CEZ BoD chairman, P. Voboril, said that business outlook for the next year (in terms of operating performance) is more favorable that it was one year ago, although prices and demand on foreign markets may somewhat decline (we expect EBIT to rise by 13% to CZK 11.1bn). CEZ's 2004 net profit will be significantly influenced by sales of its minority stakes in PRE (a regional distributor) and CEPS (a national transmission-grid operator), which is also broadly expected.
Note that CEZ has recently launched a tender for an advisor in selling these minority stakes (the Anti-Monopoly Office ruled that CEZ must sell them by September 1, 2004) and its majority stake in SCE, another regional distributor (it should be divested by March 2005). Source: CTK.
Jan Hajek