WBJ #47 2012

Assassination plot

Warsaw Business Journal handed out its Investment of the Year Award at a special celebration in Warsaw last week 4

23

WWW.WBJ.PL

Authorities have foiled a man’s plot to bomb parliament. The president and PM were targets

AND THE WINNER IS ...

VOLUME 18, NUMBER 47 • NOV 26 – DEC 2, 2012 . z∏.12.50 (VAT 8% included) . ISSN 1233 7889 INDEX-RUCH-332-127

LOKALE IMMOBILIA

Since 1994 . Poland’s only business weekly in English

Friending Facebook With the social media giant becoming a fixture on Poles’ computers, Polish businesses need to get with the program

COURTESY OF MADE IN PR

REAL ESTATE

12-13

• Grzybowska 81 • Galeria Olimpia • A4 Business Park 15-17

Plus • Wages rise • Cities cut budgets • GMO seeds approved • Alior’s blockbuster IPO • Nintendo’s new console • Kidawa-B∏oƒska interview

In this issue

SHUTTERSTOCK

News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2-4 Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5-6 Finance & Economics . . . . . . . . . . .7 Interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8-9 Opinion & Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . .10 Cover Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12-13 Investing in Poland Project . . . . .14 Lokale Immobilia . . . . . . . . . . .15-17 The List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18-19 Markets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 Lifestyle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 Last Word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

Will Poland lose out?

Deputy PM ousted

The battle over the EU budget drags on, as net payers resist aiding eastern development 3, 10

Waldemar Pawlak has lost leadership of his party, changing the complexion of the governing coalition 4

NEWS

www.wbj.pl

is Poland's ranking in CBRE's attractiveness index for international retail chains, a rise from 22nd in 2011.

4.6% was the y/y rise in industrial production in October, above market consensus.

z∏.3,718.19 was the average gross wage in Poland in October, a rise of 2.8% y/y.

1.9% was Poland's core inflation rate in October, slightly above market consensus.

Quote of the Week

Jaros∏aw Kaczyƒski

Out of the 132 projects (worth €4.23 billion) supported by the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency, the United States leads in terms of number and value. Thirty projects, worth some €681.8 million, which could create 4,789 jobs, were initiated by companies from across the Atlantic.

Germany, with 18 projects worth €567.3 million, is in second place, followed by the UK with 12 projects worth €38.1 million. ●

Rados∏aw Sikorski, Poland's foreign minister, as quoted by the Financial Times

Figures in Focus Citizens chart The number of people who acquired citizenship in selected EU27 member states, in 2010 200,000 150,000 100,000 50,000

EU budget explained Log on to WBJ.pl to find out what exactly goes into making the EU budget. Where does the money come from and what is it spent on?

Location: Web:

28 Event:

SPCC BUSINESS CONFERENCE: SUSTAINABILITY & PROFITABILITY The Scandinavian-Polish Chamber of Commerce (SPCC) is organizing a business conference in Warsaw. The conference will touch upon corporate social responsibility, and guest speakers include Per Grankvist, a Swedish CSR expert and Carl Christian Hasselbalch, senior advisor at the CSR and AntiCorruption Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Denmark. Panelists include

UK

nc

Alior Bank ....................5 Helios ........................16 Peter Nielsen & AstraZeneca Pharma Home Broker ............17 Poland ........................14

Partners ......................6

Web:

29

CONFERENCE

Carrefour....................16 MultiBank ..................12 Rohlig Suus

Event:

“Development for a Better Future. Expanding businesses with the use of local potential and global opportunities.” The meeting will be followed by an official gala.

S∏oneczny M∏yn Hotel in Bydgoszcz prospectsinpoland.com/info

NOVEMBER Join the most senior players in CEE real estate in a selection of over 20 interactive discussions covering the recent trends.

Hyatt Regency Warsaw globalrealestate.org/NewEurope2012

Company Index

representatives of Fortum, Electrolux, CSR info and IKEA. www.spcc.pl

November/December Event:

Source: Eurostat

Pittsburgh Itella ..........................14 Bank Polskiej Glass Works ..............14 Spó∏dzielczoÊci ..........15 JSW ............................12 Polimex-Mostostal ....16 BASF ............................6 KGHM ........................20 Blue Ocean Investment Pradera Europe..........15 Group..........................17 Megapanel Pradera BMW ..........................12 PBI/Gemius ................12 Gdaƒsk Osowa ..........15 Browar Mariacki ........16 MOFO Architekci ........16 PwC ..........................5, 6 Bumar ..........................5 Monsanto ....................6 Carlo Tassara ..............5 Rex-Bud ....................16

Calendar

26-27 NEW EUROPE GRI 2012

e

0 Fra

Remi Adekoya

“If you ask me if people in Poland have noticed that Britain wants to cut the European budget by €200 billion … I’m forced to tell you, yes they’ve noticed.”

On WBJ.pl

Industrial production grew by 4.6% y/y in October, following a drop of 5.2% the previous month. The Polish currency gained slightly against the euro, US dollar and Swiss franc following the news last Tuesday.

US leads foreign investment

Mr Kaczyƒski and Mr Ziobro of having, through their actions, led to the death of former Transport Minister Barbara Blida (of SLD), who allegedly committed suicide when secret service agents came to arrest her on corruption charges.

But it will take the support of three-fifths of the lower house of parliament (276 MPs) to put Mr Kaczyƒski before the State Tribunal. This means PO’s coalition partner, the Polish People’s Party, needs to support the motion for it to pass. It is not yet clear how the party will behave on the issue.

Mr Ziobro currently heads the Solidarna Polska political party, following his expulsion from PiS in November 2011.

ain

Kaczyƒski’s actions was to not allow political and professional endeavors be taken on by PiS’s political opponents by trying to show that there is a political, business and social network in Poland, which is of a criminal nature,” the petition reads.

Jaros∏aw Kaczyƒski was prime minister of Poland from 2005 till 2007. One of his party’s most oft-used slogans at the time was of a “fight with the [corrupt] network.” Mr Ziobro was the then-prime minister’s frontman on this issue. Their detractors accuse them of heavy-handedness in their anticorruption fight.

The petition is supported by opposition parties Palikot’s Movement and the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD).

All three parties accuse

Sp

The ruling Civic Platform (PO) party has filed a petition to put former prime minister and current leader of the biggest opposition party, Law and Justice (PiS), Jaros∏aw Kaczyƒski, as well as former Justice Minister and current leader of Solidarna Polska, Zbigniew Ziobro, before the State Tribunal.

PO is accusing Mr Kaczyƒski of having breached the constitution when he was prime minister by giving Mr Ziobro, who was then Justice Minister, the powers of a “superminister” over other ministers. The ruling party said Mr Kaczyƒski did not have the constitutional right to confer such powers on Mr Ziobro and that the latter, in turn, had no right to use them.

“The motives for thenPrime Minister Jaros∏aw

nd Gr ee ce Po rtu ga Ne l the rla nd s Sw ed en Ge rm an y

Industrial production grows

19th

Kaczyƒski to stand before the State Tribunal?

ia

Euro 2012 may have ended just a few months ago, but its economic impact will be felt far into the future. Marcin Herra, head of PL.2012, the organization that managed preparations for the game, said that by 2020, as many as 66,000 jobs will have been created. In an interview with Gazeta Wyborcza, Mr Herra added that economists estimate the country’s GDP will net z∏.21 billion as a result of hosting the games.

Numbers in the News

Po la

Euro 2012 GDP boost

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

ak

The Polish government accepted the European Union’s fiscal pact last Tuesday. “The pact allows countries outside the euro zone, like Poland, to participate in discussions on its future and on potential changes to the pact itself,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said. The document now awaits parliamentary and presidential approval, but is expected to be passed without a hitch.

The pact requires euro zone members to keep structural deficits under 0.5% of GDP. Poland will have to comply with it only after it joins the euro zone.

NOVEMBER 26 – DECEMBER 2, 2012

Slo v

Gov’t accepts EU fiscal pact

COURTESY OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION

2

Location: Web:

CBRE ......................2, 13 Netia ..........................13 Logistics ....................16 DDJM..........................15 Nintendo ....................23 Servier ........................14 Deloitte ......................13 Echo Investment ..15, 16

Nomi ..........................16 Tesco ..........................16 NYSE Euronext’s

Enea ............................5

DECEMBER 6 WORKS ON PAPER AUCTION Event:

Location:

Web:

An auction of work by well-known Polish artists is to be held. Many pieces have starting prices of under z∏.1,000.

DESA Unicum auction house ul. Marsza∏kowska 34-50, Warsaw www.desa.pl

Universal Trading Erste Group ..................5 Estudio Lamela..........14

Platform ......................7

Twitter ........................13 Unibep ........................15 Unidevelopment ........15

Facebook ..............12, 13 Oik Gdaƒsk Retail Project ........................15 WSE ..............................5 Ferrari ..........................7 Open Finance ............17 X-Trade Brokers ........20 Fiat ..............................7 Gazprom ......................5 Panattoni Europe ......16 YouTube ......................13 Globe Trade Centre....15 PCEF ..........................15 ˚abka Polska ............16

NEWS

NOVEMBER 26 – DECEMBER 2, 2012

www.wbj.pl

3

EU budget battle

Stalemate in Brussels as UK puts its foot down

After two days of negotiations, no deal was reached on the EU budget for the period 2014-2020 during a summit in Brussels last week. German Chancellor Angela Merkel had earlier said that this eventuality would mean “no drama,” but that remains to be seen.

If no agreement is reached before the end of this year, there will be another budget summit in the first quarter of 2013.

If no budget is agreed upon by the end of 2013, then the budget which applies in that year will be rolled over into 2014, with a 2 percent adjustment for inflation. There is also the option of provisional one-year budgets, but they would call for individual agreements for each new investment program.

The talks failed to yield agreement between richer countries and those, such as Poland, which rely most heavi-

ly on EU largess. The UK was particularly vociferous in calling for a freeze on current EU spending levels.

“Poland has no cause for ‘deep pesimism’”

Cut, cut, cut UK Prime Minister David Cameron came into this month’s summit baring his fangs, stating that he was “not happy at all” with the then-latest proposal by EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy to keep the multi-year budget at €973 billion.

Mr Cameron also repeated his stated position on the budget, which could be summed up as “cut, cut cut.”

It was then reported that Mr Van Rompuy offered to cap the budget at €940 billion.

This would have meant Poland receiving €1.5 billion less than the €72.4 billion in cohesion funds Mr Rompuy had been proposing coming into the summit. After the failed negotiations, Mr Rompuy said that “work will now go on.”

Mr Rompuy added that there was consensus that the EU needed a “moderation” budget at this stage in the financial crisis, and that leaders had agreed that a “growth budget” is also needed. The latter part of his statement was

PRIME MINISTER DONALD TUSK

COURTESY OF THE WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM

European leaders have failed to reach an agreement on the 2014-2020 EU budget.

Negotiations will continue

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was sure an agreement would be reached in early 2013 likely welcome news to Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who was also at the summit.

Poland, as the largest beneficiary of EU cohesion funds, has understandably been against cuts, especially to cohesion policy funds, from

the outset. It was the spokesperson for “Friends of Cohesion,” a 15-nation group spanning countries to the east as well as crisis-hit Greece, Portugal and Spain, who are determined to protect spending aimed at promoting

growth in the EU’s poorest regions.

“All those who want growth in Europe, all those who think seriously about more jobs, investments to emerge from the crisis, should support Poland in our efforts for a big-

ger cohesion fund,” said Mr Tusk going into the summit.

Despite the failed talks, the Polish prime minister sounded optimistic afterwards, suggesting that the final accepted budget would not be to Poland’s detriment. Mr Tusk said “the readiness to compromise was bigger than we might have thought going into the negotiations,” adding that the progress made during the talks gave Poland no cause for “deep pessimism.”

He said there would be no cuts to cohesion funds or the Common Agricultural Policy program, but that the “devil was in the details.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, meanwhile, said she was sure “an agreement would be reached” in the budget talks in January 2013.

Remi Adekoya

4

NEWS

www.wbj.pl

NOVEMBER 26 – DECEMBER 2, 2012

Politics

Deputy PM resigns, coalition future uncertain

Waldemar Pawlak’s resignation could see the ties that bind the ruling coalition start to loosen

Waldemar Pawlak has resigned from his position after losing a leadership battle in his party Waldemar Pawlak, the now-former deputy prime minister and economy minister, has been dethroned as leader of the Polish People’s party (PSL), the

junior coalition partner, and has effected his resignation from the government.

Mr Pawlak, who was beaten out by Janusz Piechociƒski as party boss, led PSL for most of the past two decades. He also served as prime minister of Poland on two occasions, once in 1992 and then from 1993 to 1995.

After the loss, Mr Pawlak handed in his notice to Prime Minister Donald Tusk, saying that “a member of the government, particularly deputy prime minister, must be a person who has the confidence of his party.”

This despite the fact that PSL’s new leader had pleaded with Waldemar Pawlak to remain in his ministerial posts.

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Mr Piechociƒski has already signaled that he would like a detailed coalition agreement signed between PO and PSL, rather than the general-framework “gentleman’s” agreement that is currently in place.

Mr Piechociƒski’s assumption of his party’s leadership may lead to strains in the current ruling coalition, whose senior partner is the prime minister’s Civic Platform (PO) party.

PO, an urban-based, economically liberal party, and PSL, a rural-based, economically leftist party, have always made for strange bedfellows, but it has been the good personal relationship between the parties’ leaders that has made the coalition a relatively harmonious one up until now.

It is not clear if Donald Tusk and Janusz Piechociƒski will get along equally well, and if they aren’t able to, ideological differences that have been kept in check thus far could rise to the surface.

Which ministry?

The new PSL leader has been criticized by many for seemingly wanting to avoid the responsibility of joining the government, but Jan Bury, who is the leader of the junior coalition partner’s parliamentary caucus, thinks he eventually will.

“I will advise him to join the government because since he won the party leadership, the consequence [of this is that there] should be a position in the government for PSL’s boss,” Mr Bury told reporters.

He also said Mr Piechociƒski would have a “stronger” position if he took charge of one of the ministries like “the economy ministry, the finance ministry or the transport ministry,” rather than just assuming the position of deputy prime minister.

