Athens News Agency: News in English, 00-08-29

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

CONTENTS

[01] Greece-Cyprus-FMs-Cyprus

[02] ND leader - Poland - EPP

[03] Foreign Exchange Rates-Wednesday

[04] Weather Forecast-Wednesday

[05] Wildfires - Under control - Israeli team

[06] Hellenic Bottling-1st half results

[07] Selonda SA-1st half results

[08] Delta Holdings-1st half results

[09] Hellenic Technodomiki-Aktor-TEB-results

[10] Despec Hellas-1st half results

[11] Vernicos Yachts-1st half results

[12] Euroconsultants-listing

[13] ASE-close

[01] Greece-Cyprus-FMs-Cyprus

Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou met in Athens on Tuesday with his Cypriot counterpart Ioannis Kasoulides, focusing their talks on the next round of UN-led proximity talks on the Cyprus issue to be held in New York in September, the state of Greek-Turkish relations, and Turkey-European Union relations in view of planned negotiations on the neighbouring country's partnership relation with Europe.

Following their meeting, which lasted for more than two hours, Papandreou said that the lengthy talks were indicative of the current "crucial situation" and gave assurances that there was complete coordination between the two governments regarding the actions and steps to be taken in the coming period.

Papandreou said the same issues will be discussed between Cyprus President Glafcos Clerides and Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis when they meet in New York on September 8.

Kasoulides stressed that for Nicosia "the excellent cooperation between the two governments is the cornerstone of the success of its efforts." The Cypriot foreign minister added that the Greek-Cypriot side has entered the process of the UN-led peace talks in good faith and with political will for a settlement of the Cyprus problem, underlining that Nicosia has expectations that the talks will henceforth be substantive.

Kasoulides assured that the two governments are in coordination as to how to achieve substantive talks, safeguarded by UN resolutions.

He added that efforts for a Cyprus settlement are influenced and connected with the state of Turkey's relations with Greece and the EU, with which it has a developing partnership.

The Cypriot minister also assured that the Greek Cypriot side hopes for a settlement of the Cyprus problem with the completion of the talks, adding, however, that "this depends on Ankara." At the same time, he underlined the role which the United States, the UN Security Council and the European countries can play.

[02] ND leader - Poland - EPP

The leader of main opposition New Democracy, Costas Karamanlis, was among the politicians to attend a meeting of the European Peoples' Party (EPP) in Gdansk, Poland on Tuesday, which coincides with celebrations in the city of the 20th anniversary since the foundation of "Solidarity" - the historic shipyard workers union that some credit with bringing communist rule in eastern Europe to an end.

The chain of events triggered off by Solidarity's unprecedented strikes, led by shipyard electrician and later Polish president Lech Walesa, sent shockwaves through the Soviet Bloc in the 1980s and had brought down the Polish communist regime by 1989.

On the sidelines of the conference, Karamanlis had talks with Walesa himself, the Chairman of the Polish Council of Ministers Jerzy Buzek, Spanish Premier Jose Maria Aznar, Bulgarian Prime Minister Ivan Kostov and Maltese Prime Minister Eduard Fenek-Adami.

During a visit to the historic Gdansk shipyards, Karamanlis noted that the demand for solidarity was as relevant now as then:

"It concerns European integration, since Europe needs to have common and jointly protected borders. It concerns enlargement and the countries that are seeking to join the European family," he said - noting that Cyprus, in particular, was one candidate-country that met all the required criteria.

Solidarity was also needed on a social level, the ND leader noted, particularly in combatting unemployment. "Our priority must be jobs for everyone," he stressed.

The theme of social solidarity was also used by Karamanlis in his address to the EPP meeting, in which he particularly emphasised the need to speed up accession procedures for the Cyprus Republic, without political obstructions and interventions outside the European Union.

[03] Foreign Exchange Rates-Wednesday

Following are indicative rates released by the central bank for the next working day.

Wednesdays rates (buying)

Euro 334.939

U.S. dollar 371.891

German mark 171.252

[04] Weather Forecast-Wednesday

Sunny weather is forecast throughout the country on Wednesday, with scattered cloud in the north. Winds variable, light to moderate, turning strong in parts of the Aegean.

[05] Wildfires - Under control - Israeli team

Most of the devastating wildfires that raged across rugged northwest Greece and Arcadia prefecture have been extinguished or are under control, fire brigade officials said on Tuesday.

Firefighters, however, remained on high alert as a precaution against the rekindling of forest fires.

