Bonton posts loss

Czech conglom puts off IPO indefinitely

By CATHY MEILS

PRAGUE -- After a year of varied acquisitions and indefinite postponement of its IPO, Czech entertainment conglom Bonton will show a loss for 1998.

Execs were unwilling to disclose the size of the loss, but Bonton co-president Zdenek Kozak said, "Otherwise, we would be over 100 million crowns ($3 million) in the black, before depreciation, interest, and extra ordinary expenses."

Fellow co-president Mick Hawk said the book loss was largely due to one-time-only write-offs.

Revenues at Bonton were up 40% over 1997, approaching $45 million.

Bonton is also pulling out of foreign expansion to concentrate on its new domestic activities.

As for its much-heralded IPO, Bonton has placed it on indefinite hold, a response to nearly two years of recession in the Czech Republic.