In the past, PSL’s new leader has been active in criticizing the government on delays to infrastructure projects such as the building of highways. He might therefore want to head the Transport Ministry, which supervises public construction projects in Poland.

PSL will have an executive party meeting on December 1 and Mr Piechociƒski has indicated that he will wait till after then before announcing his new cadre decisions.

Remi Adekoya

Foiled assassination

Nationalist bomb-plot suspect arrested The suspect planned to assassinate the president and prime minister using four tons of explosives A 45-year-old chemistry lecturer from Kraków was arrested last week for planning to assassinate Poland’s highest-ranking politicians, including the president and prime minister, in a planned car-bomb attack outside parliament involving four metric tons of explosives.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the plot was uncovered during an investigation into Polish links to the Norwegian mass murderer, Anders Breivik, who bought bomb components in Poland.

The suspect, who was employed at the University of Agriculture in Kraków, has been described by Poland’s internal secret service agency, the ABW, as a “nationalist and anti-Semite.” He is not thought to belong to any political grouping.

“The would-be bomber did not hide his fascination with Breivik. This should not be ignored,” Mr Tusk told a news conference.

Explosive material The suspect was arrested on November 9, but due to the ongoing investigation, the ABW did not reveal the arrest until last Tuesday.

The agency found explosive materials including TNT,

EAST NEWS

COURTESY OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

Coalition strains?

Bomb-making equipment was found that allegedly belonged to the suspect bomb-making equipment, guns, ammunition, bulletproof vests, foreign and Polish car-registration plates, and sniper outfits allegedly belonging to the man.

The arrested man allegedly trained “four other people” and gave them duties to perform connected with the planned assassinations, but those people have yet to be arrested.

The man had come to Warsaw to survey the area surrounding parliament. According to the ABW he has confessed to some of the charges brought against him but says “somebody else put him up to it.”

Language of hate Prosecutor Mariusz Krason told the Associated Press that the suspect “believed that the current social and political sit-

uation in our country is moving in the wrong direction” and that those in positions of power are ‘foreign’”.

“In his opinion they are not true Poles,” Mr Krason added.

Mr Tusk said that the plan to kill Poland’s leaders showed it was “high time to abandon a language of violence and hatred in public debate.”

Poland’s far-right organizations have become more vocal in recent months, possibly due to frustrations caused by the economic crisis. Radical nationalists were recently involved in violent clashes with police in Warsaw, during marches held to commemorate Polish Independence Day on November 11.

The arrest has also once again brought to light the links between right-wing fanatics in Europe.

GP, RA

NOVEMBER 26 – DECEMBER 2, 2012

BUSINESS

www.wbj.pl

Bourse debut

Bumar personnel carrier

Alior to float up to 67 percent in IPO The Financial Supervision Authority has approved the bank’s issue prospectus Alior Bank plans to offer a stake of up to 67 percent to investors in an initial public offering on the Warsaw Stock Exchange that is set to be the largest ever by a private Polish company.

Alior, which plans to list on the WSE later this year, hopes to raise z∏.700 million from the

issue of up to 25 million new shares, while also putting up 26 million existing shares for sale, it announced in a statement last week.

The lender set the maximum IPO price for individual investors at z∏.71 per share.

Individual investors are to be offered 5 percent of the IPO. The final price will be fixed in early December, when bookbuilding for institutions concludes.

Earlier in November, the Polish Financial Supervision

Authority (KNF) approved the issue prospectus submitted

by Alior Bank.

Alior, which is owned by the Zaleski family through their holding company Carlo Tassara, has roughly 1.36 million customers, including around 1.26 million retail customers and approximately 100,000 business clients.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will buy up to z∏.320 million worth of Alior shares, according to the prospectus.

The prospectus also mentions that Carlo Tassara will sell a further stake of at least 30 percent in Alior to a bank or an insurer by the end of 2013 to lower its own debt.

During the first nine months of 2012, Alior Bank earned a net profit of z∏.222.9 million – an increase of z∏.142 million compared to the same period a year earlier.

According to Erste Group, between 2011 and 2015, Alior’s net profit will grow by some 44 percent a year, mak-

5

ing it one of the most rapidly developing banks in the region.

“We intend to conduct a public offering, to strengthen the bank’s capital and to continue its dynamic development,” Wojciech Sobieraj, president of Alior Bank, said in a statement.

“According to our strategy, our middle-term goal is to double Alior Bank’s share in the Polish banking sector,” he added.

Gareth Price

Bumar, the leading manufacturer in the Polish defense industry, is preparing the design and construction of a new armored personnel carrier, Rzeczpospolita reported. The first phase of research and development activities is starting up now and will be financed directly by the Group. Further stages will be subsidized by the Ministry of Defense and the National Center for Research and Development. All the key subsidiaries of the Bumar Group will be involved in the process.

z∏.100 bln in energy investments Poland will invest as much as z∏.100 billion in the energy sector, including nuclear power, Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced last Wednesday during a cornerstone-laying ceremony at the construction site of a new power block at Enea’s Kozienice plant. Overall, new power blocks slated to be built at statecontrolled energy providers by 2020 should create a total output of 7,000 MW, with a planned total net investment cost of around z∏.30 billion.

E-newspapers strengthen readership Publishers are seeing increasing revenue coming from non-paper editions of their publications. According to data compiled by PwC, on a global level, e-versions of various publications will soon make up 5% of total revenue. The demand for tablet-ready editions will steadily increase. Around 500,000 tablets have been sold to date in Poland.

Gas output to double?

Poland needs to step up shale gas exploration to boost natural gas output to more than 10 billion cubic meters by 2020.

Poland currently imports about twothirds of its gas from Russia’s Gazprom and wants to double its production of the fuel from the current 4.5 billion cubic meters per year by 2019. ●

6

BUSINESS

www.wbj.pl

NOVEMBER 26 – DECEMBER 2, 2012

Taxes

Budget cuts

Poland has lowly position in tax ranking, but sees improvement

Polish cities set to cut spending

Poland is ranked 114th in a new report on taxfriendliness, but has made big strides

which featured 183 economies.

Taxes in Poland are so complicated that entrepreneurs spend an average of 286 hours per year filing them.

The overall ranking is based on a simple average of the percentile rankings of each of the sub-indicators, which are: number of payments, time to comply and total tax rate.

According to the 2013 report, the average Polish entrepreneur pays taxes 18 times per year – a large amount compared to Sweden, for example, where there are

Paying taxes remains a massive headache for businesses in Poland, although the country has improved in this regard, according to a report by PwC. In terms of tax-friendliness, Poland is ranked an embarrassing 114th out of 185 economies in PwC’s Paying Taxes 2013 survey. However, it did rise from 127th place in the 2012 ranking,

only four such payments. However, according to the 2012 report, businesses in Poland had to make an eye-watering 29 different tax payments, showing that the situation has improved.

In the latest edition, the total tax rate in Poland was found to be 43.8 percent, compared to 43.6 percent in the previous report.

Finishing first in the ranking was the United Arab Emirates, where a total of four tax payments take just 12 hours.

As a second wave of European economic slowdown begins to bear down on Poland’s economy, many of the country’s largest cities are cutting expenditures, newly published budget proposals show.

The cities aren’t only cutting from payrolls – Kraków, Poznaƒ and Gdaƒsk are set to reduce investments.

If Poznaƒ’s budget propos-

al is approved by its city council, expenditures will be cut by 9 percent. That, however, should give the city a z∏.51 million surplus for 2013.

“We focus on the mediumterm, rather than just a oneyear perspective,” Ryszard Grobelny, the mayor of Poznaƒ, said at a press conference.

Kraków plans to spend z∏.48 million less on investments in 2013 than it did this year. Spending on culture will see a particularly large cut, of some z∏.12 million. Polish

media reported that this might mean the Selector Music Festival, a popular concert series held in the city for the past three years, could be in danger.

Gdaƒsk is set to cut expenditures by nearly z∏.30 million.

The city needs to perform some “surgical cuts,” Pawe∏ Adamowicz, the mayor of Gdaƒsk, explained during a press conference. The areas to see the largest cuts will be culture, sport and social programs.

Aleksandra Depowska

Gareth Price

Poland approves GMO-seed trade

Taxing numbers Number of payments, time taken to comply (in hours) and total tax rate (%), selected countries Country

As Poland faces an economic slowdown, major cities are tightening their belts

Overall rank

Number of payments

Time taken to comply

Total tax rate

United Arab Emirates

1

4

12

14.9

United Kingdom

16

8

110

35.5

Russia

64

7

177

54.1

United States

69

11

175

46.7

Germany

72

9

207

46.8

Poland

114

18

286

43.8

Czech Republic

120

8

413

49.2

Italy

131

15

269

68.3

Brazil

156

9

2,600

69.3

Venezuela

185

71

792

62.7

Source: PwC’s Paying Taxes 2013 report

Parliament has passed a bill that allows the trade of genetically modified (GM) seeds in Poland. Once the legislation is accepted by the Senate and signed by the president, it will be legal to both trade and grow genetically modified seeds in the country.

The topic is a controversial one, with environmentalists claiming that GM organisms (GMOs) can harm the environment and overtake populations of plants that grow naturally.

Proponents argue that GMOs can allow farmers to grow big-

ger, better crops, often without the need to use pesiticides.

Polish critics worry that the introduction of GMO crops could endanger the country’s smaller farmers, either by contaminating their crops or by making farms that use GMOs more competitive than those that don’t.

Professor Maria Rembia∏kowska from the Warsaw University of Life Sciences said that as the government relaxes regulations, large global or European seed sellers, such as the US’s Monsanto or Ger-

many’s BASF, might become interested in entering the Polish market.

Many European `Union countries, including Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary and Italy have placed bans on GMO cultivation.

Former Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Waldemar Pawlak argued that the bill passed by Poland’s parliament would allow authorities to block potentially harmful GMO products from entering the Polish market.

Agnieszka Frutak-Bilnik

Legal News Contact person: Dorota Zab∏ocka, dz@pnplaw.pl

Obligation to pay VAT tax only after invoice is paid

Fees for a bank loan drawn for buying a house

On November 16, 2012 the Sejm adopted the so-called third deregulation act, which is to come into force on January 1, 2013.

The act is designed to reduce payment gridlocks and improve the liquidity of Polish entrepreneurs, to limit the informational obligations of those entrepreneurs, as well as to improve the efficiency of public administration within the scope of its relationship with entrepreneurs.

The act stipulates, among other things, the introduction of VAT cash accounting for small entrepreneurs when their sales value (VAT included) does not exceed the equivalent of €1.2 million annually. The new cash accounting rules remove the obligation for small entrepreneurs to pay VAT tax, when a business partner who is an active VAT tax payer has not paid the entrepreneur for the goods delivered or for the service rendered.

Such entrepreneurs will not have to pay VAT tax after their invoice is issued, but only when they have received payment for the invoice.

The case looks different for entrepreneurs whose business partner is an entity other than an active VAT tax payer. In such cases, the entrepreneur will be allowed to wait before calculating VAT tax for a maximum of 180 days.

On November 15, the Supreme Administrative Court decided that only the costs proved with a VAT invoice may be deducted; bank loan fees are documented with debit notes (court ref. no. II FSK 858/11).

In an individual interpretation the Minister of Finance has decided that bank-loan-related costs may not be treated as tax deductibles in the case of a sale of real estate. In the opinion of tax authorities, the above expenses are related to raising funds for the purchase of real estate and as such they have no connection whatsoever with the income from sale of the real estate.

DAILY EXECUTIVE DIGEST Poland A.M. gives you the biggest Polish stories of the day.

Have the most valuable news delivered to your inbox each weekday morning.

Effective flow of documents between courts and registers On November 20, the draft of a change to legislation to the Act on the National Court Register and the Act on National Criminal Records was approved. The new legislation is intended to speed up and facilitate the flow of documents between courts and registers.

The routine of exchanging hard (paper) copies of documents by post is to be replaced with an IT system. The new system is to be used for sending: criminal registration cards, notifications, information on second convictions, and notifications for allowing a convicted person to serve the sentence outside prison. ●

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NOVEMBER 26 – DECEMBER 2, 2012

FINANCE & ECONOMICS

Deficit rules

COURTESY OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND KPRM

The average gross wage in Poland in October increased to z∏.3,718.19, up 2.8 percent yearon-year and 2.1 percent up on the previous month, the Central Statistical Office (GUS) announced last Monday.

GUS also put October employment in the enterprise sector at 5,510,400, unchanged RG from last year.

Finance Minister Jacek Rostowski (left) and Prime Minister Donald Tusk

The European Commission expects Poland to lower its public finance deficit to 3.4 percent of GDP this year.

Meanwhile, based on the Maastricht Treaty, Poland’s deficit should not exceed 3 percent of its GDP.

Both Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Finance Minister Jacek Rostowski are of the opinion that the European Commission will treat Poland leniently, even if the budget gap turns out to be higher than allowed, Rzeczpospolita reported.

Others are less optimistic.

“Poland’s deficit may in fact be higher than 3.5 percent of GDP, and we have no assurance that Brussels will excuse us from the excessive deficit

7

Wages up 2.8 percent in October

Brussels to punish Poland for high deficit?

The prime minister and finance minister think the European Commission will treat Poland leniently

www.wbj.pl

procedure,” warned Miros∏aw Gronicki, a former finance minister.

The procedure has loomed over Poland for the past three years, and it carries with it an array of limitations. The government wouldn’t be able to accept bills aimed at lowering state budget revenue or increasing expenditure. And there would be no more tax cuts for entrepreneurs or other incentives that stimulate RG the job market.

Wage gain Poland's average wage, along with year-on-year and month-onmonth growth, over the past three months Month

wage

y/y rise/fall

m/m rise/fall

Aug. '12

3,686.45

2.70%

-0.4%

Sep. '12

3,640.84

1.60%

-1.2%

Oct. '12

3,718.19

2.80%

2.8% Source: Central Statistical Office

IMF lowers Polish growth forecast The International Monetary Fund lowered its economic growth forecast for Poland to 1.75 percent for 2013, compared to its previous forecast of 2.1 percent, published in October, Rzeczpospolita reported.

According to the IMF,

Poland’s GDP will grow by 2.25 percent this year. Analysts at the IMF warn that Poland’s economy could slow even further if the European crisis deepens.“This is a cautious and conservative outlook. Poland’s biggest risks are those associated with the

euro zone, but we are well prepared, and the IMF’s Flexible Credit Line (FCL) is one of the important elements of this security,” said Ludwik Kotecki, chief economist at the Ministry of Finance.