The four-day fire in northwestern Greece killed seven elderly people last week and severely ravaged Ioannina prefecture over the weekend.

Meanwhile, a 60-man strong Israeli team of specialised air force personnel, complete with two firefighting helicopters and a C-130 transport plane, departed from a military airport in the southern Peloponnese on Tuesday, after having focused their efforts over the past week on a massive blaze in mountainous Arcadia prefecture.

In comments to reporters, Israeli officers termed their cooperation with Greek colleagues as well as the hospitality of local residents in Kalamata as excellent.

[06] Hellenic Bottling-1st half results

Hellenic Bottling SA, on Tuesday reported a 18.1 percent rise in its pre-tax consolidated profits, after minority rights, for the first six months of 2000 to 23.6 billion drachmas compared with the same period last year.

A company statement said results were burdended with an 1.7 billion drachmas charge for the takeover of Coca-Cola Bottling.

Sales volume fell by 3.0 percent while turnover increased by 10.6 percent.

[07] Selonda SA-1st half results

Selonda SA, a Greek listed acquaculture company, on Tuesday reported that its consolidated pre-tax profits rose to one billion drachmas in the January-June period, while consolidate turnover totalled 5.5 billion drachmas.

The company has successfully completed an ISO 9002 quality control inspection for its products.

[08] Delta Holdings-1st half results

Delta Holdings on Tuesday reported a 23 percent rise in pre-tax profits for the first half of the year to 4.3 billion drachmas, up from 3.5 billion the same period in 1999.

Total operating results increased by 88 percent to 5.0 billion drachmas, while consolidated sales rose 13.5 percent to 70 billion drachmas, up from 62 bln last year.

[09] Hellenic Technodomiki-Aktor-TEB-results

Hellenic Technodomiki-Aktor-TEB, a Greek listed construction group, on Tuesday announced a 71.6 percent rise in its consolidated turnover in the first six months of the year to 68.8 billion drachmas, from 40.1 billion drachmas the same period in 1999.

Pre-tax profits totalled 8.1 billion drachmas from 4.6 billion last year, an increase of 76 percent.

[10] Despec Hellas-1st half results

Despec Hellas on Tuesday reported a spectacular 312 percent jump in its 1st half pre-tax profits to 1.1 billion drachmas, up from 277 million in the same period last year.

The company's consolidated turnover rose 209 percent to 15 billion drachmas from 4.8 billion in 1999, with the company predicting a rise to 40 billion drachmas this year.

Despec, a member of Pouliadis Group, plans to expand in information technology sectors, such as digital photography, CD Rom and CD's software, digital storage, home entertainment, m-computing, m-business and m-entertainment.

[11] Vernicos Yachts-1st half results

Vernicos Yachts Maritime on Tuesday reported a 22.5 percent rise in its net profits for the first half of 2000 to 400 million drachmas, compared with 326 million drachmas in the same period last year.

Charter revenues totalled 294 million drachmas, from 200 million last year, up 46.4 percent, while total sales income rose 56.9 percent to 762 million drachmas over the same period.

Vernicos Yachts expects its net profits to total 900 million drachmas this year, up 50 percent from 1999.

[12] Euroconsultants-listing

Euroconsultants SA has filed an application with the Thessaloniki Exchange Centre seeking listing on the New Stock Exchange launched by the Athens bourse.

The company plans a share capital increase and public offering. Alpha Trust Securities will act as consultant to the issue with P&K Capital Securities as the main underwriter.

Euroconsultants SA is the first company based in northern Greece to seek listing on the new market.

The share capital increase plan envisages issuing of 630,000 common shares of a nominal value of 200 drachmas each. A total of 30,000 shares will be offered through private placement and the remaining 600,000 through a public offering.

The company's turnover totalled 824 million drachmas in 1999.

The new capital will be used to fund expansion plans in Greece and abroad and building its own offices in Thessaloniki.

[13] ASE-close

Equity prices continued moving lower on Tuesday as a late wave of selling dramatically reversed an initial rebound of prices on the Athens Stock Exchange.

Dealers said selling orders by a large mutual fund and a foreign institutional investor, during the last half hour of trading, changed both the climate and the trend of the market.

The general index ended 0.98 percent lower at 3,524.16 points, off the day's highs of 3,592.14 and the day's lows of 3,506.35 points. Turnover was a low 64.68 billion drachmas.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended 0.89 percent lower at 1,993.85 points and the FTSE/ASE 40 index dropped 1.31 percent to 472.46 points.

The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks ended at 587.92 points, off 1.41 percent.

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