-
ing and implementing GSM and
WCDMA networks, as well as mi-
crowave transmission, IP and packet
core solutions.
Ericsson's offering comprises ser-
vices, software and infrastructure
within information and communica-
tions technology for telecom opera-
tors and other industries. Today
more than 40% percent of the
world's mobile traffic goes through
Ericsson networks and we support
customers’ networks servicing more
than 2.5bn subscribers.
Founded in 1876, Ericsson is
headquartered in Stockholm, Swe-
den and it is listed on NASDAQ
OMX, Stockholm and NASDAQ, New
York stock exchanges. The company
operates in 180 countries and em-
ploys more than 100,000 people. In
2011 its net sales were SEK 226.9bn
(USD 35bn).
Deutsche Telekom's corporate cus-
tomer arm T-Systems launched its
first data center in Poland in July.
The company has rented a dedicated
unit at 3Services Factory, a newly
built collocation facility in Katowice.
Founded by German industrial
group PCC and Silesian fiber optic
network operator TKP SA, 3Services
Factory is easily accessible from A1
and A4 motorways as well as
Pyrzowice (Katowice) and Balice
(Kracow) airports. The energy effi-
cient, high security data processing
center includes two mirror locations
(in Katowice and Bytom, connected
via an fiber optic cable), ensuring
full backup of customer data. Locat-
ed on a 1.5ha guarded site, the cen-
ter is to be gradually expanded. T-
Systems is renting a part of the cen-
ter under a 3-year Service Level
Agreement.
Its first Polish data center enables
T-Systems to offer its clients com-
prehensive data storage and back-up
services, relocation and infrastruc-
ture consolidation as well as a range
of cloud computing services that are
all the rage these days in the tele-
coms sector.
"Guaranteed continuity of ser-
vice, high technical standards and
full data storage protection are all
key aspects of a data center. Also
important for us was data transmis-
sion speed and power supply securi-
ty, which we achieved via direct ac-
cess to fiber optic network and two
independent power lines," says
Maciej Plebanski, head of sales de-
partment at T-Systems Poland.
Using a global infrastructure of
data centers and networks, T-
Systems operates information and
communication technology (ICT)
systems for multinational corpora-
tions and public sector institutions.
With approximately 47,600 employ-
ees in 20 countries worldwide T-
Systems generated revenue of
around EUR 9.2bn in the 2011 fi-
nancial year.
Katowice is one of 90 data pro-
cessing center worldwide managed
by T-Systems. The company has
more than 120,000 sq.m of data cen-
ter space at its disposal as well as
global IP Virtual Private Network
with 78,000 nods, 1,000 edge rout-
ers and 360,000 routers and switch-
es at customer locations, which
made it one of Europe's top data
center outsourcing firms alongside
HP, IBM, and CSC last year, accord-
ing to Gartner.
Deutsche Telekom is one of the
world's leading integrated telecom-
munications companies with more
than 129m mobile customers (in-
cluding 14.5m in Poland), almost
34m fixed-network lines and 17m
broadband lines (as of March 31,
2012). The Group provides fixed-
network, mobile communications,
Internet and IPTV products and ser-
vices for consumers, and ICT solu-
tions for business and corporate cus-
tomers. Deutsche Telekom is present
in around 50 countries and has over
235,000 employees worldwide. The
Group generated revenue of EUR
58.7bn in the 2011 financial year -
over half of it outside Germany (as
of December 31, 2011).
The past year was tough for French
retail giant Carrefour worldwide as
well as in Poland and the company
is reassessing its position on the lo-
cal market.
Globally, the company saw its
net earnings drop 14%, down to
EUR 371m, while its sales stagnated.
In Poland, Carrefour's sales revenues
dropped from PLN 9.1bn in 2010
down to PLN 8.95bn in 2011 and it
seems the French are lacking any
idea as to how to challenge the Por-
tuguese discount grocery chain
Biedronka that has taken Poland by
a storm. Biedronka's operator,
Jeronimo Martins Dystrybucja
turned over PLN 25.3bn last year,
becoming Poland's fourth largest
corporation.
Carrefour has fallen in the same
trap as other hypermarket operators
- Tesco, Auchan, and Real. Namely,
the Poles seem to have ran out of
time and patience to shop at their
giant outlets. Parading with huge
trolleys amid towering hypermarket
shelves has somehow lost its appeal.
People want to get their shopping
done quickly, without traffic jams
and queues, and be able to find fresh
produce. Hypermarkets score rather
low on all points.
Carrefour noticed this trend a
while ago, when it shifted focus to
smaller formats. Its current strategy
in Poland prioritizes expansion of
the franchise network Carrefour Ex-
press, which includes small super-
markets (with a floor area of 100-
500 sq.m) and convenience stores
(up to 100 sq.m).