RG

WSE to adopt UTP in mid-April The Warsaw Stock Exchange has revealed that it will change its trading platform from the antiquated Warset to the NYSE Euronext’s Universal Trading Platform (UTP) on April 15.

Gazeta Wyborcza characterized the switch as upgrading from a “Fiat to a Ferrari.”

The WSE originally planned to implement the new trading

system in November this year.

The WSE has not disclosed how much it paid for the platform, but Gazeta Wyborcza wrote that most of the bourse’s z∏.93 million investment budget for this year has been earmarked for the system.

“The implementation of a new trading system is the most mutual project between [the

Warsaw] exchange and brokerage houses that you can imagine, and maybe that’s why it is crucial for the future of the capital market,” WSE CEO Ludwik Sobolewski said.

The UTP will allow transactions on the Warsaw Stock Exchange to be conducted in a more secure environment than RG at present, he added.

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8

INTERVIEW

www.wbj.pl

NOVEMBER 26 – DECEMBER 2, 2012

Ethical issues

Matters of the conscience Ma∏gorzata Kidawa-B∏oƒska, the liberal face of the Civic Platform party and deputy leader of its parliamentary caucus, talks to WBJ about ethical issues, her views on the relation between conscience and politics, and her attitude towards the recent activity of nationalist groups Ewa Boniecka: You have endorsed a liberal project concerning in vitro fertilization, while another, more conservative project has also been prepared by Civic Platform (PO). Yet the government has decided that a program for providing in vitro will be introduced by the minister of health, without the need for legislation. How will the issue of in vitro finally be resolved?

Ma∏gorzata Kidawa-B∏oƒska: Let me clarify the situation. It is a fact that in the Civic Platform party a discussion concerning the in vitro method has been going on over the last few years.

But our two proposals – one liberal, prepared by me, and the other conservative, prepared by Justice Minister Jaros∏aw Gowin, permit the use of the in vitro fertilization procedure.

Now the situation is such that while in vitro is available in Poland, it is not regulated.

Nonetheless, 25 years have already passed since the birth of the first child conceived through in vitro fertilization in Poland, and it is a great success that those children are among us. At the same time there is a growing public awareness that we need to regulate the procedures for using in vitro, because without it that process could violate certain medical rules and even lead to dangerous experiments.

And Poland, which some years ago signed the European Convention on Bioethics, has not yet ratified that agreement. The Convention is an important document regulating, in general terms, the issues concerning relations between medicine, law and ethics, while the countries themselves have to prepare a

legal framework concerning bioethical issues in order to harmonize their laws with the provisions of the Convention.

It is the task we have to undertake here in Poland, while there is no doubt that ratifying the Convention will help us to move forward with dealing with some medical and connected ethical issues. And now that [Secretary of State, Government Plenipotentiary for Equal Treatment] Agnieszka Koz∏owska-Rajewicz has been tasked by the prime minister with dealing with the ratification of the Convention, I hope that at the end of this year or at the beginning of the next, our parliament will ratify it. And it will be the first, and a very important step in how we deal with bioethical issues.

And what other steps will be taken by the government concerning in vitro?

We will put forward a modest and general PO project, which, along with provisions of the European Convention on Bioethics, will be the basis for the medical program covering in vitro which is being presented by the minister of health.

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The point is that politicians should not decide about medical procedures concerning in vitro and describe them by law.

Modern bioethical matters are complicated and the Convention sets general rules about protecting human embryos and state what is prohibited in

him or her, but we cannot impose our own conscience on other people. If somebody has the temptation to do so, it means that he wants to be a dictator, not a politician.

I think that our society is better prepared to understand these dilemmas than some

“In the Sejm, there is a total lack of a matter-of-fact discussion about ethical matters.” genetic activities, so after ratifying it there would be no need for Poland to make a separate law for in vitro.

The medical program for in vitro is already being worked on by the Ministry of Health, so along with the government’s bill, which will provide a legal framework, we [are aiming to] create the best possible conditions for providing the in vitro method of fertilization to all families who need it.

One of the barriers we face is that many families cannot afford to use the method and, since we are the state and should therefore respond to people’s expectations, there is a need to provide financial support for those families.

Are you not afraid that certain religious and ideological attitudes towards ethical problems will continue to fuel hostile confrontation in parliament, even after the government’s proposals have been realized?

I have such fears, after listening to debates about these problems over the last few years. In the Sejm, there is a total lack of a matter-of-fact discussion about ethical matters. We have different views – and this is natural – but we should listen to each other and respond to arguments. But very often we only hear monologues and see walls being built in the face of other points of view. There is no wish to conduct a dialogue, however difficult, and this is the worst thing.

There is also, among some politicians, a drive to implement very restrictive laws concerning ethical matters; they want to impose their own conscience on other people. And I think that we should make a very precisely defined law, which accepts common ethical values, but not a law which imposes on people a prescription of how they should live.

Matters of the conscience are important for human beings, yet my conscience is valid for me just as much as another person’s conscience is valid for

politicians, because Poles are quite rational. Family is very important to them, so everything that can strengthen this institution has great value. And social polls show that 75 percent of people want the in vitro method to be conducted and to be able to obtain financial support from the state to do so.

The issue of abortion is also the subject of political confrontation in Poland. How do you see the situation?

In Poland we have a very restrictive law concerning abortion, which allows abortion only in three cases: when the pregnancy is the result of rape, the pregnancy threatens the health and life of a woman and when it is proven that terminal damage has been caused to the fetus. This law was adopted in the 1990s as the result of a hard-won political compromise. So now PO and the government are defending it against demands by [the opposition Law and Justice] for a total ban on abortion and leftist proposals for radically liberalizing the present law.

Choosing to have an abortion is always a very difficult physical, psychological and moral decision for a woman and also, in cases in which the current law allows it, it is also often a hard choice for a woman. But she must have the right to make such a choice and the present law gives that to her. There will always be critics of the present abortion law, from the right and from the left, but let’s keep the status quo as the compromise.

Has the matter of providing laws concerning civil partnerships been removed from the government’s agenda?

No, our parliamentary club has prepared a draft on the law for civil partnerships, which was submitted to the Speaker of the Sejm. Now the draft has to go through a legal procedure to determine whether it complies with other laws and the constitution.

We in Civic Platform believe that people living in a

civil partnership should be guaranteed equal rights, such as a person’s right to visit his or her partner in hospital, to leave an apartment to him or her [in a will] and to decide on how their partner should be buried after their death.

Currently, the way of settling such matters is complicated and involves visits to the notary office, so we want to simplify the lives of people living in civil partnerships. This bill would not threaten the traditional model of the family, nor promote other models. It will just provide equal rights for people living in civil unions and we do not say what kind of partnerships they are – whether heterosexual or homosexual.

Civic Platform and its parliamentary caucus are divided on many ethical issues. How strong are the divisions between liberal and conservative factions in these matters?

I always hear about the divisions in PO, with the media commenting on the strength of the conservatives, but the truth is that there is a very strong center in our party. We have a common program for proceeding with the in vitro issue and it is a compromise we have reached after muchneeded discussions.

I will not demonize the divisions between conservatives and liberals; there are individual attitudes towards some ethical problems. But being in Civic Platform from the very beginning, I know that it is a party that operates in the political center, where common sense, responsibility and respect for people and their views is the core of our policies.

Don’t you think that at this time of financial crisis in the EU and with the economy slowing, ethical issues are not considered so important by ordinary people?

Economic issues are very important, but the last few years have shown that ethical issues also have an influence on the quality of people’s lives.

The more open our society is and the more tolerant we are towards others and towards different ways of life, the more united we will be in making efforts to develop and modernize our country.

The realization of the government’s medical program for applying in vitro, which will be connected with financial support for those who need it, will help many families have babies. Thus, it is an important part of our social agenda.

INTERVIEW

COURTESY OF PAULINA ZOMER

NOVEMBER 26 – DECEMBER 2, 2012

Ms Kidawa-B∏oƒska believes it is not the role of politicians to impose their conscience on other people During a march organized by nationalist groups to celebrate Poland’s Independence Day, we witnessed the activity of radical rightist organizations, whose members carried slogans showing their opposition to the Polish state, their opposition to democratic order and their opposition to minority groups. Some participants even made fascist gestures.

How should we react to this?

Certainly we cannot ignore or disregard these nationalistic and anti-democratic groups because the activities of these organizations can develop in a very dangerous direction. It seems that after some years when such groups were hidden from the public eye, they have once again reappeared and have been able to mobilize some young people inclined to contest the status

quo, which is somewhat natural among the young.

I have the impression that those young people were shouting slogans and referring to certain historical nationalist leaders and organizations from the 1930s, while being completely ignorant of the historical facts. We should firmly criticize and contradict the activity of such nationalist organizations, but at this point I do not see a need to make them illegal, while they demonstrate their views and do not turn to violent acts against the democratic state or other people.

I think that we have to educate those young people about our history, make them understand it. Leaders with very different political views fought together to achieve independence for Poland in

Ma∏gorzata Kidawa-B∏oƒska In 2001, Ma∏gorzata Kidawa-B∏oƒska joined the Civic Platform party, which is now the senior coalition partner in the government. She started working in local government as a councilor of the City of Warsaw and as a member of the Committee on Culture.

She is currently a member of the Parliamentary Committee on Culture and the Media and president of PO’s parliamentary caucus group that focuses on in vitro fertilization. In 2010, she was the spokesperson for the presidential campaign of current Polish President Bronis∏aw Komorowski.

Ms Kidawa-B∏oƒska is the great-granddaughter of two distinguished statesmen: President Stanis∏aw Wojciechowski and Prime Minister W∏adys∏aw Grabski. ●

1918 … but they all wanted a democratic order and development. Many of them carried out activities which we would not necessarily agree with today, but we have to understand this. So I consider it to be of the utmost importance to give those young people who contest the status quo, from the right or the left, knowledge of the history of Poland and Europe, to draw lessons from past experiences. Such a wise and objective education should be carried out in schools, universities, non-governmental organizations, the media and by politicians.

How do you feel about the rather brutal political exchanges that go on in Poland, and how can this situation be changed?

Politics is practiced by people and the individual behavior of the members and leaders of political parties contributes to the overall political climate. Unfortunately the climate of our political debate is depressing, full of invectives and a lack of respect towards opponents.

But as long as I say what I think and with inner conviction, I feel that I can carry out my political duties and can look at the faces of my ancestors with a clear conscience. ●

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9

10

OPINION & ANALYSIS

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NOVEMBER 26 – DECEMBER 2, 2012

Cohesion funds: a fiscally responsible investment Editorial What if the European Union could add an economy about half as big but just as advanced as Germany’s within the next 20 years? Wouldn’t the prospect of adding such a large, healthy and wealthy market almost instantly brighten the bloc’s outlook?

Think of all those customers to buy European-made goods.

Well, Europe has that chance.

Leszek Balcerowicz, in an interview with Gazeta Wyborcza last week, said that Poland could catch up with Germany, in economic terms, within the next 20 years.

Whether that will happen is admittedly a big “if.” But let’s remember that Mr Balcerowicz, a former finance minister, president of the National Bank of Poland and currently a professor, is no rosy-eyed optimist. His post-communism economic reforms are referred to as “shock therapy,” and he’s often chided the current government for its lack of belt-tightening.

Morally, economically right It’s clear that helping Poland to

migrants to Western Europe, eliminating a bugbear for British politicians. Poland would transform from a maker of cheap processed goods to an economy based on innovation and research, benefiting European customers and businesses who would have access to them tariff-free. But most of all, a richer Poland would mean a thriving economy of 38 million consumers, all hungry for goods and services made by European companies.

catch up with Western European living standards is the right thing for the European Union to aim for from a moral standpoint – Poland and other post-Soviet bloc EU members didn’t have the benefit of the Marshall Plan. Fifty years of economic and political oppression in Central and Eastern Europe was the price for peace paid at Yalta.

But it also has economic benefits.

Since 2004, Poland has become a major trading partner for Western Europe, providing cheap, quality goods and services, not to mention a top-notch and cost-effective workforce, whether the employees are economic migrants who have moved to Western Europe or staff at outsourcing centers based here in the country.

Helping Poland to reach Western European living standards would provide different, but greater benefits, and do away with some of the problems that have resulted from Poland’s accession. A richer Poland would mean fewer economic

Negative consequences But none of this can happen without investment, and if EU funding is severely curtailed, it will put a significant brake on Polish growth. But there won’t only be consequences down the road. If Poland can’t sustain investment to continue to build infrastructure and a knowledgebased economy, Europe will lose one of its biggest growth drivers over the past eight years.

Poland’s voracious economy has proven a boon to a Europe in slow-

down mode. Had the Polish market not continued to grow during the global economic slowdown, who knows how much deeper the recession in Europe would have been?

UK Prime Minister David Cameron wants huge cuts to the 20142020 European Union budget. He, and other austerity-minded European politicians are proposing that the EU cut its budget for cohesion funds – the transfers that go from rich economies to poor ones. That would be a mistake, only slowing down development of Europe’s east.

The EU can find spending cuts elsewhere – fat payouts for pampered French farmers or indeed, Britain’s useless rebate, might be good starting points.

Invest in the future But cohesion funds are an investment – they are an investment in the people of Europe who didn’t have the chance to benefit from the economic growth Western Europe experienced in the second half of the 20th

century; an investment in the continent’s future, in future goods, services and customers. They are an investment that has already proven to give a significant positive return.

So to increase them – to make sure that Central and Eastern Europe has the investment it needs

“Cohesion funds are an investment in the future of Europe” to reach Western European living standards – is a fiscally responsible, not profligate, move.

The austerity “hawks” now demanding cuts to the EU’s 20142020 budget should take note. ● Warsaw Business Journal’s editorial board comprises editor-in-chief Andrew Kureth, managing editor Gareth Price and politics editor Remi Adekoya

Can the ruling coalition survive a leadership change?

P

arty leaders rarely change in Polish politics. Prime Minister Donald Tusk has been in charge of the ruling Civic Platform (PO) for almost a decade now. The same goes for Jaros∏aw Kaczyƒski, who heads Poland’s largest opposition party – Law and Justice (PiS).

