The Prague Post
http://www.aaaradiotaxi.cz/index.php?xSET=lang&xLANG=2
December 1st, 2008
Endowment Fund     Business Listings ONLINE      Reservations      Classifieds    Subscriptions
Prague accommodation

Home » Archives » Business

OKD to appeal fines for violation

Company fined 416 million Kč for excessive overpricing

By Riva Froymovich
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
July 4th, 2007 issue

The largest hard coal mining company in the Czech Republic, OKD, is appealing fines imposed on the firm by the financial directorate in Ostrava for excessively high pricing practices.
In two separate court decisions, the financial authority found OKD, a wholly owned subsidiary of Amsterdam-based New World Resources (NWR), in violation of the Czech Action Prices law for its coke fees in 2004 and 2005. It fined the company a total of 416 million Kč ($19.5 million).
OKD is appealing both cases, said Věra Breiová, a spokeswoman for the company.
“The decision of the financial directorate was, according to OKD, absolutely unfounded,” she said.
The company’s prices were in line with the coal and coke markets during that period, Breiová said. To boot, buyers have freedom to choose any supplier they like, she added.
OKD claims that, during the period in question, it sold coke at a rate that was more than 20 percent lower than actual prices on the European and world markets.
OKD doesn’t even have a dominant position on the Czech market in coke, Breiová told Czech News Agency (ČTK).
Last year, the company’s net profit fell about 2 billion Kč to 3.6 billion Kč, due to the declining price of coal, the company’s chief financial officer, Marek Jelínek, has said.
“The fine was imposed [for] abusing economic position in order to achieve inappropriate benefit,” said Jakub Haas, a spokesman at the Finance Ministry.
Beyond that, “we cannot provide any information about this case until the decision of the ministry is made,” he said.
OKD has already filed its appeal against the 2004 claims, and plans to file paperwork for the 2005 case shortly, the company said in a statement.
Coke is produced from hard coal, mined mainly in north Moravia near Ostrava and Karviná. It is used in iron-making and chemical activities.
Separately, NWR plans to launch an initial public offering of new and existing shares this fall to finance the company’s growth in the East European coal mining sector, according to published reports.
The amount is not yet clear, but NWR will announce more details in the latter part of September. The offering will largely depend on the success of four energy projects in Poland, reports said.
—Naďa Ćerná contributed to this report.

Riva Froymovich can be reached at rfroymovich@praguepost.com


Other articles in Business (4/07/2007):

Browse the Current Issue

If you enjoyed this article, why don't you subscribe to the print version!
We accept secure online transactions provided by PayPal and Moneybookers

Be the first to add a comment!


Full Name: *
City: *
E-mail: **
This comment can be published in the print version of The Prague Post
Enter the text on the right:
 visual captcha
Comment: *
* Required field. In order to be approved for display, comments must have a first and last name and a city.
** E-mails are required and will only be used for internal purposes.

Most visited in Business Listings

Hotel booking
The Prague Post Online contains a selection of articles that have been printed in
The Prague Post, a weekly newspaper published in the Czech Republic.
To subscribe to the print paper, click here.
Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.