Athens News Agency: News in English, 00-11-02

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

CONTENTS

[01] Industrialists-Budget

[02] Sports roundup

[03] Greece-unemployment-survey

[04] Varvaressos SA-results

[05] ASE-stock suspension

[06] ASE-close

[07] Greece-Holiday Inn

[08] Greece-foreign exchange

[09] Parking space - Argument - Death

[01] Industrialists-Budget

The Federation of Greek Industry (SEB) on Thursday guardedly welcomed a forecast surplus in the government's 2001 budget, the first for 35 years.

However, the projected surplus was based on an uncertain forecast that gross domestic product would grow by 5.0 percent, and not on a fundamental shift in the relation between revenue and spending, SEB said in a statement.

[02] Sports roundup

European play has apparently boosted two of Greeces top three teams, with AEK Athens remaining the highest-rated local club -- 42nd place from 50th last month in the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) standings. AEK easily downed Denmarks Herfoelge 5-0 last week in Athens for the first leg of their UEFA matchup. Olympiakos Piraeus is the second-rated Greek team in the IFFHS report at No. 50, two notches better than Octobers rating. Last years Greek champions play in France against Lyon next week in a game that will decide which of the two qualifies for the second round of Champions League play.

[03] Greece-unemployment-survey

Half of Greeks believe that unemployment is the country's biggest problem, a survey by Metron Analysis, sponsored by the Labour ministry, said on Thursday.

The survey, presented by Labour Minister Tassos Yiannitsis, unveils that a significant percentage of Greek have a positive view of part-time employment, either voluntary or as a second choice.

The average working hours in the country's private sector totals 44 hours a week, up from 38 hours in the public sector. A total of 58 percent of workers were fully compensated for working overtimes, while 15 percent were partially paid and another 23 percent were not.

A large percentage of the society (61 percent) supports the implementation of a 35-hour week, though they do not deny accepting a 38-hour working week as a first step.

The majority of Greeks, asked in the survey, have a positive view of the Workforce Employment Organisation, 87 percent of them support a social dialogue on labour issues, while a majority said they were not fully informed on the ministry's proposals on labour reform.

The survey said that by 2015, youths in the age of 20-25 would see their numbers decrease by 25 percent.

Labour Minister Tassos Yiannitsis said that the government was not considering to implement legislation on reducing working hours in the country. He was commenting on press reports saying that the government would implement a 39-hour week for all workers as a compromise proposal to gain unions' support on its proposals on labour reform.

[04] Varvaressos SA-results

Varvaressos SA, listed textiles company based in northern Greece, on Thursday reported a spectacular 120 percent jump in its pre-tax profits in the first nine months of the year to 563 million drachmas, up from 253 million in the same period last year.

The company aims to report next profits of 700 million drachmas for the whole year.

Exports exceeded 65 percent the company's turnover, with the hope of reaching 70 percent for the year.

Turnover totalled 5.3 billion drachmas, slightly higher from the same period in 1999, hit by a recent truckers strike that resulted in the postponement of deliveries from September to October.

The company had invested 3.36 billion drachmas by September 30 out of a total 3.86 billion drachmas raised from its initial public offering.

[05] ASE-stock suspension

The Athens Stock Exchange' board on Thursday announced a temporary suspension on St.George Mills' share trading on the market, in a move aimed to protect investors, an announcement said.

During Tuesday's session, St.George Mills has sold a 45.4 percent equity stake to K.Balafas ATE, through a share transaction worth 21.1 billion drachmas (including 9,889,200 shares at 2,139 drachmas per share).

The decision to suspend trading on the stock was taken in order that St.George Mills' new board to announce its future plans for the company.

[06] ASE-close

A wave of early profit-taking dramatically reversed the trend in the Athens Stock Exchange on Thursday, pushing equity prices sharply lower.

Traders said Hellenic Telecoms' and Panafon's shares remained under pressure for the third consecutive session, while CosmOTE rose substantially. Shares in the smaller capitalisation stocks and the construction sector were particularly hit.

The general index ended 1.78 percent lower at 3,816.14 points, after gaining a total of 3.27 percent in the previous two sessions. Turnover was a low 76.14 billion drachmas.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended 1.60 percent lower at 2,215.18 points, and the FTSE/ASE 40 index dropped 1.94 percent to 451 points.

The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks plunged 5.21 percent to 406.08 points.

[07] Greece-Holiday Inn

Bars Hotels & Resorts (BHR), owners of Holiday Inn hotel chain, signed a cooperation deal with Capitol hotel in Thessaloniki, envisaging the change of name and the supply of brand products.

Aristotles Thomopoulos, Capitol hotel's chairman and chief executive, said the franchising deal would leave the hotel's management under his company's control.

Under the deal, Holiday Inn hotels will have its own presence in the capital of northern Greece from April 2001.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, although sources said that Thomopoulos company would pay 5-7 percent of annual revenues, resulting from room renting, to BHR.

Capitol hotel (A category) has 178 rooms and suites with 332 beds. It recently completed a renovation project, worth 1.5 billion drachmas, to upgrade its services to luxury standards.

The works to transform the hotel into Holiday Inn was estimated at 300 million drachmas.

The hotel's turnover totalled one billion drachmas last year, with profits at 250 million drachmas. The company expects stable results for this year.

BHR Holiday Inn owns Holiday Inn hotels, HI Resort, HI Garden Court, HI Express, HI Select, Crowne Plaza & Intercontinental, with a capacity of 2,800 hotels, with more than 457,000 beds, in 95 countries worldwide.

[08] Greece-foreign exchange

The drachma recovered more ground against the US dollar on Thursday, following a rebound of the euro currency's parity above the 86 cents level in international foreign exchange markets.

The Greek currency's rate was set at 393.130 drachmas per dollar at Thursday's fixing, up from 397.810 the previous day.

The drachma was stable against the euro at 339.810 drachmas from 339.700 drachmas on Wednesday.

[09] Parking space - Argument - Death

An argument with a neighbour over a parking space apparently cost a 55-year-old Thessaloniki resident his life on Thursday night when he suffered a fatal heart attack during the incident.

According to reports, the victim attempted to persuade a neighbour not to park in designated parking spaces in front of an under construction building. However, the other man refused and a heated verbal exchange followed, leading to the 55-year-old's collapse.

Relatives of the victim have sued the neighbour, who was subsequently arrested by police in the northern Greek city and charged with abusive behaviour.

He was ordered to appear in court and set free.

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