The current junior coalition partner, the Polish People’s Party (PSL),

promptly resigned in a huff after his defeat.

Although Mr Piechociƒski, apparently in shock himself over his victory, asked Mr Pawlak to stay on in his ministerial posts, the now-former PSL leader refused. Most observers say the natural thing to do would be for Mr Piechociƒski to assume his predecessor’s posts.

“Party leaders rarely change in Polish politics” was no different in this respect.

Waldemar Pawlak, a two-time prime minister, ruled the party for 13 of the past 23 years.

But that rule came to an abrupt end on November 17, when, to the shock of political observers, he was unseated by Janusz Piechociƒski, an MP who has never held public office before.

Mr Pawlak, who has served as Poland’s deputy prime minister and economy minister since 2007,

But when asked whether he thinks Janusz Piechociƒski should now take over as deputy prime minister, Mr Pawlak replied that “they are not paying me to advise and I won’t advise for free.”

That’s sore loser talk.

It is understandable that Mr Pawlak, who has ensured his small party a slice of the cake that comes with governing, thinks he deserves better from his party colleagues, but a politician of that stature should at least know how to pretend in public that he can take defeat gracefully.

The word is that Waldemar Pawlak resigned from his ministerial posts so quickly because he is hoping for Mr Piechociƒski to assume them and fail woefully due to his inexperience.

COURTESY OF KPRM

No such thing as free advice

Mr Pawlak (left) and PM Tusk had a good working relationship Then the former prime minister would have the satisfaction of seeing his PSL colleagues come to him on bended knee, begging him to once again run the party. This scenario, as it should be noted, has happened in the past.

Doesn’t bode well for the coalition All this means we are likely in for a

prolonged factional battle within PSL, with Mr Pawlak’s supporters just waiting for an opportunity to cause Mr Piechociƒski to stumble.

That is bad news for the coalition, since it will make it less stable and predictable.

Moreover, the reason why a ruralbased, economically leftist party like PSL has been able to have a largely harmonious coalition with an eco-

Remi Adekoya

nomically liberal, urban-based party like Civic Platform (PO) is because Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Mr Pawlak had a good working relationship and got along well at a personal level. It is unclear whether the PM and Mr Piechociƒski will get along equally well.

Having said that, Mr Piechociƒski could well be a breath of fresh air in PSL. He is intelligent, moderate and seems to understand how a modern state should be run. He might make a much more forward-looking leader than the stoic Mr Pawlak, whose views sometimes seemed ill-suited to the 21st century.

The most important thing now for Mr Piechociƒski is to win the prime minister’s trust and confidence.

If he does that, he will have a stronger position in his party and will be able to focus on cooperating with Mr Tusk to push the country forward.

If he doesn’t do that, then the POPSL coalition might not survive another parliamentary term. ●

Remi Adekoya is Warsaw Business Journal’s politics editor. Read his blog, “The business of politics” on WBJ.pl

Editorials are the opinions of WBJ’s editorial board. Other opinions are those of the authors alone. Comments, opinions and letters should be sent to editor@wbj.pl. Please include a name and contact information and clearly indicate if they are to be considered for publication.

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MultiBank wins BMW tender MultiBank has been chosen via a tender to be the official loan provider for customers buying BMWs and MINIs at dealership locations across the country, reported Gazeta Wyborcza. According to Samar and Open Finance, banks issued 18,400 car loans worth more than z∏.814 million in Q2 of 2012. That's a 4% jump in the number of loans and an 11.8% jump in money lent, compared to the same period of last year.

JSW to issue eurobonds?

JSW, Europe’s leading producer of coking coal, might issue euro bonds worth up to €1 billion, reported Parkiet. The question is whether JSW needs that money for the acquisition of Bogdanka, another Polish coal miner, since Dziennik Gazeta Prawna reported that such a transaction is being considered.

However, this was denied by company officials. ●

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NOVEMBER 26 – DECEMBER 2, 2012

Social media

Facebook in Poland: a force for business?

Mark Ordon

The potential gains are large, but experts say Polish companies need to sharpen their social media marketing strategies to take full advantage Facebook has quickly established itself as a household name in Poland and is being used by businesses to promote products and services to a growing number of Poles.

Experts say, however, that these companies are not tapping into Facebook’s large and growing user base to the extent that they could be.

Since the debut of the Polish-language version of the worldwide social networking site in 2008, its popularity has soared, exceeding that of home-grown nasza-klasa.pl.

According to data provided by social media analysis site Socialbakers, as of November 10 of this year, a total of 9.43 million Facebook users were

registered in Poland, giving the country 25th place globally, and 7th place in Europe, after the United Kingdom, Turkey, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

On top of that, a recent study conducted by Megapanel PBI/Gemius shows that Facebook not only enjoys the position of the most popular social networking portal in Poland, but it also ranks second in popularity among all web platforms, bested only by Google.

Growing influence Facebook Poland has also extended its reach beyond the purely social let’s-post-a-picture-and-find-out-what-myfriends-are-up-to sphere. User statistics presented by Socialbakers show that an even balance of men and women use the portal in Poland and that two-thirds of users are in the socially and commercially influential 18-34 age bracket.

In fact, a study conducted ear-

SHUTTERSTOCK

12

All evidence suggests Facebook is here to stay

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NOVEMBER 26 – DECEMBER 2, 2012

COVER STORY

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Facebook in Poland “Getting a Facebook profile is merely the beginning for companies looking to promote themselves via social media” lier this year by the Institute of Media Monitoring (IMM) shows that traditional media refer to information posted on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube more often than they do to any television station.

In a ranking of the most important opinion-making media sources in Poland, prepared by the IMM in June, Facebook took fifth place ahead of three daily newspapers (Gazeta Wyborcza, Rzeczpospolita, Dziennik Gazeta Prawna) and one radio station (RMF FM), outperforming all TV stations that were ranked.

“Social media are becoming a fully legitimate information channel,” said Magdalena Grabarczyk-Tokaj, who is in charge of study development at IMM. She added that “over the years, we have regarded the internet as a medium of low credibility, given that any content can be published. We are now observing the exact opposite: the media is getting its news and information straight from the social platforms, similar to obtaining information from press agencies. The direct nature of the information is what builds its credibility.”

Also interesting is the fact that information cited from Facebook in the media often concerns the lives of celebrities, given that the portal allows users to develop and build personal relations linking the public and private spheres.

Business can benefit Polish businesses can certainly benefit from being able to

reach a quarter of the population through a single channel. According to “Polish companies on Facebook,” a report prepared by Deloitte, there is an overall awareness among business owners that social media portals are increasingly becoming key tools for communicating with consumers.

Yet data from the same study indicates that many are not fully prepared or currently able to use the medium to its full potential. Many respondents to Deloitte’s surveys were convinced that simply having a Facebook profile is enough to generate a positive image for an organization.

However, the authors of the report say that getting a Facebook profile is merely the beginning for companies looking to promote themselves via social media. Each user leaves a trail of opinions and ideas which, if properly harnessed, can fuel future strategies and innovations.

The topic was also discussed last year during the “Business is conversation” conference organized by Netia, which featured a lecture by Randi Zuckerberg, then head of marketing at Facebook. She pointed out that social portals have turned into a new kind of marketing channel, one which gives free publicity, but also takes away control of what is being said publicly about a company. Before a company starts advertising on Facebook, she said, it should ask itself a few basic questions: who will maintain the

The popularity of Facebook in Poland and the potential real benefits for business have prompted the company to launch corporate operations in the country.

Until recently, Facebook’s subsidiary in Dublin, Ireland, looked after markets in Central and Eastern Europe. When news broke in January of this year that the social networking giant was planning to set up shop on Polish soil, the local governments of many major cities strove to attract the company.

Lining up to host Facebook Poland were Kraków, Wroc∏aw, Katowice and, of course, Warsaw. The capital won the race and in the end, Facebook Warsaw opened its doors on September 27 at the Skylight office building near the Z∏ote Tarasy shopping gallery in the city center. The office is headed by Diego Oliva, who has already launched five regional offices for Facebook across the globe.

The Warsaw branch is to serve as a base for expanding the company’s interests in Central and Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East. “Poland was the natural choice for us,” Mr Oliva said in an interview with the Rzeczpospolita daily. He added that bureaucracy in Poland was less prohibitive than in other countries in the region. “Besides, the Polish Facebook currently has over 9 million active users, and that number is constantly growing,” he said.

Advertising for now The initial goal of the operation is to manage the sale of advertisements in the region and to cooperate with local programmers. Its range of activities may widen in the future, as the recent Facebook Developers World HACK Conference, held in Warsaw on September 28, seemed to indicate. The event involved promotional effort? One person or an entire team? Who will write the posts? Which languages should these posts be in?

Here for good So will Facebook in Poland become a fixed part of the online landscape, or despite the hype, remain only a trend condemned to wither away with time?

The number of users in Poland and the extent to which Facebook is used as a source

the participation of 150 programmers who were given seven hours to create an application integrated with Facebook, providing a challenge for the best talent and giving Facebook managers an insight into the programming potential available in the Polish market.

Many experts in the field are also of the opinion that yet another goal of the Polish office is to maintain Facebook’s image when it comes to personal data protection and to enhance cooperation with the Inspector General for Personal Data Protection (GIODO).

At a meeting with Facebook representatives at the beginning of last year, Wojciech Rafa∏ Wiewiórowski, head of the GIODO, pointed out that the over nine million users of the portal in Poland were not able to read the company’s policy regarding the use of personal data in their native language, because Facebook’s privacy policy had not been translated into Polish.

Other European countries where the policy had not been translated joined the protest. As a result, these language gaps were quickly filled, a fact which GIODO deems a big success.

As of today, however, Mr Wiewiórowski noted that Facebook’s new subsidiary in Poland does not bring anything new to GIODO’s relations with the social media giant. For GIODO, as for any other data protection authority, the matter of personal data protection for users of the social networking portal is of the utmost importance. The inspectorate is currently cooperating with a personal data protection representative from Facebook’s Dublin office. GIODO is not planning to carry out an audit of Facebook’s Warsaw office, as the simple fact of registering an office in Poland does not automatically mean that personal data will be processed there. ●

of news and information suggest that it has hit a critical mass of popularity and is now a permanent fixture. But if businesses are to tap into this potential market and maintain an interest in Facebook as a marketing tool, they will need to sharpen their social media strategies, say experts.

On the global level, current developments and above all, the user base, also suggest that the social networking portal is here to stay. After its not-sosuccessful debut on the stock

market, the company bounced back at the end of the third quarter, reporting earnings of $1.26 billion, up nearly 7 percent from its second-quarter results, much higher than analysts expected.

Along with the report came the news that the Facebook user count hit the one-billion mark and the number of mobile users hit 600 million.

So far, it doesn’t look like Facebook’s social media empire is going to crash anytime soon. ●

13

Wine producers fight against tax band

The Polish Council of Winemaking is fighting to have excise tax band stickers removed from wine bottles sold in the country, but the Finance Ministry says it doesn’t have any plans to change the rules for now, rp.pl reported. According to El˝bieta Paw∏owska, director of the Council, procedures connected to the excise tax bands are costly and troublesome.

She added that Poland is the only country in the EU that employs their widespread use.

Poland attractive for retail chains Poland is becoming increasingly attractive for international retail chains, according to a ranking by real estate services firm CBRE, Puls Biznesu reported. According to the ranking there are only four other European countries that are considered more interesting destinations for international retail chains: Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and the UK. Globally, Poland rose from 22nd place in last year's ranking to 19th place in the 2012 edition. ●

14

INVESTING IN POLAND PROJECT

www.wbj.pl

NOVEMBER 26 – DECEMBER 2, 2012

Investment of the Year

AstraZeneca’s HUB investment wins WBJ ’s Investment of the Year Award

AstraZeneca Pharma Poland took home Warsaw Business Journal’s Investment of the Year Award for its Research & Development Head unit (HUB) at a special celebration evening held Tuesday in Warsaw.

The research and development center is one of five run

by AstraZeneca worldwide, and it is the only one in Central & Eastern Europe. The center runs clinical trials of pharmaceuticals in Poland and also coordinates such trials for AstraZeneca around the world. The investment is expected to provide 120 new jobs by the end of 2012, and will add 20 more by the end of 2013.

“We are surprised and hon-

ored,” said Patryk Mikucki, director of the HUB center, upon receiving the award.

“Investments like ours show that Poles are capable of doing anything that’s asked of them.

We hope this award helps send that message to others.”

The celebration and award evening was held at the Amber Room restaurant in central Warsaw. Some 150 business leaders from around Poland attended, enjoying music, drinks and networking, along with the award ceremony.

The celebration marked the first time that Warsaw Business Journal has given out its Investment of the Year Award. The award and celebration evening are part of WBJ’s Investing in Poland project, which also includes the annual Investing in Poland publication (the 2013 edition was launched in September) and the Investing in Poland conference, which was held this year in September

Patryk Mikucki, HUB director and Aldona Zygmunt, external affairs director at AstraZeneca Pharma Poland

Jury Members • Lidia Adamska, Ph. D. – Member of the Management Board, Warsaw Stock Exchange • Dorothy Dabrowski – Executive Director, American Chamber of Commerce • Marcin Grodzki – Vice Director, PolishSpanish Chamber of Commerce

• Pawe∏ Kotowski – Director, Department of the Americas, Ministry of Foreign Affairs • Agnieszka Kowalcze – Director, Scandinavian-Polish Chamber of Commerce • Andrew Kureth – Editor-in-Chief, Warsaw Business Journal • S∏awomir Majman – President, PAIiIZ

Estudio Lamela’s design of the Lublin City Stadium (nominated by the SpanishPolish Chamber of Commerce) Itella’s Financial Shared Service Centre & IT Competence Centre in Toruƒ (nominated by the Scandinavian-Polish Chamber of Commerce) Pittsburgh Glass Works’ windshield production facility in Âroda Âlàska (nominated by the American Chamber of Commerce in Poland) Servier’s manufacturing plant and International Clinical Trial Centre in Warsaw (nominated by the French

• Bertrand Jannet – Vice President, French Chamber of Commerce and Industry • Michael Kern – General Director, PolishGerman Chamber of Commerce and Industry

• Jacek Socha – Advisory Department and the Deputy Chairman of PwC in Poland • Joe Tunney – President, British Polish Chamber of Commerce

Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Poland) The AstraZeneca investment was nominated by the British Polish Chamber of Commerce.

