Poland Says Further Airline Sale Unlikely in 2001
WARSAW, Mar 24, 2001 --
(Reuters) Polish Treasury Minister Aldona
Kamela-Sowinska said on
Saturday that a flotation of a minority stake in
national air carrier PLL LOT
would not take place this year, as earlier
signalled, as the law needed
to be changed.
The government holds a
majority stake in the air carrier, which was
partially
privatized in 1999 when Swiss
aviation SAirGroup bought a minority stake.
The Swiss investor, which last year introduced
Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT to its Qualiflyer
alliance, now owns 37.6 percent. "We have to
start with changes in the law. Right now a stake
of 51 percent must remain in state hands, so all
we could sell now is a small minority stake,"
Kamela-Sowinska told the business daily Parkiet in
an interview published on Saturday.
"That is why this year it will
not be possible to list LOT on the (Warsaw)
bourse. But I will start
proceedings in that direction," she said.
Earlier the treasury said it
would wait for the company to release its 2000
financial results before
making a decision on a sale of an additional stake
through the Warsaw Stock
Exchange. Last month, LOT said its pre-tax profit
was 50 million zlotys ($12.13 million) last year
against 3.6 million in 1999
despite a steep rise in global fuel prices.
Revenues, excluding refinancing of its
leased fleet, rose some 10 percent to 2.76
billion zlotys in 2000. The firm
carried 2.79 million passengers, up seven percent
from the year before.
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