WARSAW, June 22 (Reuters) - Poland's top operator TPSA sees its 2009 investments at the lower end of the forecast 12-14 percent of revenue as expenditure takes a back seat in the face of a shrinking market, TPSA IR chief said. Polish phone groups face leaner times amid a steep economic downturn that has added to the woes of their fixed-line business and of their mobile segments, which have been hit also by regulatory fee cuts.
"This year's investments shift to second stage as the possibility of lower than expected returns grows in the face of the crisis," TPSA's head of investor relations Tomasz Pozniak told Reuters on Monday.
"They (investments) will be pegged at the lower end of the range of 12-14 percent of revenue set by TPSA ... Acquisitions are not a priority for TPSA currently."
TPSA, a unit of France Telecom, has said it expected a flat Polish telecoms market this year after 5.5 percent growth in 2008.
The group did not provide investors with full-year revenue guidance, reiterating only that it should end 2009 with free cash flow of at least 3 billion zlotys ($923 million).
"If the company decides the goal is under no threat ... it may go for an extra dividend payout of maximum 0.5 zlotys per share or a share buyback of maximum 700 million zlotys, so that the overall payout level pars with last year's," Pozniak said.
Earlier this year, TPSA already proposed to pay out a dividend of 1.5 zlotys per share from its 2008 profits, a total of 2 billion zlotys.
The company, which holds top spots in the fixed-line, cellphone and Internet segments, hinted it might go for an additional dividend rather than another share buyback, stressing it would announce the final decision by the end of July. ($1=3.251 Zloty) (Reporting by Adrian Krajewski and Pawel Bernat; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)