“We had five really great nominations,” said Mr Kureth.

“I want to emphasize what a difficult choice the jury had in making its selection, because we really loved all of these projects, and we know that each of them is going to make a positive impact on the Polish market.” ●

ALL PHOTOS BY PIOTR GAMDZYK/WBJ

The award was presented at a gala held at the Amber Room restaurant in central Warsaw

at the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

“It’s very important that we have taken this step to award an Investment of the Year,” said Warsaw Business Journal editor-in-chief Andrew Kureth. “We believe that this will go a long way in helping us achieve our mission of promoting Poland as a great investment location.”

Warsaw Business Journal partnered with six chambers of commerce to decide on the winner. Each chamber evaluated investments made by their member companies based on five criteria: amount of money invested, number of jobs created, innovativeness, long-term impact and sustainability. After evaluating these investments, each chamber nominated one investment for consideration.

In early November, a jury made up of business leaders met to decide upon the final winner.

Each of the nominated investments were profiled in WBJ over several weeks in October and November.

Along with AstraZeneca’s HUB investment, the other nominated investments were:

Guests enjoyed the awards evening at the Amber Room last week

The Galeria Olimpia mall in Be∏chatów is set to open for business this week

The number of construction starts in Poland’s residential market continues to fall 16

17

LOKALE IMMOBILIA

W a r s a w B u s i n e s s J o u r n a l ’s w e e k ly s u p p l e m e n t o n re a l e s t a t e , c o n s t r u c t i o n a n d d e v e l o p m e n t

Office

Osowa mall with BREEAM certificate

``The first phase of the scheme will deliver 9,000 sqm of office space Warsaw Stock Exchange-listed developer Echo Investment has launched construction on the first phase of its A4 Business Park office project in Katowice in Silesia, which will deliver 9,000 sqm of space in the first quarter of 2014.

The scheme is located on Katowice’s ul. Francuska, near an exit from the A4 motorway and a railway station, and will comprise three office buildings and a multi-storey aboveground parking lot building when completed.

The A4 Business Park will include retail, service and recreation areas. The first building to be developed with-

GTC extends deals for over 10,000 sqm Warsaw Stock Exchangelisted developer Globe Trade Centre (GTC) has extended lease agreements for a total of more than 10,000 sqm of space at the Globis office buildings in Wroc∏aw and Poznaƒ and the GTC Office Centre complex in Kraków. “All the extended agreements will improve GTC’s overall occupancy level and, as a result, have a positive impact on cash flow and the valuation of certain assets in its portfolio,” the company said in a statement. ●

in the complex will stand seven floors tall and its tenants will have 153 parking spaces at their disposal.

The design of the investment, which has been furnished by architects from the Kraków-based DDJM studio, calls for the development of a complex of sustainable facilities whose facades will feature stone, aluminum and glass.

The A4 Business Park development is already in the process of being BREEAMcertified. Echo Investment has recently also secured a “very good” BREEAM certificate of energy efficiency and environmental performance for its under-construction Park Rozwoju office project in Warsaw.

Earlier, the developer had received GreenBuilding certificates for three of its already

The almost 10,000-sqm development will be sold to Bank Polskiej Spó∏dzielczoÊci

A special-purpose vehicle belonging to Warsaw-based developer Unidevelopment has obtained an occupancy permit

Grzybowska 81 in Warsaw . . .15 Galeria Olimpia opening . . . . . .16

Property-related stocks . . . . . .17

COURTESY OF MADE IN PR

Best Western in Silesia . . . . . . .16

New outlet center . . . . . . . . . . .17

completed office investments across Poland – Oxygen in Szczecin, Park Post´pu in Warsaw and Astra Park in Kielce.

One of the largest property

investors and developers with Polish capital operating in Europe, Echo Investment has to date completed more than 90 projects in Poland which

total over 800,000 sqm of space. The company is also active in the Romanian, Hungarian and Ukrainian markets.

Adam Zdrodowski

Unidevelopment delivers Grzybowska 81 offices in Warsaw

New Echo Investment offices 15

Residential slowdown . . . . . . .17

The complex will comprise three office buildings with retail and service areas

Office

In this issue

Panattoni in Łódź . . . . . . . . . . . .16

COURTESY OF ECHO INVESTMENT

Echo Investment launches A4 Business Park project in Katowice

Centrum Handlowe Osowa, one of the first shopping centers to have been developed in Gdaƒsk, in northern Poland, has obtained a “very good” BREEAM InUse certificate of energy efficiency and environmental performance in the asset rating and building management categories.

The mall is anchored by the largest Real hypermarket in the Tricity area and owned by Pradera Gdaƒsk Osowa, which belongs to the Pradera Europemanaged PCEF fund, and Oik Gdaƒsk Retail Project.

Korczowa Dolina phase two . .16

NOV 26 – DEC 2, 2012, LI 17/47

The scheme comprises seven floors

for its Grzybowska 81 office project in the Polish capital.

The seven-floor scheme comprises almost 10,000 sqm of

usable space.

The development is set to be sold to Bank Polskiej Spó∏dzielczoÊci, which is planning to site its headquarters in the property. A preliminary agreement to that effect was signed by the developer and the bank in mid-2011.

The investment is located on ul. Grzybowska in Warsaw’s Wola district, near the city’s Warsaw Rising Museum, and apart from class-A office space includes a three-floor underground parking lot with spaces for 130 cars. The facility was designed by the Grupa 5 Architekci studio.

“The building on ul. Grzybowska is of particular significance for our company,” Zbigniew GoÊcicki, vice president of the management board of Unidevelopment, said in a statement, referring to the company’s strategy of diversifying its sources of rev-

enue.

“The success of this project confirms our belief that the diversification of our activities in the developer sector was a good decision.

We are currently successfully operating in the residential and office property sectors alike,” Mr GoÊcicki said.

Unidevelopment, which is fully owned by the WSE-listed Unibep, plans the realization of other office projects in the future, with the company now focusing on a scheme in the capital that has been named Wola House.

The 11-floor development will be located on Al. Prymasa Tysiàclecia in Warsaw’s Wola district and will offer approximately 22,500 sqm of office space. The investment will also comprise around 420 underground parking spaces.

Adam Zdrodowski

Warsaw Business Journal presents Real Estate weekly newsletter • Know about the newest projects before they’re on the market • Keep up to date on the latest tenders and auctions • Learn the latest trends in Poland’s dynamic office, residential and retail sectors • Find out who’s who in Polish real estate To subscribe: e-mail subscribe@wbj.pl or call +48 22 639 85 68, ext. 201 and sign up for free two-week no-obligation trial subscription

www.wbj.pl

LOKALE IMMOBILIA – REAL ESTATE

Shopping centers

Former Hotel Âlàski building in Katowice to join Best Western chain

Galeria Olimpia mall to open this week The shopping center is part of a complex offering 32,900 sqm of GLA The grand opening of the Galeria Olimpia shopping center project in Be∏chatów, in central Poland, will take place on November 30, Warsaw Stock Exchange-listed Echo Investment, the developer of the scheme, said in a statement.

Galeria Olimpia is located on the city’s ul. Kolejowa.

Together with the neighboring

Echo shopping center, it forms a retail and service complex that offers a total of 32,900 sqm of leasable space and is anchored by Tesco and Carrefour hypermarkets and a Nomi DIY store.

The mall, whose general contractor was Polimex-Mostostal, houses 85 stores and its major tenants include a Helios multiscreen movie theater. The space in the facility has already been more than 95 percent commercialized.

The largest shopping center

NOVEMBER 26 – DECEMBER 2, 2012

The former Hotel Âlàski hospitality facility in Katowice in Silesia is set to join the Best Western hotel chain in 2014.

The building will undergo thorough revitalization and will reopen as a three-star project called Browar Mariacki.

The hotel will be arranged in a historical building located on Katowice’s ul. Mariacka and will comprise 46 rooms and a conference area. It will also include a brewery and a restaurant serving local cuisine.

The Hotel Âlàski facility operated till the 1990s, with the building that used to house it not having been occupied since then. The renovation of the structure is expected to launch early next year and is valued at approximately z∏.10 million.

“Analyses carried out by us show growing demand for highquality hotel projects in the city, which is caused by the investment boom that Katowice is seeing right now,” Bart∏omiej

in the region, Galeria Olimpia was designed by the MOFO Architekci architectural studio.

Apart from retail space, the mall includes under- and above-ground parking lots with spaces for a total of 1,050 cars.

Echo Investment’s portfolio currently comprises 20 completed shopping center projects in Poland. The latest of the company’s schemes is the Galeria Echo mall in Kielce, which opened for business in August 2011.

Adam Zdrodowski

COURTESY OF CISZEWSKI MSL

16

The hotel will be part of a renovated historic building Biedzki, president of the management board of Browar Mariacki, said in a statement.

He pointed out that projects including a new railway station, a shopping mall and an international conference center have

recently been launched in Katowice. “What is more, the growing popularity of mini restaurant breweries will make our facility a unique offer in the city,” Mr Biedzki said.

Adam Zdrodowski

The Galeria Olimpia project is now almost fully leased out

Panattoni delivers another 28,000 sqm in ¸ódê Industrial space developer Panattoni Europe has completed a new phase of its Panattoni Park ¸ódê East logistics complex in ¸ódê in central Poland.

The newly delivered space totals 28,000 sqm and includes 12,000 sqm in a new building and 16,000 sqm added to an existing facility.

The new building in Panattoni Park ¸ódê East has been

leased by Media Expert, while the expansion project has been let to three companies: Rohlig Suus Logistics, ˚abka Polska and an existing tenant of the park.

Panattoni Park ¸ódê East is located on ul. Zak∏adowa in the eastern part of ¸ódê and currently comprises four buildings offering a combined 132,330 sqm of space. When completed,

the park is expected to total nearly 160,000 sqm.

Operating in the CEE region since 2005, Panattoni has to date developed a combined 36 projects offering a total of approximately 1.5 million sqm in Poland and the Czech Republic. The company specializes in the delivery of buildto-suit schemes.

Adam Zdrodowski

Construction is now underway on the second phase of the Centrum Handlowe Korczowa Dolina retail project in M∏yny in southeastern Poland. ¸ódêbased construction company Rex-Bud is the general contractor of the facility.

Called Hala Lwowska, the phase is scheduled to be completed in the third quarter of next year. It will deliver 15,000 sqm of retail space, with the value of the development estimated at more than z∏.55 million.

When completed, the whole Korczowa Dolina investment will comprise three phases, Hala Kijowska, Hala Lwowska and Hala Doniecka, offering a total of 45,000 sqm of leasable space and 2,200 parking spaces.

The first of the phases opened for business in August 2011. It features 15,000 sqm of

COURTESY OF MA¸EK MEDIA

COURTESY OF ECHO INVESTMENT

Construction on second phase of Korczowa Dolina underway

Hala Lwowska is scheduled for completion next year leasable area and a parking lot for 700 cars, with its tenants including clothes, footwear, sports equipment, food, consumer electronics and construction materials retailers.

Located just two kilometers from Poland’s eastern border,

in a visa-free area, the Korczowa Dolina complex is largely targeted at Ukrainian visitors.

More than two million people live in the center’s catchment area, which includes the Ukrainian city of Lviv.

Adam Zdrodowski

NOVEMBER 26 – DECEMBER 2, 2012

LOKALE IMMOBILIA – REAL ESTATE

Residential

Number of construction starts continues to fall Data on granted building permits indicate a downward trend, too Developers launched construction on 3,841 housing units in October, which represents a 40.5 percent decrease on the same period of last year, according to data published by Poland’s Central Statistical Office.

The number of apartments on which construction launched in the January-October period was just 5.2 percent lower than in the corresponding period of last year, but a recent report by Home Broker pointed out that the downward trend had been intensifying in recent months.

The decline was first seen in June, which can mainly be attributed to the fact that developers launched a large number of new investments before the end of April when a new developer law, imposing new costly requirements on developer companies, came into force.

“Based on the available data, one can estimate that developers will this year launch construction on almost 8,000 fewer apartments than in 2011.

This comes to a decrease of 12 percent,” Bartosz Turek, a property market analyst at Home Broker, said in the report.

Meanwhile, developers have also been obtaining building permits for fewer apartments of late. In October, the number

was 6,000 and represented a 17 percent y/y decrease. In the January-October period, it stood at 60,800, which was 9.7 percent less than in the same period of last year.

Bernard Waszczyk, an analyst at Open Finance, noted that large new supply and limited demand caused by the low availability of mortgage financing are behind the drop in the number of construction starts and granted building permits.

Developers need time to market the apartments that they are now offering for sale, which could even take two years. “The upcoming months should see a continuation of the currently seen trends,” Mr Waszczyk said in a statement.

Adam Zdrodowski

New outlet center in Bia∏ystok The Blue Ocean Investment Group (BOIG) will deliver an outlet center project called Outlet Bia∏ystok in Bia∏ystok, eastern Poland in the second half of next year. The scheme is scheduled to open for business in November 2013.

The Outlet Bia∏ystok development will be the first facility

of its kind in northeastern Poland and is expected to attract both Polish and visiting Belarusian, Lithuanian and Russian shoppers. The investment will comprise approximately 13,000 sqm of leasable space and house over 80 stores.

According to Tomasz

Rydlewski, vice president of BOIG, the popularity of outlet centers is now rising in Poland.

“Watching the mature outlet center market abroad one can be sure that Poland is in for a dynamic development of outlet centers,” Mr Rydlewski said in a statement.