"We enter only such projects
where we are certain the will be
beneficial for both parties con-
cerned. We provide shop owners
with a whole range of crucial tools,
including a well-known logo, know-
how, tested format and inventory,
marketing plans, good prices, and
reliable logistics. It's a win-win situa-
tion and the benefits are measura-
ble," Carrefour Polska CEO Jean
Anthoine Milhomme tells news2biz.
"In all of 2012 we plan to open more
than 200 franchise outlets and we
want to maintain that pace in the
years to come," he adds.
That would boost the size of the
Carrefour Express franchise chain
(which currently includes more than
230 outlets), well in excess of 400
stores. The pace indeed has been
impressive – in July alone seven new
shops were added to the chain.
Besides Carrefour Express, the
French retailer operates regular su-
permarkets under the Carrefour
Market logo as well as Carrefour hy-
permarkets – overall more than 500
shops. The company has also 40
shopping centers and a number of
gas stations, adjacent to its outlets.
"As for new hypermarkets, we
plan to launch one by the end of
2013 and another one in the follow-
ing year," says Milhomme.
Last year Carrefour gave a major
facelift to some of its hypermarkets
in Warsaw, making them more cus-
tomer-friendly and appealing. Time
will tell whether this strategy brings
more customers to their stores.
"We upgraded our shops in
Arkadia, Targowek and Reduta
shopping centers and we find the re-
sults satisfactory. Work is underway
in Galeria Mokotow and we have
identified another three outlets in
the most prestigious locations and
with the highest potential, to be
modernized."
Some believe employing more
cash register clerks would make a
much bigger difference than any im-
provements in layout and design,
but the new look certainly does
make Carrefour's superstores a bit
more friendly.
Shortly before this issue of
news2biz went to press, a report by
Reuters suggested that Carrefour
may choose to sell non-core assets in
countries like Romania, Turkey, Po-
land and Indonesia, among others,
aiming to make between EUR 1bn
and EUR 3bn from the sale.
The world's number two retailer
allegedly needs the cash to fund a
revival plan for its struggling Euro-
pean hypermarkets, as tight finances
and dire economic times leave its
new boss with hard choices. Britain’s
Tesco, France's Auchan and U.S.
Wal-Mart are seen as potential buy-
ers of eastern Europe assets. “Its
central and eastern European assets
could represent a great opportunity
for Auchan, an operator who is well
established in Russia, Poland and
Romania," said Milos Ryba, an ana-
lyst at research firm PlanetRetail,
quoted by Reuters.
In a EUR 95m deal to be concluded
by the end of August, Denmark's TK
Development is selling two Polish
projects to US fund Heitman. The
transaction concerns the company's
existing shopping centre Galeria
Tarnovia in Tarnów and a new de-
velopment project in Jelenia Góra.
Through the agreement, the Chi-
cago-based Heitman assumes a 70 %
shareholding in the said projects,
enabling the Danes to realize a small
profit upon completion of the trans-
action, free up cash resources and
obtain an additional, future profit
from fee income from the jointly
owned company in respect of devel-
opment, letting and construction
management services.
Heitman manages approximately
EUR 21bn in assets invested directly
and indirectly in real estate in North
America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
The firm’s clients include institu-
tions, pension plans, endowments
and foundations, and individual in-
vestors and its European private eq-
uity investments span 15 countries
with approximately EUR 4bn cur-
rently under management. A major
investor in the region, Heitman has
over 50 people across Europe in its
offices in London, Warsaw, Luxem-
bourg and Moscow.
Opened in November 2009 and
fully let ever since, the 16,500-sq.m.
Galeria Tarnovia includes a super-
market of about 2,000 sq.m and spe-
cialty stores of about 14,500 sq.m.
TK Development said the sale price
for this property was in the region of
EUR 40m.
As for the Jelenia Gora project,
the Danes had acquired a plot of
land in the southwestern Polish city
and have an option for additional
land for the development of a shop-
ping centre of approx. 24,000 sq.m.
The project will comprise a super-
market of about 3,500 sq.m and re-
tail, restaurant and service premises
of about 20,500 sq.m. Crucially, the
zoning plan for the area is in place,
and the letting of premises has start-
ed.
"We have the planning permits
for this project and we are preparing
to enter the construction phase,"
Frede Clausen, CEO of TK Develop-
ment tells news2biz. "We retain a
30% share in the Jelenia Gora de-
velopment so we will continue pav-
ing the way for this project."
"It is true that TK Development
has been less active in Poland for the
past couple of years, but I think that
reflects the general decrease in the
number of transactions in that mar-
ket," says Clausen. "There is no
doubt, however, that Poland will
remain a very important market for
us. Just take its size and the coun-
try's economic development. I be-
lieve there are still plenty of oppor-
tunities in Polish retail property sec-
tor. We may have a few weaker
years, but we'll see what happens
later," says Clausen.
