By Leos Rousek
TODAY'S CALENDAR
Local/GMT
N/A Polish insurer PZU 1Q earnings
all/day NATO chief at Globsec security forum
0800/0600 Coal miner NWR, Telefonica Czech 1Q
earnings
1400/1200 Polish April inflation
A security and foreign policy forum in the Slovak capital
attended by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's
secretary-general will be watched closely Wednesday, amid the
ongoing crisis in Ukraine. First-quarter earnings of Czech and
Polish companies are also scheduled for release.
Besides Anders Rasmussen, senior government officials from the
region, Europe and the U.S. will attend the three-day event in
Bratislava, called Globsec, to discuss security issues as tensions
between western democracies and Russia continue over Ukraine.
In Prague, coal miner New World Resources PLC (NWR.LN) and
Telefonica Czech Republic AS (BAATELEC.PR), the country's leading
telecommunications company, will release their first-quarter
earnings.
NWR's balance sheet is slated to remain under pressure due to
declining coal and coke prices. Analysts expect the company to post
a net loss of EUR23.1 million, an improvement on the EUR80.2
million net loss in the year-earlier quarter. However, the results
will further exacerbate the company's already tight cash flow and
heighten its need for planned capital restructuring, analysts
say.
Analysts expect Telefonica Czech to report a 33% drop in its net
profit for the three months to end-March to 701 million koruna ($35
million) on declining revenue. However, minority shareholders,
holding just over 30% of the company, will focus on any details on
the expected mandatory buyout offer for their shares. In January
PPF Group NV, an investment company controlled by the Czech
Republic's richest man, Petr Kellner, bought a 65.9% stake in
Telefonica Czech, valued at about 2.47 billion euros ($3.39
billion), from Spain's Telefonica SA (TEF).
Poland's largest insurer Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczen S.A.
(PZU.WA), or PZU, is expected to post an 8% year-on-year decline in
its net profit to 771 million zlotys ($253 million) in the three
months to end-March, driven by rising operating costs.
Also in Warsaw, the country's statistics bureau is due to
release the country's April inflation rate. Analysts expect an
easing in annual inflation to 0.6% from 0.7% in March, mostly due
to lower food and fuel prices. However, after a surprising drop in
Hungary's consumer price index, by 0.1%, during the same month,
some market participants are bracing themselves for a
lower-than-forecast Polish reading.
In Budapest, the country's central bank will released minutes
from its monetary policy meeting at which its rate setters cut the
main interest rate to a new record-low of 2.5%. The document should
show whether there was much resistance among the bank's policy
makers to the decision to ease policy. It may also give some hints
on when the bank may stop its rate-cutting cycle which began in
2012.
FOREX
EUR/CZK
Latest 0150 GMT 27.412-41
Previous 2150 GMT 27.415-48
%Chg -0.02
EUR/HUF
Latest 0150 GMT 303.54-98
Previous 2150 GMT 303.56-96
% Chg 0.00
EUR/PLN
Latest 0150 GMT 4.1828-64
Previous 2150 GMT 4.1815-57
% Chg +0.02
FIXED INCOME
Hungary
Tue Mon
3 yrs 3.86% 3.90%
5 yrs 4.16% 4.19%
10yrs 5.14% 5.15%
Poland
Tue Mon
3 yrs 2.88% 2.92%
5 yrs 3.25% 3.32%
10yrs 3.82% 3.88%
Czech Republic
Tue Mon
3 yrs 0.34% 0.34%
5 yrs 0.72% 0.73%
10yrs 1.73% 1.73%
STOCKS
WIG 20
2,413.23+0.52+0.02%
BUX
18,135.09-101.99-0.56%
PX
993.98-10.10-1.01%
OTHER NEWS
BULGARIA: Bulgarian competition authorities Tuesday charged
three foreign-based electricity companies active there with abusing
their market position, the latest move in the country's
highly-controversial conflict against foreign entities that is
raising concerns throughout European Union.
The antimonopoly office lodged fresh allegations that local
electricity distribution units of Czech companies CEZ AS and Energo
Pro, and Austria's EVN AG, are overcharging third parties for
access to the country's low-voltage power grid.
CEZ and EVN refuted the allegation, Energo Pro wasn't
immediately available for comment.
POLAND: Russian gas company OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) is using
European Union states to pressure Ukraine to pay its gas debts with
foreign aid and loans, alleges Poland's prime minister.
"We're witnessing a very brutal game on part of Gazprom to
pressure Western Europe and Western politicians to approve aid for
Ukraine so it could pay Gazprom for gas," Mr. Tusk said during a
press conference on Tuesday.
-Patryk Wasilewski in Warsaw and Veronika Gulyas in Budapest
contributed to this article.
Write to Leos Rousek at leos.rousek@wsj.com
Go to http://blogs.wsj.com/emergingeurope for the new WSJ and
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