Adam Zdrodowski

www.wbj.pl

17

Property-related stocks Security

Closing price on Nov 22

% change (week)

52-week low

52-week high

% change (year)

Total shares

Market value (z∏. mln)

BUDIMEX

59.80

7.36

45.85

88.35

71.55

25,530,098

1,526.70

CELTIC

3.80

-9.52

3.80

19.38

19.01

34,231,466

130.08

DOMDEV

29.99

-1.35

23.51

42.80

25.04

24,715,272

741.21

ECHO

4.90

-1.01

3.05

4.98

3.44

420,000,000

2,058.00

116.40

5.82

87.00

120.00

100.00

4,747,608

552.62

ENERGOPLD

0.34

36.00

0.17

2.30

2.45

70,972,001

24.13

ERBUD

15.95

14.34

11.33

23.20

19.60

12,677,956

202.21

GANT

2.86

-1.72

2.68

9.85

7.35

20,120,000

57.54

GTC

8.26

6.03

5.20

11.40

10.98

319,372,990

2,638.02

HBPOLSKA

0.02

0.00

0.01

1.43

0.75

210,558,445

4.21

JWCONSTR

3.48

2.35

3.26

8.40

6.10

54,073,280

188.18

LCCORP

1.09

9.00

0.85

1.48

0.98

447,558,311

487.84

MARVIPOL

8.85

-1.56

6.20

11.00

7.25

36,923,400

326.77

MIRBUD

1.15

-9.45

0.98

2.68

2.41

75,000,000

86.25

MOSTALWAR

12.05

0.42

11.30

22.21

21.00

20,000,000

241.00

MOSTALZAB

1.18

0.00

0.81

1.80

1.14

149,130,538

175.97

ORCOGROUP

11.75

23.68

6.36

19.55

17.90

107,840,962

1,267.13

PBG

4.33

3.59

3.36

83.90

62.00

14,295,000

61.90

PLAZACNTR

1.95

-0.51

1.93

2.94

1.88

297,181,703

579.50

ELBUDOWA

POLAQUA

4.08

-7.69

3.30

8.18

7.50

27,500,100

112.20

POLIMEXMS

0.67

11.67

0.48

2.04

1.60

521,154,076

349.17

POLNORD

11.09

0.36

10.00

19.85

11.03

25,633,027

284.27

RANKPROGR

11.30

2.26

7.10

16.97

9.60

37,183,550

420.17

ROBYG

1.64

20.59

1.08

1.75

1.10

257,935,500

423.01

RONSON

0.85

6.25

0.61

1.15

1.00

272,360,000

231.51

TRAKCJA

0.68

-11.69

0.65

1.44

1.39

232,105,480

157.83

ULMA

40.40

-0.12

37.20

74.80

62.90

5,255,632

212.33

UNIBEP

5.20

1.56

3.60

6.28

6.08

34,021,684

176.91

WARIMPEX

3.70

-1.86

2.64

4.62

5.43

54,000,000

199.80

ZUE

5.40

-22.41

5.07

8.50

8.98

22,000,000

118.80

18

THE LIST

www.wbj.pl

NOVEMBER 26 – DECEMBER 2, 2012

IT & Telecoms

Computer Software Producers

Company name Address Tel./Fax E-mail Web page

Asseco Poland SA ul. Olchowa 14, 35-322 Rzeszów 1 17 888-5555/17 888-5550 info@asseco.pl www.asseco.pl

Oracle Polska Sp. z o.o. ul. Przyokopowa 31, 01-208 Warsaw 2 22 690-8700/22 690-8900 info_pl@oracle.com www.oracle.com/pl

Revenue from own Total software revenue sales (z∏. mln) (z∏. mln) 1st half of 2011 / 2010 / 2009 / 2008

420.8 813.2 643.0 528.5

WND 418.9 350.0 352.0

643.5 1,168.4 946.4 929.2

WND 590.0 454.0 451.0

Software produced (sectors)

Banking and finance; capital market; insurance; public administration; business; energy; telecom

All sectors

Comarch SA Al. Jana Paw∏a II 39A, 31-864 Kraków 3 12 646-1000/12 646-1100 info@comarch.com www.comarch.com

52.3 170.0 168.0 213.0

299.4 761.4 729.0 701.0

UNIT4 Teta SA Al. WiÊniowa 1, 53-137 Wroc∏aw 4 71 323-4000/71 323-4001 kontakt@teta.com.pl www.teta.com.pl

63.0 98.4 85.4 79.9

76.2 120.9 104.1 93.2

Retail and services; production

Biuro Projektowania Systemów Cyfrowych SA ul. Ga∏eczki 61, 41-506 Chorzów 5 32 349-3500/32 349-3601 bpsc@bpsc.com.pl www.bpsc.com.pl

34.4 62.2 63.7 38.4

34.4 62.2 63.7 38.4

Furniture sector; utilities; clothing sector; science and education; transport; distribution; automotive; food industry; construction

Main products

Operating systems used Software for software language used production

def 3000; PROMAK; KSI ZUS; NT/2000, C/C++; C#; IACS; OFSA; CEPIK; InfoMEdica; Windows: XP; Linux; Unix Java; Delphi; PHP Serat2

Oracle Database; Oracle Fusion Middleware; Oracle E-Business Suite; Oracle Exadata; Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud; Oracle WebLogic; Oracle JD Edwards; Oracle Siebel

Windows; Linux; Unix

Java; C++

www.bookoflists.pl

Software: Ready-made / Dedicated

Rank

Ranked by revenue from own software sales in 2010

Selected clients

Number of developers / Total number of employees / Year founded in Poland

Ownership: Polish / Foreign

✓ ✓

PKO BP; BG˚; Deutsche Bank; Grupa PZU; ZUS; Ministry of the Interior and Administration; NFZ; Ministry of Defense; NATO; ENEA; Energa; TP

964 3,197 1991

Adam Góral - 10.4%; Aviva OFE BZ WBK - 11.4%; ING OFE - 5.2%; OFE PZU “Z∏ota Jesieƒ” - 6.5% None

✓ ✓

Bank Ochrony Ârodowiska; Ceramika Parady˝; Cyfrowy Polsat; Dalkia Polska; Energa; Grupa PBG; Grupa Raben; IMGW; Inter Cars; Kulczyk Holding; Magnetic Systems Technology; Medana Pharma; Nordea Polska Towarzystwo Ubezpieczeƒ na ˚ycie; PGE Elektrownia Turków; PKP Intercity; Podkarpacki Bank Spó∏dzielczy; Polpharma; PZU; QXL Poland

3,500 330 1992

None Oracle Corporation - 100%

Andrzej Dopiera∏a

WND WND 1991

Janusz Filipiak - 32.5%, El˝bieta Filipiak - 10.5% WND

Janusz Filipiak

Jerzy Krawczyk

Top local executive / Title

Adam Góral President

President

WND

WND

✓ ✓

PGNiG; Bank BPH; BP; VPC; PTC; Ministry of the Interior and Administration; ING Bank Âlàski; Alior Bank; Marshall’s Office of DolnoÊlàskie Voivodship; Agencja Rynku Rolnego; NBP; KPN; Telefonica o2 Germany; E-PLUS; MTS - Russia; T-Mobile; Tesco; ZUS; Swiss Life; Enea Operator; Lotos

TETA Constellation

Windows

.net

WND WND

Medical University of Gdaƒsk; ATM Grupa; Wytwórnia Papierów WartoÊciowych Worwo

110 260 1987

None UNIT4 - 100%

Impuls 5; mHR; Impuls BI

Windows 2003/2008; Linux; AIX; Solaris

Borland Delphi 2006; Microsoft ASP .net; Crystal Reports

✓ -

Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego; Centrozap; Famur; Spomlek; Wamtechnik; Pol-Mot Warfarma

58 267 1988

WND

SAS® Business Intelligence Server; SAS® Data Integration Server; SAS® Analytics; SAS® Enterprise Miner; SAS® Windows; Linux; Enterprise Risk Management; Solaris; AIX; HP-UX; SAS® Financial Intelligence; Z/OS SAS® Customer Intelligence; SAS® Strategic Performance Management

ANSI C; C++; Java; .net

WND WND

GUS; Ubezpieczeniowy Fundusz Gwarancyjny; Grupa ATLAS

WND 2,009 1992

None SAS Institute - 100%

WND

✓ ✓

GUS; ZUS; Ministry of the Interior and Administration; PFRON; PSE; MPWiK Wroc∏aw; PKP; NBP; Kredyt Bank; BZ WBK

WND 1,700 1991

Legg Mason Zarzàdzanie Aktywami - 12.5%; Pioneer Pekao Investment Management - 8.6%; ING Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych - 5.9% WND

✓ ✓

DPD Polska; Douglas Polska; Contract Administration; Instytut Logistyki i Magazynowania; Pabianickie Zak∏ady Graficzne

43 296 1986

Bogdan Michalak - 32.2%; W∏odzimierz Napiórkowski 19.9%; Aviva Investors Poland 7%; Krzysztof Szczypa - 6.5%; Krystyna Napiórkowska - 5.3%; Legg Mason TFI - 5%; Andrzej Odyniec - 4.2% None

✓ ✓

WPO Alba; PWPW; Jeronimo Martins Dystrybucja; PKN Orlen; Lukas Bank; Promibo; BZ WBK; Polski Bank Przedsi´biorczoÊci

29 221 1991

Probatus Financial Advisers 17.9%; Pawe∏ Witkiewicz - 10.6%; Sebastian Bogus∏awski - 9.8%; Wies∏aw Frydrych - 9.5%; Jakub Szymaƒski - 9% WND

WND WND

PTC; PZU; Allianz; ING; Generali; AXA; DPD; Gaspol; PIG; Enea

90 176 1993

None IMPAQ Information Management Holding - 100%

Rafa∏ Polaƒski

Egeria; Comarch ECOD; Industry; utilities; retail and Comarch Comarch ALTUM; Comarch services; telecom; media; Internet Banking; Comarch Asset public administration; financial Management; Comarch Front End institutions and banks; (CAFE); Comarch OSS Suite; e-commerce Comarch Self Care

President

President

Ignacy Miedziƒski President

SAS Institute Sp. z o.o. ul. Gdaƒska 27/31, 01-633 Warsaw 6 22 560-4600/22 560-4604 polska@spl.sas.com www.sas.com/poland

WND 54.0 52.5 42.8

WND 76.9 73.7 60.0

Sygnity SA Al. Jerozolimskie 180, 02-486 Warsaw 7 22 571-1000/22 571-1001 info@sygnity.pl www.sygnity.pl

WND 50.2 42.8 56.8

218.5 524.0 361.5 568.7

Macrologic SA ul. K∏opotowskiego 22, 03-717 Warsaw 8 22 256-6222/22 511-8116 office@macrologic.pl www.macrologic.pl

13.2 46.9 47.7 45.3

24.1 52.6 54.4 51.4

SMEs

Xpertis

Innovation Technology Group SA ul. Wo∏owska 6, 51-116 Wroc∏aw 9 71 797-2666/71 797-2606 itg@itg.pl www.itg.pl

19.4 36.7 14.9 10.6

25.1 54.2 18.9 37.8

Banking and finance; retail; general business; public sector

Centralne Systemy Bankowe; e-banking system; special applications for financial sector; company management systems; Smart Metering; Smart Grid; eBiznes; service infrastructure in the commercial networks

IMPAQ Sp. z o.o. ul. 1 Sierpnia 6A, 02-134 Warsaw 10 22 314-6000/22 314-6001 poland@impaqgroup.pl www.impaqgroup.pl

14.2 24.5 29.7 33.9

14.4 25.5 30.6 34.7

Banking; insurance; telecom

WND

Windows; Linux; Unix; Solaris

Java; C#; VB; VB.NET; C; C++; Ruby; SQL; TSQL; PL\SQL; Perl; Python; JavaScript; XSLT; VBA; Groovy; Action Script / Flex; PHP

Hogart Sp. z o.o. ul. Kolejowa 5/7, 01-217 Warsaw 11 22 434-7200/22 434-7205 biuro@hogart.com.pl www.hogart.com.pl

WND 22.0 22.0 20.0

WND 22.0 22.0 WND

Finance; manufacturing; telecom; pharmaceutical sector; media; services; construction

Oracle JD Edwards; Infor FMS SunSystems; Qlik View; IBM Cognos

WND

WND

✓ ✓

BRE Bank; PKO TFI; Polskie Ksià˝ki Telefoniczne; Schneider Electric; ThyssenKrupp Energostal; Wepa Professional Piechowice

20 85 1992

Marcin Penczek - 44.5%, Janusz Fortuna - 44.5% Stijn Lauwers - 11%

Marcin Penczek

Insert SA ul. Jerzmanowska 2, 54-519 Wroc∏aw 12 71 787-6100/71 787-6111 office@insert.com.pl www.insert.com.pl

11.6 20.7 15.8 14.3

11.9 20.8 15.8 14.3

SMEs

Subiekt GT; Rewizor GT; Rachmistrz GT; Gratyfikant GT; Gestor GT; mobilny subiekt; Subiekt Sprint; Navireo

Windows

C++

✓ -

Badura; VCO; Próchnik; EuRoPol GAZ; Noban; Kier

51 159 1992

Jaros∏aw Szawlis - 32.5%; Bo˝ena Szawlis - 32.5%; TETA - 35% None

Jaros∏aw Szawlis

All sectors

WND

SPID; D.CL; Petrostation.CL; Amigos; ZSI; ENKI; eDOK; Maxebiznes

WND

Windows; Linux

JavaScript; C/C++; HTML

Windows 7; Windows XP; C#; Java Script; Windows Server T-SQL; PL-SQL; .net 2008; Windows Server 2003

Alicja Wiecka Managing Director

Norbert Biedrzycki President

Krzysztof Szczypa President

Jacek Kujawa President

General Manager

President

President

THE LIST

Company name Address Tel./Fax E-mail Web page

Revenue from own software sales (z∏. mln)

Total revenue (z∏. mln)

Software produced (sectors)

Main products

www.wbj.pl

Operating systems used Software for software language used production

1st half of 2011 / 2010 / 2009 / 2008

Software: Ready-made / Dedicated

Rank

NOVEMBER 26 – DECEMBER 2, 2012

Selected clients

Number of developers / Total number of employees / Year founded in Poland

Ownership: Polish / Foreign

✓ ✓

Polkomtel; TP; Enea; Bank Handlowy w Warszawie; Castorama

35 130 1995

Miros∏aw Za∏´ski - 12.6%; Robert Fr´chowicz - 11.9%; GK Totmes 11.7%; Jaros∏aw Gutkiewicz 10.2% None

Betacom SA ul. Po∏czyƒska 31A, 01-377 Warsaw 13 22 533-9888/22 533-9899 betacom@betacom.com.pl ww.betacom.com.pl

6.0 14.2 8.8 16.2

33.7 94.8 69.4 160.6

Finance; industry; telecom; public sector

Rekord Systemy Informatyczne Sp. z o.o. ul. Kasprowicza 5, 43-300 Bielsko-Bia∏a 14 33 497-8300/33 497-8312 rekord@rekord.com.pl www.rekord.com.pl

6.7 10.6 10.8 9.1

7.5 11.8 12.1 10.1

Public administration; private entities

Ratusz®; REKORD.ERP

Windows

Delphi XE2; C#

✓ ✓

Anwis W∏oc∏awek; Bielskie Zak∏ady Obuwia “BEFADO”; Katowice City Hall; P∏ock City Hall

27 80 1989

Rekord Systemy Informatyczne 99% None

Heuthes Sp. z o.o. ul. Koƒski Jar 8/30, 02-785 Warsaw 15 91 460-8974/91 460-8974 marketing@heuthes.pl www.heuthes.pl

WND 10.5 9.6 8.3

WND 10.5 9.6 8.3

Banking, finance and insurance sector; SMEs

ISOF; GRYFCARD; MULTICENTAUR; GRYFBANK; ISOF-WORKFLOW; CRM; DMS; MC-SORBNET2

Linux; Windows; i5 OS (OS 400)

HDB

✓ ✓

Pekao; BG˚; SGB-Bank; DnB Nord Polska

30 50 1989

Wojciech Grzybek - 53.8%; Wies∏aw Kawiƒski - 23.1%; Grzegorz Kowalewski - 23.1% None

✓ ✓

NIK; Centrum Systemów Informacyjnych Ochrony Zdrowia; Instytum Medycyny Pracy w ¸odzi; Agencja NieruchomoÊci Rolnych; Fundacja Partnerstwa Technologicznego - Technology Partners; Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland; Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Urzàd Lotnictwa Cywilnego; Urzàd ds.

