COFINEC SLIPS ON BUDAPEST BOURSE BUT FUTURE STRONG .  Emese Bartha  BUDAPEST 1996-08-27  Expectations that Cofinec S.A. , the Hungarian bourse 's first foreign listing , will report a disappointing first half have depressed the stock below its issue price , but analysts expect a rebound in the long term .  " The first half of the year is unlikely to be as strong as expected so the company will probably be unable to reach its annual plan in 1996 , " said Gabor Sitanyi , a London-based analyst for ING Barings .  The French-registered packaging materials company , which floated its shares in Hungary in July , for most of the past two weeks hovered below the 6,425 forints / Global Depositary Receipts price of its initial offering , which was oversubscribed .  The company , which asked for a two-week delay from the usual August 15 deadline for reporting first-half results , closed on Tuesday at 5,800 forints , down 300 .  " Cofinec 's first-half figures will be ...  between one-third of two-fifths of its annual plan , " said Tamas Erdei , a Budapest-based analyst for ABN-AMRO Hoare Govett .  Analysts blame , at least partly , Hungary 's macroeconomic environment for the weaker figures for Cofinec which , operating in Hungary , Poland and the Czech Republic , now generates about 55 to 60 percent of its annual sales from Hungary . [START_ENT] Hungary [END_ENT] 's Gross Domestic Product fell one percentage point in the first quarter while real wages plunged 7.2 percentage points in the first half of 1996 .  Both will have their impact on Cofinec 's figures , the analysts said .  Despite the current difficulties , however , analysts were convinced that Cofinec 's outlook was strong .  " The eastern European market offers good chances , " said Erdei . "  Just like many other companies on the bourse , Cofinec has big growth opportunities . "  " At the same time , it 's an advantage for Cofinec that it has a foreign management which perhaps understands the market better , " Erdei added .  " Cofinec is a very good story in the long-term as the per capita packaging consumption is still so low in east Europe that a very strong increase can be expected ( long-term ) , " Sitanyi said , saying that several recent moves by Cofinec boosted its position .  Among them , he noted that Cofinec had acquired the outstanding stake in its Czech folding company Krpaco a.s. , increasing its ownership to 100 percent , so in the second half the whole of Krpaco 's figures will be consolidated .  The company also repaid some $ 21 million of debt , well above the originally planned $ 8 million to $ 9 million .  In addition , its Polish operation began with some six weeks of delay due to cold winter weather and the test run was also longer than planned .  -- Budapest newsroom ( 36 1 ) 266 2410
Hungary