Athens News Agency: News in English, 00-12-05

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Greece-economy-conference (2)

[02] Vernicos Yachts-results

[03] Diekat-merger deal

[04] Greece-economy-survey

[05] ASE-close

[01] Greece-economy-conference (2)

National Bank of Greece's governor, Theodore Karatzas, on Tuesday predicted satisfactory growth in next year's profits due to a continued expansion in the retail banking and mortgage sectors.

Addressing a conference on the Greek economy in Athens, organised by the Hellenic-American Chamber, Karatzas said National Bank was a leader in Greece and in the Balkan region, with 611 domestic branches and 330 branches in Albania, Bulgaria, Romania and FYROM, respectively.

"National Bank's strength, however, needs further enchancing to reach the levels of its European competitors," Karatzas said.

Commenting on a decision by National Economy and Finance Minister Yiannos Papantoniou, on Monday, for commercial banks to elect their boards through their general shareholders' meeting, he said it was a positive measure.

"For a country like Greece it is, in one sense, a blessing that participating in EMU means losing a national foreign exchange and monetary policy," Karatzas said.

"Both policies were used in the past to cover up the economy's low productivity and delaying its painful but necessary adjustment," he noted.

[02] Vernicos Yachts-results

Vernicos Yachts Maritime & Holdings on Tuesday reported a 79 percent increase in its nine-month sales' revenues to 1.6 billion drachmas from 903 million the same period last year.

Net profits jumped 65.5 percent to 711 million drachmas over the same period.

Parent net profit rose 20.5 percent to 575 million drachmas, from 477 million in the January-September period in 1999.

Charter revenues totalled 743 million, a spectacular 114 percent jump from last year.

[03] Diekat-merger deal

Diekat shareholders on Tuesday approved a merger with Roadinsurance ABETE, a company based in Norther Greece, in a move aimed to contribute in its expansion in the region.

Under the terms of the deal, Diekat will absorb Roadinsurance through a share capital increase plan, worth 97.2 million drachmas.

Diekat is rapidly expanding in the Balkan region with focus in the Romanian market. The company plans to list its subsidiary Diekat Construct's shares in the Bucarest Stock Exchange.

Diekat Construct is expected to report a turnover of 4.0 billion drachmas and pre-tax profits of 300 million drachmas this year.

Diekat's consolidated turnover is expected to reach 22 billion drachmas this year, slightly lower than initial forecasts, due to delays in its investment in Albania.

Consolidated profits are expected to total 2.2 billion drachmas in 2000.

[04] Greece-economy-survey

A vast majority of Greek businesses use the latest information technology and communication systems in managing their businesses, a survey by the Federation of Greek Industries (SEB) showed on Tuesday.

Presenting the survey, in the second day of a conference on the Greek economy in Athens, SEB's chairman Eleftherios Antonakopoulos said that 86 percent of surveyed Greek companies said they used new IT and communication technologies, while more than 70 percent used new technology to increase productivity.

A 83 percent of businesses were educating their staff in new technologies and another 64 percent have implemented restructuring plans to achieve speedier decision making.

Michael Cleverley, charge d' affair in the US embassy in Greece, addressing the conference said that healthy competition and good economic relations between the US and Europe would benefit the world economy.

He said that trade relations between Greece and the United States were also vital. "Bilateral trade has increased in 2000, a trend likely to accelerate following National Economy and Finance Minister Yiannos Papantoniou's economic measures, announced on Monday," Cleverley said.

[05] ASE-close

A wave of profit taking pushed equity prices lower on the Athens Stock Exchange on Tuesday, reversing a four day rally which pushed the general index 10.20 percent higher.

Traders said market sentiment remained fragile because of worries over the course of inflation and the outlook of international bourses.

The general index ended at 3,531.07 points, off 0.29 percent, with turnover a moderate 88.63 billion drachmas.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks fell 0.06 percent to 2,009.28 points, and the FTSE/ASE 40 index dropped 2.32 percent to 428.59 points.

The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks ended 3.42 percent lower at 367.27 points.

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