Polish rail freight haulage firm PKP Cargo has rejected reports in local daily Rzeczpospolita linking it to a possible merger with fellow state-owned entity LOT Polish Airlines (LO, Warsaw Chopin).
Quoting sources in the Polish Treasury, the paper said last week that Warsaw was considering merging LOT with either PKP Cargo or its passenger equivalent PKP Intercity as a means of improving the airline's longterm survival prospects. Consolidating the two firms would allow the profitable railways to help prop up the ailing airline the report said.
However, PKP Cargo has since rejected the report stating: "We are not currently implementing any actions nor are we conducting analyses designed to merge the company with the national airline carrier."
Long dependent on government to shore up its coffers in times of need, LOT was given the okay by the European Commission (EC) in July 2014 to draw down a total of PLN804 million (USD268.1 million) in state funding on condition it undertook staff, fleet and network cuts. While it used the funds to help sustain operations initially, an improvement in its fortunes led it to defer accepting a second tranche of PLN381 million (USD113.68 million) in October 2014.
However, despite posting a EUR24 million (USD27.1 million) operating profit for 2014, LOT is now expected to post a loss of PLN300 million (USD75.1 million) for 2015 Marcin Małecki, a Polish MP, told parliament recently.