Heitman joins the project with a
70 % ownership interest at the cur-
rent development stage, and the fu-
ture development of the project, in-
cluding the construction of the pro-
ject, will take place in partnership
with the US investor. The total pro-
ject value is expected to be around
EUR 55m. According to TK Devel-
opment, the partnership will allow
for a more optimal exploitation of
the group’s resources, including eq-
uity allocation, as Heitman will
make financing available pro rata to
their ownership interest.
The Danish developer intends to
sell its remaining shares in both pro-
jects after 2015.
TK Development, which used to
be a much more active player on the
Polish market, has changed its strat-
egy to focus on forming partnerships
with third party investors for its ex-
isting and future projects in a move
to better allocate the company's eq-
uity, diversify the risk, and capitalize
on its development expertise. The
Heitman deal is in line with this new
approach.
Following in the footsteps of other
global medical technology giants
such as Bayer (see 477 page 3) and
BecktonDickinson (see no 480 page
21), US lab testing specialists
PerkinElmer has decided to set up a
shared services centre in Poland.
"Our new service center in Kra-
kow will provide advanced and lo-
calized support capabilities to both
new and existing customers in
France, Italy, Spain as well as
Southeastern and Eastern Europe,"
Perkin Elmer's Vice President Steph-
anie Wasco tells news2biz. "Perkin-
Elmer will employ approximately 80
personnel in Krakow in a variety of
functions including customer care,
finance and IT."
The center, which is projected to
open by the end of September, is ex-
pected to become operational by the
beginning of next year. PerkinElmer
is at the beginning stages of its re-
cruitment process for the center, in-
cluding recruiting for leadership po-
sitions.
"We looking for highly talented
individuals with outstanding foreign
language skills who have a passion
for making a difference," says Was-
co, stressing PerkinElmer's dedica-
tion to advancing quality and lon-
gevity of life all around the world.
"In Kraków, we are also offering a
rare opportunity to participate in
starting the new Shared Service Cen-
ter."
Krakow is one of the top destina-
tions in Poland for offshoring and
nearshoring projects. According to
estimates, the existing 55 business
process outsourcing and shared ser-
vices centers in the city employ some
26,000 people. Recently Belgium's
Euroclear Bank and US Brown
Brothers Harriman (see no 480 page
4) have confirmed plans to invest in
Krakow, each intending to hire up to
500 employees.
"Although we evaluated several
other locations, PerkinElmer recog-
nized that Poland is becoming a
burgeoning international center with
access to local highly educated and
multi-lingual employee talent. The
Polish government has been very
supportive and helpful as the com-
pany establishes a presence in
Kraków. PerkinElmer applied for
and received a Multi-Annual Support
Programme (MASP) grant, used to
support the creation of jobs within
Poland, from the Polish govern-
ment."
The company supplies lab testing
products and technology for
healthcare and environmental moni-
toring. Its human health division
provides diagnostic, biopharma and
life sciences research instruments,
reagents and software, while its en-
vironmental health unit encom-
passes analytical instrumentation
and laboratory services.
"Poland itself is a market for
PerkinElmer where we supply a
range of solutions and services from
prenatal and newborn screening and
life science research to environmen-
tal and food testing."
A USD 2.1bn global technology
company, PerkinElmer employs
more than 7,000 staff in over 150
countries around the world.
Greed, ignorance and poor judiciary
make for a rather disastrous mix. As
we hinted in our front page article in
the last issue of news2biz POLAND,
the recent downfall of Polish domes-
tic airline OLT was merely a prelude
to a much bigger story involving a
massive Ponzi scheme created by 28-
year-old Polish national Marcin
Plichta.
The collapse of Plichta's unregu-
lated investment company Amber
Gold in August has left thousands of
Poles wondering whether they
would ever see any of the PLN 90m
they entrusted the "entrepreneur"
and raised a lot of questions about
the effectiveness of Polish regulatory
authorities.
Operating since 2009, Amber
Gold is one of a number of Polish
"para-banks" offering investors high-
er returns than those being given by
formal banks, as well as engaging in
high-interest lending, all without
falling under the scrutiny of the
Polish Financial Supervision Authori-
ty (KNF), the banking regulator.
At a time when banks are paying
only about 6% a year on deposits
(backed by state guarantees), which
are also subject to a 19% capital
gains tax, Amber Gold was promis-
ing an untaxed guaranteed return of
up to 16.5% for investments in gold.
The company spent millions on ad-
vertising and even though its ads
and banners could be found virtually
everywhere, Amber Gold never filed
even the minimal accounting results
required of all registered companies,
making it impossible to find out any
details about its investment strategy.
In Poland, the penalty for failing to
issue financial statements is relative-
ly small and therefore companies
that have something to hide often
"forget" to do so.
