Since 1990, nearly 400 clients from 30 countries have worked with NBS. During that time, the agency has conducted over 130 campaigns supporting public offerings and listings on the Warsaw Stock Exchange—including campaigns for 20 of the 30 companies now included in the WSE’s blue-chip WIG30 index.
The first PR agency in Poland, NBS Communications, was founded half a year before the Warsaw Stock Exchange opened for trading, at a time when the country’s economic transformation was still in its infancy. We prepared the information campaign supporting one of the first IPOs, of the Krosno glassworks, which had its debut on the WSE at the very first trading session on 16 April 1991.
“After the elections in June 1989, Poland opened up to the world,” recalls Anna Krajewska, founder of NBS Communications. “Western investors began arriving in our country, and they needed support manoeuvring in a reality new to them. It was then that we decided to establish a consulting firm. For nearly a year we operated unofficially, studying the market and the needs of foreign investors, before opening NBS in Warsaw in 1990. Thanks to the help of friends from the UK, we became acquainted with the best practices in public relations and decided to implement them in Poland. I would even say we set the first standards ever in Poland for capital market communications.”
Thirty years later, in 2020, NBS conducted the first fully remote debut on the WSE (Games Operators), and also supported the largest IPO in the history of the exchange—the public offering of Allegro.eu.
Over its first 30 years, NBS has conducted over 130 campaigns supporting public offerings and listings on the WSE, including campaigns for 20 companies now included in the blue-chip WIG30 index. The agency has supported some of the largest privatizations via the stock market, including banks BRE, PBK, Pekao and WBK, energy companies PGE, PKN Orlen and Tauron, insurer PZU, Telekomunikacja Polska, and the Warsaw Stock Exchange itself, as well as public offerings of privately owned companies such as Alior, Allegro.eu, AmRest, Barlinek, Cinema City and Eurocash.
NBS information campaigns have also accompanied some of the largest M&A deals, such as the acquisition ofTelewizja Polsat by Cyfrowy Polsat, the acquisition of Tradis by the Eurocash Group, the merger of Bank BGŻ and BNP Paribas Bank Polska, and public tender offers for the shares of such companies as Orbis, Play Communications and Robyg.
In 2008, NBS became the only PR agency in Poland to receive a special prize from the Warsaw Stock Exchange for its achievements in the field of capital-market communications.
Not just the capital market
In addition to projects strictly connected to the capital market, NBS supports its clients in communicating successfully with its stakeholders in reputation management crisis communications, and in describing the company’s overall story, both through traditional tools such as media contacts and through social media and influencers.
In total, since 1990 NBS has served nearly 400 companies from 30 countries across many different industries, from banking, energy and telecommunications to food, real estate, gaming, e-commerce and television.
Piotr Wojtaszek, CEO of NBS Communications, said: “We are the leader in financial PR and investor relations. And for years we have been engaging more and more in strategic advice, in companies’ communications not only with investors, but also with their external and internal environment. Not many people know that we have promoted over 180 premieres of films and TV shows, opened shopping malls, warehouses and housing estates, organized competitions for young artists, participated in automobile tests, and publicized such serious issues as the wave of plastic waste flooding the world and the underrepresentation of women in the boardrooms of Polish companies.”
An exceptional anniversary year
In its 30th-anniversary year, NBS faced entirely new challenges—along with our clients and the rest of the world.
According to Piotr Wojtaszek, “Our team spent most of 2020 working from home. Due to the pandemic, we have to forget about celebrating with a big party. But we have maintained our positive attitude. This year proved to us more than any other that NBS is moving with the spirit of the times. The shift to remote working proceeded smoothly at our firm. The team quickly adjusted to this way of operating, and we make up for the lost socializing with weekly Zoom gatherings. We also advise clients how to conduct an effective dialogue with staff, customers and investors under these new conditions.”
2020 offered no shortage of other groundbreaking events in the life of NBS. In April, for Games Operators, the agency organized the first remote stock-market debut in the history of the Warsaw Stock Exchange. We led the campaign supporting the public offering in Polands of shares of Allegro.eu, the largest IPO to date on the WSE, with a value of PLN 10.6bn, and also one of the largest M&A transactions on the Polish stock exchange: the tender offer by the Iliad Group for Play Communications, with a total value of PLN 9.6bn.
Anna Krajewska added: “Despite its difficulty, this jubilee year has offered a wealth of fascinating experiences and outstanding projects. Paradoxically, it turned out to be a good year. It was also a year of reflection—on ourselves, on our working model, on the world we live in. In this life full of hurry and chasing after the next success, the sudden disruption and uncertainty proved instructive and inspiring. We had time to think carefully about the changes we have undergone over the last 30 years. One thing is certain: We must always remain vigilant. Nothing is given. We must be intent observers of the evolving world, continually seeking new solutions. Looking back at NBS’s first 30 years, we have so far managed to maintain that vigilance.”
