Athens News Agency: News in English, 02-02-27

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

CONTENTS

[01] OTE telecoms group shows EBITDA profit rise in 2001

[02] Greek, Turkish foreign ministry officials meet in Athens

[03] Winner named in tender for airport railway project

[04] Foreign Exchange Rates - Thursday

[05] Weather Forecast: Warm and humid on Thursday

[06] Greek stocks resume downfall on Wednesday

[01] OTE telecoms group shows EBITDA profit rise in 2001

The Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation(OTE)Group on Wednesday reported consolidated earnings before tax, interest and depreciation (EBITDA) of 1,897.28 million euros in 2001 from 1,600.59 million euros a year earlier, up 18.5 percent.

Consolidated turnover in 2001 totalled 4,123.16 million euros from 3,602.19 million euros, posting an 14.5 percent rise from a year earlier, the parent company, OTE, said in a statement.

Management attributed the rise in turnover mainly to a 7.7 percent rise in revenue from domestic calls. Revenue from calls abroad dropped by 6.6 percent due to an average weighted 10 percent fall in charges from March last year, the statement said.

Revenue from mobile phones increased by 81.6 percent in 2001 to total 637.12 million euros against 350.70 million euros a year earlier. Other services contributed 22.8 percent of turnover, showing a 12.9 percent rise from 2000.

The parent company, a heavily traded stock on the Athens bourse, reported that EBITDA in 2001 rose by 8.1 percent with net pre-tax profits increasing by 19.3 percent, excluding extraordinary items. Turnover marked a 7.2 percent rise, the statement said.

Cosmote, OTE's mobile telephone arm, showed a 173.9 percent jump in earnings before tax to 272.63 million euros from 99.49 million euros in 2000. Turnover increased to 929.42 million euros from 606.9 million euros, recording a 53.1 percent increase, the statement added.

[02] Greek, Turkish foreign ministry officials meet in Athens

International developments and regional issues dominated Tuesdays meeting in Athens between the political directors of Greece and Turkeys foreign ministries, respectively.

According to diplomatic sources, discussions covered the situation in the Balkans, the Mideast, the latest developments in Afghanistan along with the issue of combatting international terrorism, as well as the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute in the Caucasus.

The same sources cited a ?complete identity of views on the political evaluation of those developments? during talks between Greek foreign ministry official Anastasios Skopelitis and his Turkish counterpart Baki Ilkin.

Both sides also reportedly exchanged views on the complicated issue of political Confidence-Building Measures (CBMs), where it was decided that when an agreement on a specific CBM is achieved it will be jointly announced. Greek sources also reiterated ?that were progressing slowly but solidly.?

Foreign ministry officials later stressed that talks did not touch on procedures for commencing exploratory contacts over what they termed differences of ?high rivalry? that exist between Athens and Ankara.

The political directors contacts fall within the framework of regular six-month meetings agreed to by the two sides.

[03] Winner named in tender for airport railway project

An interim winner was named on Wednesday in a tender for the second phase of a project to build a railway to Athens airport, Hellenic Railways Organisation said on Wednesday.

The works will include signals infrastucture, electrification, and three station buildings, including the airport, the company said in a statement.

The lowest bidder was a consortium comprising engineering contractors Avax, Gnomon, ETETH and J&P, which offered 295.134 million euros to carry out the project, the statement said.

Recently, a consortium led by Athens-quoted engineering contractor Aktor signed a contract for 84.5 million euros with Ergose, a projects subsidiary of state Hellenic Railways Organisation, to undertake the first phase of works for the railway.

The suburban line, part of a wider network, will centre on a railway centre in Aharnon.

The airport stretch of the railway will help to cope with increased passenger movement during the 2004 Athens Olympics, beyond easing daily travel for commuters. A station is to be built at the Olympic Stadium north of Athens in another phase of the project.

The first stage is due for completion in 18 months.

The other four shortlisted engineering contractors in the tender that Aktor's consortium won were Hochtief AG, which built the airport; Terna, GEK and Impregilo Spa; Astaldi; and AEGEK with Evklidis, ETEP and Meton.

Aktor is joined by Hellenic Technodomiki and TEB.

[04] Foreign Exchange Rates - Thursday

Indicative tourist buying rates per euro

U.S. dollar 0.871

Pound sterling 0.614

Danish kroner 7.490

Swedish kroner 9.150

Japanese yen 117.5

Swiss franc 1.488

Norwegian kroner 7.774

Cyprus pound 0.580

Canadian dollar 1.400

Australian dollar 1.696

[05] Weather Forecast: Warm and humid on Thursday

Warm and humid weather is forecast in all parts of the country, with scattered cloud in the west and north. Early morning visibility will be limited on the mainland. Winds southwesterly, light to moderate. In the north, temperatures will range from 3C to 17C; on the rest of the mainland from 7C to 20C; and in the Aegean islands from 9C to 18C. Light cloud in Athens with temperatures between 8C and 19C. Same in Thessaloniki with temperatures from 4C to 17C.

[06] Greek stocks resume downfall on Wednesday

Equity prices resumed their decline on Wednesday, quickly reversing Tuesday's sharp advance, as lack of follow-through buying and new positive incentives kept investors sidelined, while others preferred to take early profits.

The general index fell below the 2,400 level to end 1.12 percent lower at 2,379.95 points. Turnover was a disappointing low Dr 33.8 billion, or 99.17 million euros.

The IT, Holdings and Wholesale sectors suffered the heaviest percentage losses (3.03 percent, 2.79 percent and 2.50 percent, respectively), while the Insurance and Metals sectors scored gains (0.38 percent and 0.15 percent).

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks fell 1.14 percent, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index dropped 1.64 percent, and the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index ended 1.72 percent lower.

Broadly, decliners led advancers b 282 to 52 with another 23 issues unchanged.

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