The KNF has been warning about
Amber Gold for several years, plac-
ing it on a watch list along with 16
other companies for operating with-
out a banking license, but was una-
ble to get the prosecutor's office to
show much interest. The promise of
hefty gains and Plichta's talk of spec-
tacular returns on his investments
was enough for an estimated 50,000
Poles to invest with Amber Gold.
Plichta's business ended up in
media spotlight in July, when his
airline OLT Express, a project he fi-
nanced with Amber Gold's money,
went bankrupt. The airline's down-
fall increased concern over the
health of Amber Gold, which was
running into trouble following a
warning issued by the KNF that
banks dealing with unregulated
lenders face a "reputational risk,"
prompting banks to shut down Am-
ber Gold’s accounts.
Although Plichta denied running
a pyramid scheme and blamed his
troubles on a government conspira-
cy, the media revealed that he had
seven past fraud convictions, which
should have precluded him from be-
ing the chief executive of a legally
registered company. In mid-August
he announced the company would
be liquidated and money paid back
to investors over time, something
most observers find very unlikely.
Although substantial, the value
of Plichta's assets the authorities
have been able to secure to-date,
represents only a fraction of its dues.
Several hundred clients are already
preparing a class action lawsuit,
while the prosecutor’s office is inves-
tigating allegations of fraud. Six dif-
ferent charges were made against
Plichta, including illegal collection of
funds and misinforming financial of-
ficials about the company's dealings.
The opposition is demanding
creation of a special parliamentary
probe to find out how an individual
with multiple convictions was able
to legally establish a financial and
airline businesses on a nationwide
scale. The case has become a politi-
cal headache for Prime Minister
Donald Tusk, in large part because
critics say the government failed to
move more quickly, but also because
his son, 30-year-old Michal Tusk, did
public relations work for OLT Ex-
press.
24 | No 481 | 27 August 2012 | © Bonnier Group/Äripäev | POLAND
KEY FIGURES
INFLATION
-1%
0%
1%
2%
3%
4%
5%
6%
Jul 10
Sep 10
Nov 10
Jan 11
Mar 11
May 11
Jul 11
Sep 11
Nov 11
Jan 12
Mar 12
May 12
Jul 12
Year-on-year
Month-on-month
Source: The Central Statistical Office of Poland, GUS
CONSUMER PRICE INDEX column A: 100 = current 12 months; column B: 100 = previous month
Apr '12 May '12 Jun '12 Jul '12
Sector A B A B A B A B
Food & beverages 103.2 100.2 102.7 100.8 105.4 100.7 105.0 98.0
Alcohol, tobacco 105.0 100.2 104.7 100.2 104.1 100.1 103.8 100.2
Clothing, footwear 97.4 103.1 95.4 99.8 95.0 99.1 94.9 97.6
Housing 106.0 100.9 105.8 100.1 105.8 100.1 105.3 100.2
Transport 108.7 101.2 108.1 99.7 108.2 99.8 106.8 98.8
Communications 101.2 100.0 102.3 100.0 103.3 100.0 103.6 100.0
Gross CPI 104.0 100.6 103.6 100.2 104.3 100.2 104.0 99.5
Source: The Central Statistical Office of Poland, GUS
PRODUCER PRICE INDEX On monthly basis Jan '12 Feb '12 Mar '12 Apr '12 May '12 Jun '12 Jul '12
100 = previous month 100.1 99.5 100.1 100.6 100.4 99.5 99.8
100 = same month prev year 107.9 106.0 104.4 104.3 105.2 104.4 103.7
Year 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
100 = previous year 100.7 102.0 102.0 102.2 103.4 102.1 107.6
Note: Producer prices are prices of industrial goods excluding VAT and other taxes.