Cudzoziemców

20 55 2000

Rodan System - 28.4%; Rodan Systems - 0.2%; other shareholders - 11.4% Santonessa - 20.3%; Depcorer International - 19.8%; Lamanessa 19.8%

eDok; SABA; EDF; HR-Doc XP, Vista, Manager; autodealing platform; Windows: Java; C#; C; 2003, 2008; C++; Microsoft services; IT monitoring; 7, Java Script; Linux: RedHat, PLM Product Lifecycle Adobe Flex; HTML SUSE; AIX Management

19

Top local executive / Title

Miros∏aw Za∏´ski President

Janusz Szymura President

Wojciech Grzybek President

Rodan Systems SA ul. Pu∏awska 465, 02-844 Warsaw 16 22 643-9208/22 643-9210 info@rodan.pl www.rodan.pl

2.4 9.5 9.6 9.5

2.4 9.5 9.6 9.5

OfficeObjects®Intelligent Content Manager; OfficeObjects®WorkFlow; OfficeObjects®e-Forms; Public and government OfficeObjects®Ontology administration; private sector Manager; OfficeObjects®DocMan; OfficeObjects®Document Manager; OfficeObjects®Service Broker

S&T Services Polska Sp. z o.o. ul. Post´pu 21D, 02-676 Warsaw 17 22 535-9500/22 535-9597 info@snt.pl www.snt.pl

WND 6.8 6.7 11.0

WND 111.0 111.0 114.0

Public administration; finance; industry; energy; retail; SAP; Infor10 ERP Entreprise (LN) telecom

Windows; Unix; Linux

ABAP; ABAP/00; Oracle PL/SQL; .net; C#; Visual Basic; Delphi

✓ ✓

Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego; Gaz System; Bumar; Terg (Media Expert); Ministry of Justice

40 302 1963

None S&T CEE Holding - 100%

M2 Net SA ul. Smoleƒskiego 1, 01-698 Warsaw 18 22 311-1818/22 201-3179 info@m2net.pl www.m2net.pl

1.8 6.4 6.2 6.5

WND 6.6 6.3 6.7

WND

SMI for Domino; SMI for Gateway; SMI for Encryption Key Manager; M2/®CRM; M2/®BPM/ECM; M2/®Incident Management; M2/®Internet Survey

Windows; Linux

Java; C; C++; C#; ActionScript

✓ ✓

Aquion Pty; COMP; Kredyt Bank; Polkomtel; Polish Embassy in Washington; Telewizja Polska

16 24 2000

Enigma SOI None

Bonair SA ul. Rzymowskiego 34, 02-697 Warsaw 19 22 549-6550/22 549-6551 info@bonair.com.pl www.bonair.com.pl

1.7 5.4 5.4 4.1

13.3 29.3 26.7 26.6

Public administration; banks and financial institutions; industry

CasePro; Honoraria; Formularze; SI-BIK; SEMBO; AVS; eFR; BBZ

Windows

.net; C++; C; Visual Basic

✓ ✓

Warsaw Stock Exchange; Coffee Heaven; Provimi Polska; Ministry of Labour and Social Policy; Liberty Direct; Polska Ceramika Ogniotrwa∏a “˚arów”

33 128 1991

Andrzej Wach; Boles∏aw Szafraƒski; Jan Szymanowski; Wojciech Zawadzki Erulem Investment

1.7 4.1 3.9 3.7

1.7 4.1 3.9 3.7

Retail; distribution

PC-Market 7; PC-POS 7; MiniMarket; Konsola Kupca; PC-Petrol; Insoft CRM; ISOform 9001

Windows; Linux

Java; C++

✓ ✓

Alma Market; DRE; Spar; Makro; Butik; Euro Sklepy; Avita; Nasz Sklep; Organic; Razem; Lewiatan; Sklep Polski; Wawel

WND 26 1991

Novitus - 52% None

1.1 2.8 3.1 1.6

4.8 9.4 7.7 7.7

Pharmaceutical; veterinary; FMCG

PS2000; PSMobile Sale; PSMobile Warehouse; PSCRM

Windows XP

C++; C##; PL/SQL; TransactSQL

✓ ✓

Polski Gaz; Clarena; Farmacol; Medicare; Cefarm Szczecin

11 31 1992

Jacek Krzysztolik - 33.3%; Grzegorz Waleczek - 33.3%; Mariusz Teresiƒski - 33.3% None

Epicor Software Poland Sp. z o.o.

Al. Jana Paw∏a II 80, 00-175 Warsaw NR 22 435-1140/22 435-1155 info@epicor.pl www.epicor.pl

WND WND WND WND

WND WND WND 19.7

ERP, CRM and ITSM systems

Epicor ERP; Epicor iScala; Epicor Enterprise; Clientele; ITSM; BI

Windows

.net

WND WND

Dendro; Tetley; Bianor; Harper Hygienic

WND WND 1993

None Epicor Software - 100%

Danuta Jakubowska

Sage Sp. z o.o. ul. Kolejowa 5/7, 01-217 Warsaw NR 22 455-5600/22 455-5700 kontakt@sage.com.pl www.sage.com.pl

WND WND WND WND

47.0 60.5 59.3 56.0

SMEs; NGOs; local government and administration; retail and services

Symfonia Start; System Symfonia; System Zarzàdzania Forte; Sage ERP X3

Windows: XP, Vista, 7

WND

✓ ✓

WND

WND Over 250 2005

None Sage Group - 100%

Elwira Soko∏owska

SAP Polska Sp. z o.o. ul. Wo∏oska 5, 02-672 Warsaw NR 22 541-6606/22 541-6607 info.poland@sap.com www.sap.pl

WND WND WND WND

WND WND WND WND

All sectors

SAP ERP; SAP Business Suite; SAP BusinessObjects; SAP CRM; SAP SCM; SAP PLM; DAP SRM; SAP Business One

All systems

ABAP

✓ WND

ZUS; Grupa PGNiG; CEDC; Autos; Grupa PKP; Soko∏ów; Amica

WND 130 1995

None SAP - 100%

Grzegorz Rogaliƒski

Insoft Sp. z o.o. ul. Jasna 3A, 31-227 Kraków 20 12 415-2372/12 415-2372 ext. 27

insoft@insoft.com.pl www.insoft.com.pl

Polsoft Engineering Sp. z o.o. ul. Ks. Bpa Herberta Bednorza 19, 40-384 Katowice 21 32 209-8039/32 209-8116 polsoft@polsoft.pl www.polsoft.pl

Notes: NR = Not Ranked, WND = Would Not Disclose. Research for the list was conducted in November 2011. Number of employees and ownership structure are as of October 2011. All information pertains to the companies’ activities in Poland. Companies not responding to our survey are not listed.

Wndows: 7, XP

Java; Visual Basic

Witold Kazimierz Staniszkis President

Maciej WiÊniewski President

Marcin Pio∏unNoyszewski President

Andrzej Wach President

Jacek Dutka President

Mariusz Teresiƒski President

Board Member

President

President

To the best of WBJ ’s knowledge, the information is accurate as of press time. While every effort is made to ensure accuracy and thoroughness, omissions and typographical errors may occur. Corrections or additions to The List should be sent, on official letterhead, to Warsaw Business Journal, attn. Monika Brysiak, ul. Elblàska 15/17, 01-747 Warsaw, via fax to (+48) 22 639-8569, or via e-mail to wbjbol@wbj.pl. Copyright 2012, Valkea Media SA. The List may not be reprinted or reproduced in whole or in part without prior written permission of the publisher. Reprints are available.

20

MARKETS

www.wbj.pl

NOVEMBER 26 – DECEMBER 2, 2012

Stocks report

world stock indices DJIA

NASDAQ

12,836.89 (Nov 21 close)

S&P500

2,926.55 (Nov 21 close)

2.12% (for the week)

FTSE100

1,391.03 (Nov 21 close)

2.80% (for the week)

DAX

5,791.00 (Nov 22 close)

2.62% (for the week)

1.99% (for the week)

Investors cash in

NIKKEI225 7,244.99 (Nov 22 close)

9,366.80 (Nov 22 close)

2.86% (for the week)

6.08% (for the week)

CHANGE: 3.55%

CHANGE: 10.49%

CHANGE: 8.92%

CHANGE: 1.60%

CHANGE: 19.25%

CHANGE: 9.42%

(year to Nov 21)

(year to Nov 21)

(year to Nov 21)

(year to Nov 22)

(year to Nov 22)

(year to Nov 22)

52-week high: 13,661.90

52-week high: 3,196.93

52-week high: 1,474.51

52-week high: 5,989.10

52-week high: 7,478.53

52-week high: 10,255.20

52-week low: 11,231.40

52-week low: 2,441.48

52-week low: 1,158.66

52-week low: 5,075.20

52-week low: 5,366.50

52-week low: 8,135.79

Andrew Nawrocki WBJ market analyst After a surprisingly resilient week for Polish stocks, with the blue-chip WIG20 up nearly each day and finishing the week over 2 percent higher, stocks last week lost steam.

Monday started off well, with market participants momentarily forgetting the US fiscal cliff that has dogged markets in recent weeks. Indices throughout Europe recorded impressive gains, with the WIG20 up 1.55 percent. Shares of KGHM saw the largest increase, gaining nearly 5 percent. Gains extended on Tuesday throughout Europe, though much smaller, with the WIG20 closing flat prior to a late evening euro zone meeting on Greece.

Wednesday saw further gains throughout Europe

Major indices WIG

44,121.53 (November 22 close)

WIG20

2,374.31 (November 22 close)

22.11

21.11

20.11

19.11

16.11

15.11

14.11

13.11

12.11

09.11

08.11

07.11

06.11

22.11

21.11

20.11

19.11

16.11

15.11

14.11

13.11

12.11

2,200

09.11

42,000

08.11

2,260

07.11

42,600

06.11

2,320

05.11

43,200

02.11

2,380

31.10

43,800

30.10

2,440

29.10

44,400

26.10

2,500

25.10

45,000

05.11

52-week low: 2,035.80

02.11

Change year to November 22: 8.21%

31.10

52-week low: 36,653.28

30.10

52-week high: 2,417.32

Change year to November 22: 15.14%

29.10

Change for the week: 0.11%

26.10

52-week high: 44,550.12

25.10

Change for the week: 0.63%

Top 5 WILBO ENERGOPLD ALTERCO INTAKUS ZASTAL

Closing 0.42 0.34 3.87 0.17 2.52

% change (week) 52-week high 44.83 1.06 36.00 2.44 33.45 47.98 30.77 1.40 30.57 2.60

52-week low 0.09 0.16 0.66 0.12 0.69

Top 5 TVN BOGDANKA SYNTHOS GTC KGHM

Closing 7.72 134.20 5.59 8.26 178.00

% change (week) 12.70 7.96 7.09 6.03 5.58

52-week high 12.40 137.00 6.78 11.47 182.00

52-week low 5.90 103.80 3.78 5.13 102.40

Bottom 5 ROVESE POINTGROUP EUROMARK MISPOL DREWEX

Closing 1.43 0.19 0.14 0.70 0.20

% change (week) -38.63 -32.14 -30.00 -27.08 -25.93

52-week low 1.35 0.09 0.13 0.70 0.16

Bottom 5 PGE PKOBP KERNEL TPSA PGNIG

Closing 16.90 34.21 63.95 11.77 4.27

% change (week) -6.11 -3.50 -3.11 -2.65 -2.29

52-week high 21.78 38.50 76.00 18.56 4.56

52-week low 16.72 30.10 51.00 11.56 3.61

52-week high 5.85 0.77 2.39 3.80 0.84

Currency report

A good week for the z∏oty

Other indices sWIG80

9,809.99 (November 22 close)

NewConnect

33.61 (November 22 close)

WIG-Banki

22.11

21.11

20.11

19.11

16.11

15.11

14.11

13.11

6,155.49 (November 22 close)

SOURCE: WSE

22.11

21.11

20.11

19.11

16.11

15.11

14.11

13.11

12.11

09.11

08.11

07.11

06.11

22.11

21.11

20.11

19.11

16.11

15.11

14.11

13.11

12.11

09.11

08.11

6,100

07.11

33.0

06.11

6,160 05.11

6,220

33.6

02.11

34.2

31.10

6,280

30.10

34.8

29.10

6,340

26.10

35.4

25.10

6,400

05.11

52-week low: 5,163.30

02.11

Change year to November 22: 11.05%

31.10

52-week low: 33.85

30.10

52-week high: 6,495.06

Change year to November 22: -18.99%

29.10

Change for the week: -1.29%

26.10

52-week high: 43.83

25.10

Change for the week: -1.44%

36.0

Adam Narczewski X-Trade Brokers DM SA

52-week low: 8,218.71

12.11

07.11

06.11

52-week high: 10,536.29

05.11

02.11

22.11

21.11

20.11

19.11

16.11

15.11

14.11

13.11

12.11

9,600

09.11

2,300

08.11

9,660

07.11

2,340

06.11

9,720

05.11

2,380

02.11

9,780

31.10

2,420

30.10

9,840

29.10

2,460

26.10

9,900

25.10

2,500

31.10

Change year to November 22: 14.01%

30.10

52-week low: 2,076.52

29.10

Change year to November 22: 11.94%

26.10

Change for the week: 0.65%

25.10

52-week high: 2,561.94

09.11

2,451.72 (November 22 close)

08.11

mWIG40 Change for the week: 2.69%

after policymakers in Brussels reassured markets early in the day that a deal on releasing emergency aid to Greece was close. Gains did not extend to Warsaw, however, with financial and energy stocks seeing hefty declines. Despite the WIG20 shedding 0.79 percent, shares of TVN gained over 3 percent, extending a nearly 8 percent rally since Monday.

