Athens News Agency: News in English, 00-09-15

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

CONTENTS

[01] Turkish aircraft-Athens FIR-Infringements

[02] Foreign Exchange Rates-Monday

[03] Weather Forecast-Saturday

[04] Greece-Thessaloniki Exchange Centre

[05] Goody's-TelePizza-deal

[06] Pouliadis Group-Turkey acquisition

[07] ASE-close

[08] Greece-FYROM-power station

[09] Greece-bond auction

[10] Greece-bankruptcy figures

[01] Turkish aircraft-Athens FIR-Infringements

Turkish warplanes infringed air traffic regulations in the Athens Flight Information Region (FIR) on Friday, while the infringements developed into national airspace violations in the region of the southern Aegean, according to press reports.

A total of 8 Turkish warplanes made two air traffic regulation infringements of the Athens FIR in the area of Kos. The formations of Turkish warplanes also made two national airspace violations in the region.

The Turkish warplanes were recognised and intercepted by Greek warplanes. The Turkish F-16s, which flew in groupings of four, were unarmed and no engagements occurred during the interception.

[02] Foreign Exchange Rates-Monday

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

Mondays rates (buying)

Euro 335.941

U.S. dollar 388.755

German mark 171.764

French franc 051.214

Pound sterling 547.763

Irish punt 426.557

Belgian franc 008.328

Luxembourg franc 008.328

Dutch guilder 152.444

Italian lira (100) 017.350

Austrian schilling 024.414

Danish kroner 044.987

Swedish kroner 039.972

Finnish mark 056.501

Spanish peseta 002.019

Portuguese escudo 001.675

Japanese yen (100) 361.366

Swiss franc 219.530

Norwegian kroner 041.785

Cyprus pound 587.264

Canadian dollar 260.856

Australian dollar 214.227

[03] Weather Forecast-Saturday

Sunny weather is forecast throughout the country on Saturday, and temperatures will rise. Early morning mist is expected in the Ionian and on the mainland. Winds northerly, light to moderate. Temperatures in the north will range from 13C to 33C; on the rest of the mainland from 16C to 33C; and in the islands from 20C to 30C. Sunny in Athens, with temperatures between 20C and 33C. Same in Thessaloniki, with temperatures ranging from 17C to 32C.

[04] Greece-Thessaloniki Exchange Centre

The board of Thessaloniki Exchange Centre agreed on Friday a plan for its organising restructuring, a moved aiming to strengthen its activities and to enhance its role in the domestic capital market.

The meeting, chaired by ASE's chairman Panagiotis Alexakis, agreed to create a department for supporting and developing the function of a Greek Market of Developed Capital Markets, and for the New Stock Exchange for rapidly growing companies.

It also agreed to promote measures aiming to boost a derivatives market and to strengthen its public relations.

The board also decided to hire eight new executives, to add a new hardware and to seek expansion of its building facilities.

[05] Goody's-TelePizza-deal

Goody's SA, a Greek listed fast-food chain, signed a deal with Spain's TelePizza SA on Thursday for the creation of a joint company to promote TelePizza's brand in Greece, Cyprus and Bulgaria.

The new company, to be based in Athens, will be 40 percent owned by Goody's and 60 percent by TelePizza.

A Goody's statement on Friday said the new company plans to open 50 restaurants in the next five years, first in Athens and Thessaloniki and then in the big regional cities. The first TelePizza restaurant is expected to begin operating in the first quarter of 2001.

TelePizza was founded in Madrid in 1988 and has a 25 percent share in the Spanish fast-food market. Its turnover totalled 125 billion drachmas last year.

The company has a network of 512 restaurants in Spain and 255 restaurants in seven countries abroad.

TelePizza recently unveiled an ambitious expansion programme aiming for the creation of 437 restaurants around the world by 2003.

[06] Pouliadis Group-Turkey acquisition

Pouliadis Group, a Greek listed company, announced the purchase of a 50 percent equity stake in Turkey's Index Bilgisayar, a leader in Turkey's IT market, for an undisclosed sum.

The deal is equally beneficial for both partners. Pouliadis Group is entering a new big market, while Index will have access to all products and services of the Greek company.

Index was founded in 1989 and is based in Istanbul. The company expects this year's turnover to exceed 180 million US dollars.

Pouliadis Group is implementing an expansion programme. It recently created Pouliadis Romania and a coordination centre for the group's activities in Brussels.

[07] ASE-close

Equity prices ended the last trading session of a volatile week lower on the Athens Stock Exchange on Friday, as investors, mainly domestic, preferred to take early profits following Thursday's jump of prices.

Traders said foreign investors were cautiously buying in the telecommunications sector.

The general index ended 1.00 percent lower at 4,247.12 points, off the day's highs of 4,350 and the day's lows of 4,191.35 points. The index was 4.05 percent lower in the week.

Turnover was a moderate 155.29 billion drachmas, or an average 159.363 billion in the week, down from 170.75 billion the previous week.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended at 2,399.42 points, off 1.19 percent, and the FTSE/ASE 40 index fell 0.88 percent to 562.99 points.

The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks ended 2.72 percent lower at 665.94 points.

[08] Greece-FYROM-power station

Two Greek companies, Prometheus Gas and Demco, signed a contract with the state power corporation of Skopje, Toplifikacija Ad-Skopje, to build and operate a thermo-electric power station in the capital of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

The power station, powered with natural gas, will have an electrical power of 160 MW and a thermal power of 150 MW.

Prometheus Gas, a member of Copelouzos Group, is the representative of OAO Gazprom, Russia's biggest natural gas producer, in the Balkans and has secured amble quantities of natural gas (around 250 million cubic metres annually) to power the new station.

Demco is a meber of Kontominas Group.

The new power station is expected to be operational in mid-2003.

[09] Greece-bond auction

Greece's Public Debt Management Organisation announced it would auction a 20-year bond issue, worth 220 billion drachmas, next Tuesday, September 19.

The bond, paying an annual coupon of 6.50 percent, is a re-opening of a previous issue dated October 22, 1999.

Settlement date was set Friday, September 22.

[10] Greece-bankruptcy figures

Only nine Greek companies were declared bankrupt in August, a decline of 90 percent compared with the same month last year, the Greek Banks' Union said on Friday.

Company bankruptcies totalled 448 in the first eight months of 2000, down 18.4 percent from the same period last year. A total of 23 companies filed for bankruptcy in August, down 84.2 percent on a year-on-year basis, for a total of 1,070 in the January-August period.

Bouncing bills totalled 23,667 pieces in August, worth 6.362 billion drachmas, a fall of 18.1 percent in volume and 21.5 percent in value.

Bouncing checks totalled 6,325 pieces, worth 12.430 billion drachmas in the same month, down 21.0 percent in volume and 31.6 percent in value.

Payment orders totalled 2,327 in August, down 47.4 percent from the same month in 1999.

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