Source: The Central Statistical Office of Poland, GUS
CONSTRUCTION PRICE INDEX On monthly basis Jan '12 Feb '12 Mar '12 Apr '12 May '12 Jun '12 Jul '12
100 = previous month 99.9 99.9 100.0 100.0 99.9 99.9 99.9
100 = same month prev year 101.5 101.4 101.3 101.1 100.9 103.3 100.1
Year 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
100 = previous year 103.0 103.2 107.4 104.8 100.2 99.9 101.0
RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION Dwellings in '000 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Jan-Jul '12 y/y
Permits (no of units) 168.4 247.7 230.1 178.8 174.9 184.1 102.7 -1.8%
Commenced 138.0 185.1 174.7 142.9 158.1 162.2 92.0 -3.0%
Under construction 626.5 677.9 687.4 670.3 692.7 723.0 736.2 +1.9%
Completed 115.4 133.7 165.2 160.0 135.7 131.7 79.5 +22.2%
Source: The Central Statistical Office of Poland, GUS
COMMERCIAL PROPERTY MARKET Industrial properties
by region, 2H 2011
Existing stock,
sq.m
Under const-
ruction, sq.m
Vacancy
ratio
Effective rents
EUR/sq.m/mth
Warsaw central 3.9–5.8
Warsaw suburbs 2,630,000 96,000 17.3%
2.0–3.2
Central Poland 940,000 49,000 10.4% 2.0–3.1
Poznan 946,000 64,000 4.6% 2.4–2.9
Upper Silesia 1,386,000 47,000 7.8% 2.7–3.1
Wroclaw 649,000 63,000 9.1% 2.4–3.0
Gdansk 140,000 30,000 10.9% 3.3–4.0
Krakow 116,000 19,000 8.7% 4.0
Apartments* Offices 1H'12 Retail rents** 2H'11
City Jun '12
PLN/sq.m
Change
y/y
Rents** Vacancy Retail
centres
High
streets
Warsaw 6,960 -11.5% 15-25 7.4% 75-77 83-85
Krakow 5,949 -7.7% 14-15 6.8% 37-40 77-79
Katowice 3,378 -9.1% 12-15.5 9.9% 45-47 56-58
Poznan 5,161 -7.7% 14-16 10.3% 37-40 56-58
Lodz 3,724 -12.8% 11-13 14.5% 32-35 29-32
Wroclaw 5,323 -8.6% 15-15.5 3.9% 37-40 44-48
Gdansk (Tricity) 5,062 -8.0% 12-14 9.1% 37-40 35-38
Source: Open Finance, C&W, JLL *median, transaction-based ** EUR/sq.m/month
INDUSTRIAL OUTPUT INDEX On monthly basis Jan '12 Feb '12 Mar '12 Apr '12 May '12 Jun '12 Jul '12
100 = previous month 94.9 99.0 110.7 92.5 104.5 98.0 97.7
100 = same month prev year 109.0 104.6 100.7 102.9 104.6 101.2 105.2
Year 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
100 = previous year 104.0 111.6 110.7 103.6 96.5 109.8 107.7
Source: The Central Statistical Office of Poland, GUS
RETAIL TRADE at current prices Mar '12 Apr '12 May '12 Jun '12 Jul '12
Index 100 = previous month 115.7 97.6 100.9 100.2 101.3
Index 100 = same month prev year 110.7 105.5 107.7 106.4 106.9
Year 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Turnover in PLN bn 517.4 564.7 582.8 593.0 n/a
Index 100 = previous year 116.0 113.3 104.3 105.5 111.6
Source: The Central Statistical Office of Poland, GUS
GROSS WAGES A: average monthly wages in PLN (without taxes); B: indexed average wages, 100=2005
Sector Q2 2011 Q3 2011 Q4 2011 Q1 2012
A B A B A B A B
Coal mining 6,164 140 6,073 138 7,820 178 5832 133
Manufacturing 3,322 145 3,352 146 3,395 148 3,422 149
Energy, gas, heating 5,339 162 5,560 169 6,132 186 5,937 180
Construction 3,683 157 3,776 161 3,858 164 3,622 154
Retail & repairs 3,253 139 3,233 138 3,370 144 3,357 143
Transport, logistics 3,338 118 3,370 119 3,683 130 3,356 119
IT, telecoms 6,424 167 6,361 165 6,325 164 6,550 170
Finance, insurance 6,275 141 5,891 132 5,823 131 6,384 143
National average 3,573 142 3,593 143 3,771 150 3,664 146
SENTIMENT INDICATORS Economic sentiment and consumer confidence indicators, seasonally adjusted
-40
-20
0
20
Oct 09
Jan 10
Apr 10
Jul 10
Oct 10
Jan 11
Apr 11
Jul 11
Oct 11
Jan 12
Apr 12
Jul 12
60
80
100
120 Consumer confidence (left axis) Economic sentiment (right axis)
