For the second time "Best of European Business Award" to top Polish companies

• On November 15, Roland Berger Strategy Consultants presents its "Best of European Business Award" to top Polish companies for the second time
• This year, the competition is taking place in ten countries; the Polish event is the sixth
• The winners of the German competition will be announced on November 20, 2006 in Berlin
• The European Business Summit will close the competition on March 15, 2007 in Brussels

Today, Roland Berger Strategy Consultants will celebrate Poland's most successful companies at its "Best of European Business Awards (BEB) ceremony in Warsaw. The competition, which the international strategy consultancy launched in 2005, is being held in Poland for the second year in a row. This year, Roland Berger Strategy Consultants will present prizes to companies in ten European countries. To determine the finalists in defined categories, a team of experts evaluated 8,000 companies from Denmark, Germany, France, the UK, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Switzerland and Spain. A high-caliber jury in each country then selected the national winners. The competition, which was held over several months in Europe's strongest economies, will come to a close on March 15/16, 2007 at the European Business Summit in Brussels. The Summit will be attended by high-level politicians, EU parliamentarians and business leaders. The event will be co-hosted by international broadcaster CNN.

In Poland, prizes were awarded in three categories: growth, mergers and acquisitions and Europeaness.

Solaris Bus & Coach S.A. was awarded a prize in the growth category. The producer of city buses has become Polish market leader with a market share of 28%. Solaris is not only focused on the Polish market, the company has also developed a European growth strategy. What's more, the bus producer recently added an omnibus with a hybrid engine to its product range.

In the Europeaness category, the jury selected automotive supplier Inter Groclin S.A. as the winner. Inter Groclin generates more than 98% of its sales abroad. Thanks to the high quality of its products, the Polish supplier now counts Audi, Mercedes, Renault and Volvo among its customers. In 2003, Inter Groclin began building production facilities in the Ukraine to expand further east.

The winner in the mergers and acquisitions category is PKN Orlen S.A., an oil company. After taking over about 500 former BP service stations in northern Germany in 2003, the Polish group successfully acquired 63% of Unipetrol, a Czech service station chain. The Unipetrol acquisition helped PKN Orlen become market leader in Central and Eastern Europe. The company operates a network of about 2,700 service stations in three countries.

Winners of other 2006 national competitions

Today's awards ceremony in Warsaw was the sixth in a series of ten national competitions. Up to now, prizes have been awarded in Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland. The remaining awards ceremonies will take place in Denmark, Germany, France and the UK. The next event will be held on November 20 in Berlin.

For further information, go to www.best-of-european-business.com