Athens News Agency: News in English, 00-02-23

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

CONTENTS

[01] Greece - NATO - Robertson - visit

[02] Commercial Bank of Greece-1999 Results

[03] Unifon-Acom stake

[04] ADEX-close

[05] Intracom-Sonera-contract

[06] ASE-close

[07] Budget revenues-January figures

[01] Greece - NATO - Robertson - visit

NATO Secretary General George Robertson arrived in Athens on Wednesday evening for talks with the Greek government in the framework of courtesy calls to the alliance's member-states on the assumption of his new duties.

Robertson attended a working dinner given for him later in the evening by Prime Minister Costas Simitis, Foreign Minister George Papandreou and Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos.

On Thursday morning, Robertson will be meeting President Kostis Stephanopoulos, while later he will be holding talks with Simitis, Papandreou and Tsohatzopoulos.

[02] Commercial Bank of Greece-1999 Results

Commercial Bank of Greece, which is listed on the Athens bourse, on Wednesday announced that its 1999 pre-tax operational profits rose to 90.3 billion drachmas, up 200 percent from the previous year.

The state-owned bank's board is to propose to shareholders a 1999 dividend of 300 drachmas per share, Commercial said in a statement released after its board endorsed 1999 results.

[03] Unifon-Acom stake

Unifon, a mobile telephony service provider company, said on Wednesday it had acquired a 16 percent stake in Acom, a Greek software and office automation company.

Acom has a network of eight sales points. Its 1999 turnover totalled 2.5 billion drachmas and the company plans to expand its activities into new markets, such as mobile telephony and electronic commerce, sectors where Unifon has a strong presence.

[04] ADEX-close

Futures contract prices moved lower in low turnover on the Athens Derivates Exchange on Wednesday.

A total of 1,014 contracts were traded on the FTSE/ASE 20 index worth 5.7 billion drachmas. The March contract ended at 2,813 points, the April at 2,835, the May at 2,858 and the June contract at 2,860 points.

A total of 488 contracts were traded on the FTSE/ASE 40 index, worth 1.6 billion drachmas. The March contract ended at 848 points and the April contract at 858 points.

[05] Intracom-Sonera-contract

Intracom, a Greek telecommunications equipment company, signed a contract worth more than eight million euros last week with Sonera, the Finnish Telecommunications Organisation, for the supply of ISDN terminals.

The contract was signed following an international tender which included some of the largest international telecommunications equipment companies.

Intracom hopes the deal will open the door to one of the most advanced telecommunication markets in the European Union. Finland's fixed telephony penetration rate totals 70 percent, while its mobile telephony rate reaches 73 percent.

Intracom has already signed similar contracts with Hungary's Matav and Mexico's Telmex, worth 12 million and 10 million euros, respectively.

Matav's majority shareholders are Ameritech from the United States and Deutsche Telekom.

Intracom plans to create a subsidiary abroad to cover the Latin American continent.

[06] ASE-close

Equity prices ended lower for the third consecutive session on Wednesday although at a more moderate pace compared with the previous two sessions on the Athens Stock Exchange.

Dealers said selective buying for blue chip stocks pushed the market higher, temporarily, only to ease back later on lack of follow-through orders.

The general index ended at 5,097.90 points, 0.23 percent lower, off the day's lows of 5,069.88 and the day's highs of 5,139.61 points.

Turnover was a low 159 billion drachmas.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended 0.09 percent higher at 2,778.21 points and the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index fell 1.19 percent to 817.34 points.

The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks ended at 1,249.38 points, off 3.87 percent.

[07] Budget revenues-January figures

Greece's regular budget revenues showed a surplus of 57 billion drachmas in January, an increase of 13 percent compared with the same month last year and exceeding a budget target for a monthly rise of 6.4 percent, Finance Undersecretary George Drys said on Wednesday.

Presenting official figures over the course of public revenues, Drys predicted that they would remain positive in the coming months and noted that stock market transaction revenues were shrinking due to subdued turnover in the market.

Tax agencies' revenues rose 13.1 percent in January, customs revenues increased 1.5 percent and value added tax revenues rose 8.7 percent.

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article