The economic sentiment (1990-2010 average = 100) is a composite made up of five sectoral
confidence indicators, which are arithmetic means of seasonally adjusted balances of answers
to a selection of questions closely related to the reference variable. Source: Eurostat
25 | No 481 | 27 August 2012 | © Bonnier Group/Äripäev | POLAND
TRADE Poland exports and imports according to commodity groups, according to SITC classification
EXPORTS in PLN bn IMPORTS in PLN bn
Jan-Jun 2012 Jan-Jun
2011=100
Share
Jan-Jun '11
Share
Jan-Jun '12 2011 Share Jan-Jun 2012
Jan-Jun
2011=100
Share
Jan-Jun '11
Share
Jan-Jun '12 2011 Share
Food and live animals (0) 28,307 120.8 8.8% 9.7% 51,526 9.3% 21,382 109.4 6.6% 6.8% 40,133 6.5%
Beverages and tobacco (1) 3,804 121.0 1.2% 1.3% 6,986 1.3% 1,884 113.3 0.6% 0.6% 3,659 0.6%
Crude materials except fuels (2) 7,234 111.5 2.4% 2.5% 13,044 2.4% 11,214 113.1 3.3% 3.5% 21,217 3.5%
Fuels etc (3) 14,256 108.9 4.9% 4.9% 27,040 4.9% 41,920 115.6 12.1% 13.2% 78,414 12.8%
Animal and vegetable oils (4) 425 96.9 0.2% 0.2% 1,106 0.2% 1,358 108.2 0.4% 0.4% 2,688 0.4%
Chemical products (5) 26,883 113.1 8.9% 9.2% 49,445 8.9% 44,195 101.1 14.6% 14.0% 87,143 14.2%
Manufactured goods by material (6) 62,849 109.7 21.5% 21.6% 117,599 21.2% 56,341 100.8 18.7% 17.8% 111,160 18.1%
Machinery, transport equipment (7) 110,206 104.4 39.6% 37.8% 216,590 39.0% 99,521 104.7 31.8% 31.4% 194,428 31.6%
Other manufactured articles (8) 36,591 109.8 12.5% 12.6% 70,574 12.7% 28,616 101.2 9.5% 9.0% 60,169 9.8%
Not classified (9) 1,106 n/a 0.0% 0.2% 859 0.1% 10,271 n/a 2.4% 2.3% 15,417 2.5%
TOTAL 291,661 109.3 100% 100% 554,769 100% 316,702 109.3 100% 100% 614,428 100%
Poland's ten largest markets, ranked according to 2011 in PLN bn
EXPORTS IMPORTS
No Country Jan-Jun
2012 Share 2011 Share No Country
Jan-Jun
2012 Share 2011 Share
1 Germany 74,295 25.5% 145,764 26.1% 1 Germany 67,298 21.2% 139,087 22.3%
2 UK 19,277 6.6% 36,014 6.4% 2 Russia 46,186 14.6% 75,226 12.1%
3 Czech Rep. 18,408 6.3% 34,837 6.2% 3 China 27,742 8.8% 54,221 8.7%
4 France 18,214 6.2% 34,206 6.1% 4 Italy 16,400 5.2% 33,622 5.4%
5 Italy 15,219 5.2% 29,753 5.3% 5 France 12,591 4.0% 26,013 4.2%
6 Russia 14,940 5.1% 25,109 4.5% 6 Netherlands 11,933 3.7% 23,388 3.8%
7 Netherlands 12,901 4.4% 24,405 4.4% 7 Czech Rep. 11,767 3.7% 23,223 3.7%
8 Sweden 7,897 2.7% 15,931 2.9% 8 UK 7,753 2.4% 16,339 2.6%
9 Hungary n/a n/a 14,314 2.6% 9 USA 7,691 2.3% 14,139 2.3%
10 Ukraine 7,732 2.7% 13,854 2.5% 10 Belgium n/a n/a 13,781 2.2%
Source: The Central Statistical Office of Poland, Glowny Urzad Statystyczny (GUS)
CURRENCY Central Bank average rates
as of 24 August 2012
100 USD 326.80 ↓
100 EUR 410.12 ↑
100 GBP 517.83 ↓
100 CHF 341.47 ↑
100 DKK 55.07 ↑
100 SEK 49.64↑
100 NOK 56.01 ↓
10,000 JPY 416.11 ↓
100 CZK 16.44 ↑
10,000 HUF 147.40 ↑
Source: The Central Bank of Poland, Narodowy Bank Polski
100 USD/EUR against PLN
250
300
350
400
450
500
25 A
ug 11
24 O
ct 11
23 D
ec 11
23 F
eb 12
24 A
pr 12
26 Ju
n 12
24 A
ug 12
EUR
USD
MONEY SUPPLY in PLN m Mar '12 Apr '12 May '12 Jun '12 Jul '12
Monetary base 137,314 155,333 139,298 140,323 141,419
M1 454,287 448,746 464,009 462,655 464,957
- Currency outside banks 99,883 101,302 102,324 103,808 103,003
M2 859,995 854,776 867,102 868,782 869,059
- Time deposits 414,712 415,289 412,434 415,639 415,833
M3 874,496 870,551 884,151 884,725 886,873
- Net foreign assets in EURm 28,519 28,374 33,436 35,769 35,769
Monetary base: Polish currency emitted by the central bank and money on accounts held with it.
