Athens News Agency: News in English, 00-09-08

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

CONTENTS

[01] US Ambassador-Greek FM-Yugoslavia

[02] Daily Fuel Prices-Hike

[03] National Bank of Greece-Turkey-US

[04] Foreign Exchange Rates-Monday

[05] Weather Forecast-Saturday

[06] Grigoris Foods-expansion plans

[07] FORTHnet-ASE listing

[08] Greece-employment-talks

[09] Greece-shipping companies-listing

[10] ASE-close

[01] US Ambassador-Greek FM-Yugoslavia

WASHINGTON (ANA T. Ellis) US Ambassador to Greece Nicholas Burns on Friday said that the United States were informed of and supported Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreous visit to Belgrade.

?Someone in the State Department made a very unfortunate statement yesterday. I want to correct that statement. I want to give you an official US government statement,? Burns said.

A State Department spokesman on Thursday termed Papandreou's meeting the same day with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic as "unfortunate". Papandreou also met with members of the country's opposition. The Greek minister urged Yugoslav authorities to proceed to free and democratic presidential elections and to accept international monitoring observers.

?We in the US Government and the members of the European Union had extensive conversations with the Greek Government prior to the trip of Foreign Minister Papandreou to Belgrade," Burns said.

?We fully supported his trip and the idea behind his trip, which was to support democracy, to support free and fair elections in Belgrade. We think that Minister Papandreou in going to Belgrade did so with the best wishes of all the governments of Europe and certainly the government of the United States.

?He was there to put forward a very important message and that is that there ought to be free and fair elections in Serbia on September 24, that democracy should be returned to Serbia, that the opposition political parties ought to be respected. We think his trip in that sense fulfilled a very important purpose.

?I am very sorry if yesterday there were some statements by the State Department, which I think they were unfortunate. They do not represent our policy and I am giving you our policy today.

?We admire the fact that the trip was made. We know it was a difficult trip. Its difficult to deal with Slobodan Milosevic who is an indicted war criminal, who ought to be out of power, out of Serbia and in The Hague on trial for war crimes in Bosnia and in Kosovo. We admire that Foreign Minister Papandreou and his assistants spoke with such clarity about the need for democracy in the Balkans,? Burns concluded.

[02] Daily Fuel Prices-Hike

Indicative retail fuel prices released by the development ministry are to rise on Saturday in line with international crude oil prices and the dollar's exchange rate.

Gasoline is to rise by around 6.0 drachmas a litre and diesel by about 5.0 drachmas a litre.

The development ministry this month switched to daily from weekly indicative prices in order to better represent world price movements.

[03] National Bank of Greece-Turkey-US

ISTANBUL (ANA-A.Kourkoulas) - National Bank of Greece, a blue chip on the Athens bourse, on Friday signed a contract for creation of a new company with JP Morgan Capital Corporation of the US and Garanti Securities of Turkey.

The new firm, called Bosphorus Capital Partners, is an investment fund that will place its cash in Turkey.

"(This initiative) shows the dual nature of the Greek economy - that of a European Union economy which remains in close contact with regional developments," National's governor, Theodoros Karatzas, told the signing ceremony.

"Our choice demonstrates our belief in the future orientation of economies in the region and their convergence with the EU," Karatzas added.

Jersey-based Bosphorus Capital Partners has a start-up capital of 45 million US dollars, set to rise another 55 million dollars by spring 2001, JP Morgan Capital Corporation's general director, Pierre Dupont, said.

The new company will effect its transactions through banks of the Dogus Group (Ottoman Bank, Korfezbank and Garanti Bank), Garanti Securities and JP Morgan.

"Creation of the fund is a major opportunity for investments in Turkey, offering a source of external capital for small and medium-sized enterprises," said Ferit Sahenk, chairman of Dogus Holding.

Finally, Karatzas announced that National Bank of Greece would open a representation in Istanbul in the near future.

[04] Foreign Exchange Rates-Monday

Indicative rates for commercial banks released by the central bank for the next working day.

