Wahlco Gains Another Customer in East Europe

Hoping to gain a firmer foothold in Eastern Europe, Wahlco Environmental Systems Inc. said Tuesday that it has sold about $2 million worth of pollution-control equipment to a Polish utility company.

Wahlco Inc., a subsidiary of Irvine-based Wahlco Environmental, said it sold four flue gas-conditioning systems that will reduce emission pollutants from a Polish coal-powered plant near Warsaw.

Wahlco and its German partner, Pentol Gmbh, said they are conducting tests at steel mills in Poland and power plants in Czechoslovakia and Hungary to sell similar systems there.

In recent years, Eastern European countries--particularly Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary--have sought ways to reduce the pollution caused by coal-fired plants, and Wahlco has focused on sales to those countries since 1986. In Budapest, Hungary, air pollution is so bad that authorities last year ordered residents to stay inside for several days.

“This is an important step in our continued penetration of the Eastern European marketplace,” said Henry Huta, Wahlco’s president and chief executive.

Huta said the company expects more sales to Polish utility companies later this year.

Wahlco Environmental, which is 80%-owned by San Diego Gas & Electric Co., manufactures air pollution-control and power-efficiency equipment for electric utilities and industrial manufacturers worldwide.

The international market became increasingly important to Wahlco in 1991, Huta said. Through foreign acquisitions and increased sales, overseas sales will represent about 60% of the company’s projected annual sales of about $90 million, he said.

Wahlco stock, traded on the New York Stock Exchange, closed Tuesday at $12.625 a share, down 12.5 cents.