M1= currency outside banks + demand deposits M2= M1+ time deposits (inc in foreign currencies)
M3= the broad measure of money supply. Source: The Central Bank of Poland, NBP
CREDIT The financial sector's net lending in PLN bn, loan stock at the end of period
Type of loan Mar '12 Apr '12 May '12 Jun '12 Jul '12
Loans to customers 853,105 859,783 874,989 871,973 864,421
- to private companies 253,670 254,127 259,740 259,397 259,397
- to individuals 455,156 456,933 468,526 463,821 458,218
Total assets of banking institutions 1,509,060 1,512,482 1,571,043 1,558,457 1,546,330
Source: The Central Bank of Poland, Narodowy Bank Polski
INTEREST RATES Average weighted annual interest rates on loans to non-financial corporations
Term / currency Jan '12 Feb '12 Mar '12 Apr '12 May '12 Jun '12
PLN (up to 1 year) 6.6% 6.3% 6.1% 6.2% 6.3% 6.2%
PLN (up to 5 y ) 7.3% 7.3% 7.3% 7.2% 7.3% 7.3%
PLN (over 5 y) 6.8% 6.8% 6.8% 6.8% 6.8% 6.9%
PLN (total) 7.0% 6.9% 6.9% 6.9% 6.9% 7.0%
EUR (up to 1m EUR) 2.9% 2.7% 2.6% 2.4% 2.3% 2.3%
EUR (over 1m EUR) 5.0% 5.2% 3.4% 2.9% 5.8% 3.1%
Warsaw Inter Bank Offered Rate (WIBOR) as of 24 August 2012
Overnight 1 week 1 month 3 months 6 months
4.81% 4.83% 4.91% 5.11% 5.13%
Central Bank (NBP) Base Rates
Reference Lombard NBP deposit Rediscount
4.75% 6.25% 3.25% 5.00%
Source: The Central Bank of Poland, Narodowy Bank Polski
STOCK EXCHANGE Warsaw Stock Exchange, rates in PLN
WIG-20
in alphabetical order
Price
24 Aug '12
Change
10 Aug '12
Change
end of '11
↑ Asseco Poland 46.75 +3% -4%
↓ Bogdanka 123.3 -1% +19%
→ Boryszew 0.51 0% -19%
↓ BRE 314.6 -2% 28%
↑ GTC 6.31 +2% -32%
↓ Handlowy 80 -8% +18%
↓ JSW 91.5 -1% +9%
↑ Kernel 73.7 +1% +6%
↑ KGHM 132.4 +2% +20%
↓ Lotos 26.29 -3% +13%
↓ Pekao 152.7 -1% +8%
↓ PGE 18.5 -8% -11%
↓ PGNiG 4.0 -7% -2%
↓ PKN Orlen 37.92 -4% +12%
↑ PKO BP 34.99 +2% +9%
↓ PZU 362 -2% +17%
→ Synthos 5.59 0% +27%
→ Tauron 4.86 0% -9%
↑ TP SA 16.94 +2% -2%
↓ TVN 7.57 -6% -27%
Source: Warsaw Stock Exchange
WIG Total index 24 Aug
41,852.69 Change 10 Aug 0% →
Change end of '11 +11% ↑
Includes all stocks quoted on the
WSE main market
WIG-20 blue chip index 24 Aug
2,283.08 Change 10 Aug -1% ↓
Change end of '11 +6% ↑
WIG Total closing index
the last three months
36 000
37 000
38 000
39 00040 000
41 000
42 000
43 000
24 M
ay
18 Ju
n
10 Ju
l
01 A
ug
24 A
ug
26 | No 481 | 27 August 2012 | © Bonnier Group/Äripäev | POLAND
Reports for professionals doing business in Eastern Europe & China
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This edition completed 27 August 2012
Next issue on-line 10September 2012
GDP at current prices
Period Growth y/y
unadjusted
GDP in PLN bn
current prices
GDP per capita
in USD
Current account
def. in % of GDP
Q1 2012 +3.5% 370,450 n/a -4.4%
Q4 2011 +4.3% 429,665 n/a -4.3%
Q3 2011 +4.2% 376,204 n/a -4.6%
Q2 2011 +4.2% 369,558 n/a -4.9%
2011 +4.3% 1,524.659 n/a -4.3%
2010 +3.9% 1,416,392 19,747 -4.7%
2009 +1.6% 1,344,384 17,989 -3.9%
2008 +5.1% 1,275,432 17,493 -4.8%
Source: The Central Bank of Poland, Narodowy Bank Polski, BZ WBK
CURRENT ACCOUNT excerpts shown in EUR m 2009 2010 2011 Q3 ‘11 Q4 ‘11 Q1 ‘12
Trade balance -5,427 -8,893 -10,112 -2,263 -2,814 -2,165
Services, net 3,427 2,334 4,341 1,138 714 798
Direct investments, net 6,235 3,759 10,340 3,236 2,456 -1,681
Current account balance -12,152 -16,493 -15,917 -4,459 -5,021 -4,344
Source: The Central Bank of Poland, Narodowy Bank Polski
FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT in EUR m
On quaterly basis Q4 '10 Q1 '11 Q2 '11 Q3 '11 Q4 '11 Q1 '12