Mondays rates (buying)

Euro 335.544

U.S. dollar 384.658

German mark 171.560

French franc 051.153

Pound sterling 547.346

Irish punt 426.053

Belgian franc 008.318

Luxembourg franc 008.318

Dutch guilder 152.263

Italian lira (100) 017.329

Austrian schilling 024.385

Danish kroner 045.007

Swedish kroner 040.267

Finnish mark 056.435

Spanish peseta 002.017

Portuguese escudo 001.674

Japanese yen (100) 364.381

Swiss franc 216.896

Norwegian kroner 041.767

Cyprus pound 584.883

Canadian dollar 260.241

Australian dollar 215.358

[05] Weather Forecast-Saturday

Scattered cloud is forecast throughout the country on Saturday, turning overcast in the west, centre and south. Storms may occur. Winds variable, moderate to very strong. Temperatures in the north will range from 9C to 26C; on the rest of the mainland and in the Ionian from 14C to 29C; and in the Aegean from 17C to 28C. Partly cloudy in Athens, with temperatures between 17C and 28C. Same in Thessaloniki, with temperatures ranging from 14C to 25C.

[06] Grigoris Foods-expansion plans

Grigoris Foods SA on Friday announced its expansion in Romania with the creation of a production unit and its first retail shop in Bucarest.

The company also plans to expand in Cyprus. Grigoris added 10 more shops to its network, eight in Athens and one in Chania and Xanthi, this summer. It aims to raise its network to 100 shops by the end of the year.

Turnover totalled 1.675 billion drachmas in the first six months of the year with net pre-tax profits at 148 million drachmas.

[07] FORTHnet-ASE listing

FORTHnet, a Greek internet service provider, will launch an initial public offering, September 20-25, to list its shares on the main market of the Athens Stock Exchange.

The company plans to issue 3,701,250 shares, of which 3,525,000 shares will be offered to the public and the other 176,250 shares through private placement.

The offer price was set at 4,400 drachmas per share. EFG Eurobank Ergasias is the main underwriter to the issue and Alpha Finance a consultant.

FORTHnet expects to raise 16.28 billion drachmas from the market to fund its two-year investment programme.

[08] Greece-employment-talks

Greece's largest trade union umbrella GSEE on Friday suspended all talks with the government over proposals for a labour reform in the country and said it would seek a new round of talks under its own terms with the government.

"It takes two to tango," Labour Minister Tassos Yiannitsis told reporters after a fruitless meeting with GSEE officials on Friday.

GSEE said it would focus its activities in the next few days to prepare for the success of a general strike called for October 10. "Unemployment, a 35-hour week and re-regulating industrial relations, are our flag," Christos Polyzogopoulos, GSEE's chairman said.

He also said that the union umbrella would seek a round of talks, on its own terms, with the government and political parties to promote its proposales on unemployment.

GSEE also adopted a tougher stance over government's plans for the full privatisation of public sector's enterprises. The union called for a three-hour work stoppage in all public sector enterprises next Tuesday, September 12.

Polyzogopoulos said that employers' and employees' proposals on labour relations were totally different and that there were no room for convergence.

Labour Minister Tassos Yiannitsis said the ministry's decisions would be achieved before Christmas and did not rule out a unilateral move by the government.

[09] Greece-shipping companies-listing

Greece's Merchant Marine Ministry on Friday tabled in parliament a draft bill paving the way for the listing of shipping companies on the Athens Stock Exchange.

Port Police Corps' captains, D.Papachristodoulou and C.Delimichalis, presenting the draft bill to reporters said that it was aiming to boost the competitiveness of the Greek flag and to attracting new funds in the shipping sector.

The draft bill envisages that a Shipping Investment Company seeking listing on the Athens bourse should have an equity capital of at least 10 billion drachmas, a "satisfactory sum" for a shipping company seeking to raise capital from the market.

The assessment of a shipping company's equity capital was based on the average size of a Greek shipping company, the particularities of the shipping industry, the protection of investors and the wish to create a climate of confidence for the new sector in the market.

[10] ASE-close

Equity prices soared to new highs on Friday pushing the general index near the 4,400 level and extending their rally for the seventh consecutive session on the Athens Stock Exchange.

Traders said foreign institutional investors remained active buyers in the Greek market, with buying interest focused on blue chip stocks, particularly in the banking sector.

Market sources said foreign funds, which recently liquidated their positions in other European markets, were aggressively buying in the Greek bourse.

Alpha Bank and National Bank of Greece scored the biggest percentage gains of the day, up 11.79 and 11.03 percent respectively.

The general index ended 7.92 percent higher at 4,381.79 points, its highest close since June. It ended the week with a net gain of 27.76 percent.

Turnover was a massive 322.19 billion drachmas. The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended 9.07 percent higher at 2,511.88 points and the FTSE/ASE 40 index rose 6.27 percent to 586.04 points.

The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks ended at 722.31 points, up 4.99 percent.

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