At their annual meeting on June 16, shareholders of press distributor Prvá Novinová Spoločnosť (PNS) did not approve the firm's annual final accounts for 1998. At the same time, they tasked the Board of Directors with arranging an audit and summoning a new meeting of shareholders.
The reason for the shareholder action was the fact that the company included an extra 190 million Slovak crowns of additional costs in its 1998 results. The costs were related to the creation of reserves and the company's obligations towards the state, flowing from VAT arrears from 1993 to 1997.
PNS ended last year 185 million crowns in the red, but would have turned a profit of 7 million crowns without the additional costs. The main cause of the unfavourable situation at PNS is several disadvantageous decisions made by the previous PNS management led by Stanislav Srník. As a consequence of these decisions, PNS's debts towards press publishers now sit at about 215 million crowns.