in Poland 1,726 3,830 1,382 3,236 2,456 -1,681
Polish DI abroad -1,849 -2,003 -1,484 -131 -687 1,395
Year 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
in Poland 15,741 17,242 10,128 9,343 6,696 10,340
Polish DI abroad -7,122 -4,020 -3,072 -3,335 4,149 -3,722
Source: The Central Bank of Poland, Narodowy Bank Polski
KEY ECONOMIC DATA FORECAST Indicator *2009 *2010 *2011 2012 2013
GDP change +1.6% +3.9% +4.3% +2.7% +2.5%
Consumer price inflation +3.5% +2.6% +4.3% +3.9% +2.6%
Producer price inflation +3.3% +2.1% +7.6% +4.3% +2.3%
CA balance, % of GDP -3.9% -4.7% -4.3% -3.2% -1.9%
Nominal gross wage change +4.4% +3.6% +5.0% +3.8% +4.0%
Unemployment rate (year-end) 12.1% 12.4% 12.5% 13.4% 13.4%
EUR/PLN 4.33 3.99 4.12 4.26 4.15
Sources: BZ WBK, July 2012. *) actual figures where available
REGIONAL DATA Industrial output
Jan-Jul 2012 *
Monthly wages (PLN)
Jan-Jul 2012 **
Unemployment
Jan-Jul 2012
New dwellings
Jan-Jul 2012
Poland's regions
(main cities indicated
in brackets) Industry Construction Industry Construction in '000 % Number Index *
Dolnoslaskie (Wroclaw) 104.5 105.3 4,015.96 4,007.04 142.4 12.4 7,799 140.8
Kujawsko-Pomorskie (Bydgoszcz) 105.6 103.4 3,196.99 3,102.56 136.4 16.5 3,271 106.0
Lubelskie (Lublin) 109.9 121.4 3,512.91 2,978.05 118.8 12.9 3,900 115.1
Lubuskie (Zielona Gora) 100.6 83.4 3,220.47 2,824.89 57.2 14.9 1,814 114.4
Lodzkie (Lodz) 114.3 101.0 3,453.65 3,166.91 141.9 13.0 3,833 124.2
Malopolskie (Krakow) 105.1 93.4 3,640.51 3,148.36 145.5 10.5 7,963 116.7
Mazowieckie (Warszawa) 102.3 112.9 4,319.00 4,877.22 252.0 10.1 16,379 131.5
Opolskie (Opole) 108.3 90.3 3,378.82 3,109.70 47.4 13.1 865 109.9
Podkarpackie (Rzeszow) 105.4 103.7 3,119.59 2,844.61 140.5 15.1 3,618 118.5
Podlaskie (Bialystok) 108.0 98.9 3,104.15 3,586.65 64.4 13.8 2,230 112.6
Pomorskie (Gdansk-Gdynia) 109.1 109.9 3,750.73 3,194.53 102.7 12.0 6,632 130.7
Slaskie (Katowice) 96.6 114.3 4,453.57 3,470.53 187.1 10.1 5,034 105.3
Swietokrzyskie (Kielce) 103.3 108.8 3,357.26 3,090.21 80.3 14.8 1,603 110.6
Warminsko-Mazurskie (Olsztyn) 103.7 110.8 3,021.91 3,006.15 101.2 19.1 2,477 122.1
Wielkopolskie (Poznan) 108.5 103.1 3,537.15 3,512.61 134.3 9.1 7,780 111.7
Zachodniopomorskie (Szczecin) 105.4 85.7 3,249.73 3,259.48 101.1 16.4 4,340 145.6
National average 104.1 106.6 3,769.46 3,635.55 1,953.2 12.3 79,538 122.2
* Index 100 = same period of the previous year. ** without social taxes
Source: The Central Statistical Office of Poland,
Glowny Urzad Statystyczny (GUS)
UNEMPLOYMENT Registered unemployed, in ‘000 and % of population in working age
1600
1900
2200
2500
Q4 09
Q1 10
Q2 10
Q3 10
Q4 10
Q1 11
Q2 11
Q3 11
Q4 11
Q1 12
Q2 12
6
9
12
15 number (left axis)
% (right axis)
Source: The Central Statistical Office of Poland, GUS
GENERAL INFORMATION Population: 38.3m (2011 census)
Currency: Polish Zloty (PLN)
In power: President Bronislaw Komorowski
Most seats in parliament Civic Platform PO (39%,
PM Donald Tusk), Law & Justice PiS (30%).
Elections: 2015 general, 2015 presidential
Most important tax rates:
Income tax: individual 18% and 32% corporate 19%
VAT: 23% (main), 8% (selected goods), 5% (food)
Social tax: 31-35%
COUNTRY RATING Agency rating outlook
Fitch Ratings A- stable
Standard & Poor's A- stable
Moody's Investor Service A2 stable
Source: Rating agencies
REAL EARNINGS
100110120130140150160170
Jul 0
8
Nov
08
Mar 09
Jul 0
9
Nov
09
Mar 10
Jul 10
Nov
10
Mar 11
Jul 11
Nov
11
Mar 12
Jul 12
Wage index CPI index
Development of the average gross wage and inflation.
Index 100 = Jan 2005. Source: GUS