Market bulls again were not able to rebound on Thursday, despite most of Europe closing with solid gains. The WIG20 was one of six that closed with losses, shedding nearly half a percent.

On Friday the overall WIG added 0.21 percent while the WIG20 rose 1.01 percent, due to upbeat data from Germany. ●

It seemed that this past week would be uninteresting due to US markets being closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving. Surprisingly, market movements were larger than traders had expected. Investors were hit with the news that an agreement to help Greece had not been reached and that talks will resume on November 26.

Recent macroeconomic data has not boosted markets, although the Chinese PMI index came in better than expected.

The EUR/USD continued its rebound, punctuated by a short corrective movement after the Greek news broke. The main currency pair jumped from a weekly low of $1.2750 to levels above $1.29, with there being a good chance of it reaching $1.30 soon. In

Poland, the CPI index remained at 1.9 percent but this should not block another interest-rate cut by the rate-setting Monetary Policy Council during its December meeting. Industrial production grew by 4.6 percent in October, a big rebound from September (a 5.2 percent decline).

The z∏oty followed its correlation with the EUR/USD and appreciated last week. It has to be noted, though, that the main factor behind the z∏oty’s appreciation was the covering of short sales by traders. The EUR/PLN broke through important support levels of z∏.4.15 and declined to z∏.4.11 (weekly low of z∏.4.10). The USD/PLN, after some hesitation, had tumbled from z∏.3.22 all the way to z∏.3.18 by the end of week. ●

currency rates 4.0333

3.9993

3.9783

3.9783

3.8740

3.8828

16.11

19.11

20.11

21.11

22.11

23.11

0.1027

0.1025 23.11

4

3

SOURCE: NBP

PLN-100JPY

5

22.11

0.1031 21.11

0.1031 20.11

0.1029 19.11

23.11

22.11

21.11

20.11

19.11

0.10

16.11

0.1029

3.4208

3.4158

3.4342

3.4342

3.4570 16.11

3.0

PLN-RUB

0.12

5.0928 23.11

5.1070

3.4452

PLN-CHF

3.5

22.11

5.1455 21.11

5.1455 20.11

5.1682 19.11

5.1859 5

16.11

3.2021

3.1945 23.11

21.11

20.11

19.11

PLN-GBP

6

22.11

3.2333

3.2682 3.0

16.11

4.1229 23.11

4.1142 22.11

4.1370 21.11

4.1370 20.11

4.1521 19.11

4.1614 16.11

4

3.2333

PLN-USD

3.5

3.2503

PLN-EUR

5

SPORTS

NOVEMBER 26 – DECEMBER 2, 2012

www.wbj.pl

21

Soccer

Tennis

Katowice gets WTA event Lewandowski brace seals Dortmund victory The Polish striker scored two in his side’s 4-1 demolition of Ajax

COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Robert Lewandowski took his Champions League tally this season to four, following two goals in Borussia Dortmund’s 4-1 victory over Ajax in Amsterdam last week.

The former Lech Poznaƒ striker looks on course to better last season’s total of 30 goals after scoring 12 in just 20 matches so far this season.

The victory was no less than Borussia deserved follow-

The tournament will take place at the Spodek hall next April Poland will see the return of the WTA tour in 2013 following a three-year hiatus. The country has been without a tournament since the end of the now-defunct Warsaw Open, but following lengthy negotiations the city of Katowice has now won the right to host a WTA event starting on April 6, 2013.

“The negotiations lasted a long time, you can count them

in months. … Of course, the organization of such an event will be associated with financial support from the city,” Ewelina Kajzerek, from Katowice City Hall, said in a statement.

The tournament will be played at the city’s most famous venue, Spodek hall, which was opened in 1971.

“We try to host various interesting events in Spodek.

So when we hear about the possibility of organizing something interesting, we try to bring it here,” Ms Kajzerek

added.

According to Ms Kajzerek, Katowice was recommended as a potential host city by Peter Wozniacki, the Polish father of Danish tennis player Caroline Wozniacki.

Organizers will be hoping Wimbledon 2012 finalist Agnieszka Radwaƒska and her sister Urszula will compete in the tournament. However, as this year’s tennis tour has just ended, it is unclear whether they will be available next April.

David Ingham

goalkeeper.

The Pole then ensured there was no doubt about Dortmund’s right to go through to the next round after he took one touch to bring down Mr Goetze’s deep cross, before drilling the ball past the despairing grasp of Mr Vermeer.

Ajax added a late consolation goal but it took nothing away from an outstanding Borussia performance which gives the German side every chance of going through to the round of 16 as group winners.

David Ingham

AP/FOTOLINK

Organizers will be keen to attract Polish tennis star Agnieszka Radwaƒska

ing a ruthless display of attacking soccer which saw them rack up a 3-0 lead before halftime.

Marco Reus put the German champions in the lead at eight minutes with a cool finish through the legs of Ajax keeper Kenneth Vermeer, before Mario Goetze doubled his side’s lead at 36 minutes with a low right-footed strike inside the near post.

Just five minutes later Mr Lewandowski banged in his first, reacting quickly to a rebound after a shot by Mr Goetze was spilled by the Ajax

Robert Lewandowski embraces his teammates after the victory

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22

LIFESTYLE

www.wbj.pl

NOVEMBER 26 – DECEMBER 2, 2012

Exhibition

Concert

Art controversy

Transatlantic superstar

COURTESY OF THE CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART

Imany December 1 Klub Stodo∏a Warsaw Imany, a former model named after the Swahili word for faith, was born in the French Comoros Islands in 1979. Her distinctive transatlantic voice and Afro-soul sound first came

to mainstream attention with her debut 2011 release “The Shape of a Broken Heart.”

To date her most wellknown track is the acoustic song “You Will Never Know,” which reached #26 on the French charts. With the looks, the voice and an authentic retro styling, Imany has had a

Maurizio Cattelan - Amen Ongoing until February 24 Centre for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle Warsaw After a year away from the art world, Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan is back with a retrospective exhibition of some of his most significant work. The New York-based artist is best known in Poland for his controversial realistic sculpture “La Nona Ora” which depicted Pope John Paul II being hit

by a meteorite. The sculpture was vandalized when it was displayed at Zach´ta Gallery in 2001 and the gallery subsequently received hate mail from Poles who were angry at what they saw as a blasphemous act.

This latest exhibition does not contain the John Paul II piece; it was previously sold for $886,000. A similarly controversial work of Hitler posing as an alter boy is also not on show, however there is still enough in this latest offering to stir up interest and anger in

equal measure, with one sculpture depicting two clothed priests in bed together and another showing photographer Francesca Woodman, who committed suicide aged 22, suspended Christ-like in a wooden box above the ground.

Lifelike recreations of horses and dogs also form a part of this show, which aims to answer universal questions about death, sacrifice, forgiveness, the origins of evil, national identity and historical memory.

David Ingham

COURTESY OF IMANYMUSIC.COM

Cattelan shocks again with the life-sized horse representing Jesus Christ

Imany is best known for her acoustic pieces

stellar career.

This Warsaw concert is Imany’s first-ever performance in Poland and looks sure to win her more European-based fans. Tickets for the concert are priced from z∏.90.

David Ingham

For more information log on to stodola.pl

LAST WORD

NOVEMBER 26 – DECEMBER 2, 2012

www.wbj.pl

23

Tech Eye

The Wii U a loss. In short, everybody is hoping for a sack full of cash from Santa. The question is, will they get it?

Techeye’s Magic 8-Ball says, “Outlook good.” Consoles always fit so snuggly under the Christmas tree, you see, and gamers are excited to see new hardware after so many years.

We’re less certain about the Wii U’s long-term success, though.

In terms of COURTESY OF NINTENDO

Between now and Christmas you’ll probably hear of a little thing called the Wii U, at least if you’ve got kids.

Or enjoy gaming. Or have a pair of functioning ears.

Why’s that? Well, the Wii U is Nintendo’s latest game console, successor to the popular Wii platform, and you can expect it to be marketed like it’s the answer to all your FirstWorld problems, as well as a cure for buckteeth and a means of warding off math teachers.

Retailers are already working themselves into an icky lather of obsequious Christmas cheer, hoping to cash in. And Nintendo’s got a lot riding on the launch – it has already admitted that each unit will be sold at

COURTESY OF NINTENDO

Christmas cheer, barnyard fear and the Wii U

New Super Mario Bros. U

technical specs and graphical performance, the console seems to be roughly on par with the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 – products released six and seven years ago, respectively.

With Microsoft and Sony expected to unveil powerful new systems in 2013 (Xbox 720? PS4?), the Wii U may quickly become a technological hasbeen.

Also, Techeye firmly believes Nintendo missed a golden opportunity by not naming its new console the “Wii Wii.” But we digress.

Like its predecessor, the Wii U’s main selling point is a unique controller, in this case a largish gamepad with a touchscreen. There are two models, available in Europe from

November 30: “basic,” which is white, has 8GB of storage and costs $299; and “premium,” which is black, comes with 32GB of storage and costs $349. Both versions come with a single gamepad, an HDMI cable and other relevant bits and bobs. The premium version also has a charging cradle for the gamepad and NintendoLand, a collection of minigames.

Here’s our advice: don’t bother with the basic model. The Wii U’s operating system takes up more than half of its 8GB of storage, so there’s not much left for games. And today’s games require space.

Speaking of games, the Wii U’s starting lineup is decent, but not amazing. In fact, it has just three exclusive titles for now, which is rather slim. And most of the other games debuting with the system have been out for PS3 or Xbox for months, so demand may be low.

Mario makes an obligatory launch-title appearance in New Super Mario Bros. U, which is as wonderfully deranged as most games starring the mushroom-eating, baby-dinosaurriding plumber. There’s also a survival-horror title called ZombiU which brings a bit of welcome darkness to the console. And there’s

Funky Barn, which frankly scares us a bit. A teaser video for the game menacingly promises that you can “get hands on with your animals.”

Not the kind of Christmas cheer Techeye is looking for, thank you very much.

Oh, the games Wii U will play Selected launch-day titles Assassin's Creed 3 Darksiders 2 FIFA 13 Just Dance 4 New Super Mario Bros U* Nintendo Land* Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed ZombiU* Selected launch-window** titles Aliens: Colonial Marines Ben 10 Omniverse Madden NFL 13 Mass Effect 3: Special Edition LEGO City: Undercover Pikmin 3* Rayman Legends* Wii Fit U* *Wii U exclusives **November 18, 2012 - March 31, 2013

Ever longed to play a touchscreen-enabled animal husbandry game? Let us know: techeye.wbj@gmail.com

Museums, galleries and venues in Warsaw Centre for Contemporary Art at Ujazdowski Castle ul. Jazdów 2 www.csw.art.pl Czarna Gallery ul. Marsza∏kowska 4 www.czarnagaleria.art.pl

Katarzyna Napiórkowska Art Gallery ul. Âwi´tokrzyska 32, ul. Krakowskie PrzedmieÊcie 42/44 and Old Town Square 19/21 www.napiorkowska.pl

Fibak Gallery ul. Krakowskie PrzedmieÊcie 5 www.galeriafibak.pl

Królikarnia National Gallery ul. Pu∏awska 113a www.krolikarnia.mnw.art.

Galeria 022, DAP, Lufcik pl ul. Mazowiecka 11a www.owzpap.pl Le Guern Gallery ul. Widok 8, Galeria 65 www.leguern.pl ul. Bema 65 www.galeria65.com Museum of Galeria Appendix 2 Independence ul. Bia∏ostocka 9 Aleja SolidarnoÊci 62 www.appendix2.com www.muzeumniepodleglo sci.art.pl Galeria Asymetria ul. Nowogrodzka 18a National Museum in www.asymetria.eu Warsaw Al. Jerozolimskie 3 Galeria Foksal ul. Foksal 1-4 www.mnw.art.pl www.galeriafoksal.pl Galeria Milano Rondo Waszyngtona 2A www.milano.arts.pl Galeria Schody ul. Nowy Âwiat 39 www.galeriaschody.pl Galeria XX1 Al. Jana Paw∏a II 36 www.galeriaxx1.pl Galeria Zoya ul. Kopernika 32 m.8 www.zoya.art.pl Green Gallery ul. Krzywe Ko∏o 2/4 www.greengallery.pl

Polish National Opera at Teatr Wielki Pl. Teatralny 1 www.teatrwielki.pl

Simonis Gallery ul. Burakowska 9 www.simonisgallery.com State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw ul. D∏uga 52 www.pma.pl State Ethnographic Museum ul. Kredytowa 1 www.ethnomuseum.we bsite.pl Historical Museum of Warsaw Old Town Square 28-42 www.mhw.pl History Meeting House of Warsaw ul. Karowa 20 www.dsh.waw.pl Warsaw Philharmonic ul. Jasna 5 www.filharmonia.pl Warsaw Rising Museum ul. Grzybowska 79 www.1944.pl

Pracownia Galeria Wilanów Palace ul. Emilii Plater 14 Museum and Wilanów www.pracowniagaleria.pl Poster Museum ul. St Kostki Potockiego Rempex Art and 10/16 Auction House www.milanow-palac.pl ul. Karowa 31 www.postermuseum.pl www.rempex.com.pl Royal Castle Pl. Zamkowy 4 www.zamekkrolewski.com.pl

Zachęta National Art Gallery Pl. Ma∏achowskiego 3 www.zacheta.art.pl

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