Future acquisitions by Polish media group Agora designed to expand its Internet presence should not weigh significantly on results, its chief executive told Reuters on July 02. Agora shares fell almost 40 percent in the first half of 2008, as investors punished the company for paying $54 million for classified ads business Trader.com, whose 2007 sales stood at 19 million zlotys ($9 million).
The publisher's largest financial investor, BZ WBK AIB Asset Management, criticised the May purchase and pushed the company to announce a 90 million zlotys share buyback.
Agora amassed a warchest of almost $500 million to raise exposure to faster growing new media and Internet. CEO Marek Sowa said earlier this year he was willing to sacrifice margins in the short term to cut its reliance on newspaper publishing.
Despite the criticism, Sowa did not rule out further acquisitions this year. "Our list of potential take-over targets does not include companies which would significantly harm the group's results," he said in an interview. Sowa, who took Agora's helm nearly a year ago, added he was not looking to buy into terrestial television, which was an option for his predecessor.
"A few years back, I would say we lack television in our portfolio. But we are in a different development stage, media groups are valued differently, the premiums to be paid for a late entry in this segment are different."
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