The president disclosed the company's ambitious plans to expand on foreign markets. Just weeks ago, the firm's Slovak arm, Asseco Slovakia, debuted on the WSE, becoming the first Slovak company to do so.
The company is eyeing the Czech market, where Asseco Slovakia is to acquire two IT companies in the coming months. They will be merged with Czech firm PVT, which is already in Asseco Poland's hands.
The new entity will be called Asseco Czech and, as Góral explained, Asseco Slovakia should have around a 50-percent stake in it, while the Polish mother company will own about a quarter of the shares. "We plan to introduce Asseco Czech on the WSE next year," Góral announced.
"Our ambition is to build a company which would have revenues of CZK1.8 billion (zł.246.3 million) and a profit of CZK185 million (zł.25.3 million) next year," he added.
"We are also working on the Asseco Balkans concept," Góral disclosed. He said that it will be a Polish company which will acquire IT companies in Romania and Serbia. The company is to have revenues of around zł.160 million and between EUR 5-6 (zł.19-23) million profit. "Our dream is to enter the WSE next year," Góral said.
The president sees expansion in the CEE region as a springboard to enter Western markets. "The West has always been our target ... but we need time to prepare ourselves to attack these markets," Góral explained.
Asseco Group had revenues of zł.230.5 million after Q3 2006 and a net profit of zł.46.3 million, 80-percent and 192-percent increases year-on-year, respectively.
Softbank group also experienced growth, with revenues of zł.356.2 million (a 30-percent growth) and profit of zł.45.8 million (a 41-percent increase). Asseco Slovakia's revenue amounted to zł.101.5 million and net profit stood at zł.12 million in the first nine months of 2006.
Softbank's 35-percent shareholder Prokom, which will have a 25-percent stake in the merged company, posted zł.1.16 billion in revenues and a net profit of zł.98.7 million after the first three quarters of this year.
Michał Pakulniewicz
This week the shareholders of Asseco Poland and Softbank are due to rubber-stamp the planned merger between the two IT companies.
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