Athens News Agency: News in English, 01-08-16

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

CONTENTS

[01] Foreign exchange rates - Friday

[02] Piraeus Bank Group shows lower first-half profit

[03] Eureko makes public offer for Interamerican shares

[04] Weather Forecast: Sunny on Friday

[05] Greece - FYROM - NATO

[06] Greece - Bulgaria - Simeon letter

[07] Greek stocks move cautiously higher on ASE

[01] Foreign exchange rates - Friday

Indicative buying rates

U.S. dollar 369.657

German mark 172.829

French franc 051.531

Pound sterling 534.174

Irish punt 429.202

Belgian franc 008.379

Luxembourg franc 008.379

Dutch guilder 153.389

Italian lira (100) 017.457

Austrian schilling 024.565

Danish kroner 45.410

Swedish kroner 36.511

Finnish mark 056.852

Spanish peseta 002.032

Portuguese escudo 001.686

Japanese yen (100) 308.259

Swiss franc 222.479

Norwegian kroner 041.713

Cyprus pound 588.840

Canadian dollar 242.095

Australian dollar 194.736

[02] Piraeus Bank Group shows lower first-half profit

Piraeus Bank, which is listed on the Athens bourse, on Thursday announced that the group's first-half consolidated earnings after tax and minorities fell by 4.4 percent to 14.2 billion drachmas from 14.9 billion drachmas in the same period of last year.

Consolidated pre-tax profits after minorities fell to 20.3 billion drachmas from 24.9 billion drachmas in the first half of 2000, the bank said in statement.

Piraeus Bank said that losses incurred due to a weak performance by the Athens Stock Exchange were largely offset by a rise in banking business and operational profits in high-revenue sectors, including consumer loans and mortgages.

Assets at the end of the first half were 3,922 billion drachmas, posting a rise of 24.1 percent on the same period of last year, the statement said.

Loans totalled 1,752 billion drachmas in the first half, up 34.2 percent on same-period 2000.

Deposits and repos in the first half of 2001 increased by 27.3 percent to 2,270 billion drachmas, the bank added.

[03] Eureko makes public offer for Interamerican shares

Eureko BV of the Netherlands on Thursday launched a one-month public offer for the purchase of remaining stock in Interamerican Greek Life Insurance SA as part of its friendly takeover of the domestic company.

So far, the multinational insurer has acquired 54.38 percent of Interamerican through a block trade on the bourse; and another 25 percent of stock from Banco Comercial Portugues, raising its stake to 79.38 percent.

In the public offer that ends on September 17, Eureko is offering 20.74 euros per share in cash for the outstanding 20.62 percent of stock, or 18,707,803 shares.

The outcome is to be announced within two days of the offer's close, when Eureko will decide whether or not to seek delisting of Interamerican from the Athens Stock Exchange.

On Thursday, the Greek firm finished at 20.58 euros on the bourse.

Eureko plans to use Interamerican, formerly owned by its founder, Dimitris Kondominas, as its regional centre for Greece, Cyprus, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Egypt, aided by Interamerican's management.

[04] Weather Forecast: Sunny on Friday

Sunshine is forecast in all parts of the country on Friday with scattered cloud on the mainland from evening that may lead to storms, mainly on high ground. Winds north-northeasterly, light to strong, turning very strong over the Aegean. On the mainland and in the Ionian, temperatures will range from 19C to 35C; and in the Aegean islands from 23C to 30C. In Athens, the weather will be sunny, with temperatures between 23C and 34C. Scattered cloud in Thessaloniki, with temperatures from 22C to 33C.

[05] Greece - FYROM - NATO

Six Greek army officers will reportedly head for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) on Friday as an advance team for a Greek contingent expected to participate in a NATO mission to collect weapons from Albanian rebels in the strife-torn country.

A vanguard of 400 British soldiers is expected to arrive in FYROM over weekend, possibly as early as Friday, to prepare for the build-up of a military force initially pegged at 3,500 troops -- needed for the operation, code-named "Essential Harvest".

In an accord signed on Monday, so-called ?National Liberation Army? rebels agreed to surrender their weapons in exchange for more constitutionally guaranteed rights. The Skopje government also announced a limited amnesty available to all rebels, sans war criminals or those who refuse to disarm.

Under the plan, the NATO force will establish weapons-collection points around the small, land-locked Balkan country to Greeces north.

[06] Greece - Bulgaria - Simeon letter

New Bulgarian Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburgotski called bilateral relations between Bulgaria and Greece a ?stable foundation and guarantee? for their further development, in a reply to a congratulatory telegram sent by his Greek counterpart Costas Simitis.

?I am particularly glad that we share common ideas and philosophy regarding the development of our region. Let me assure you that I deeply appreciate the support offered by your nation for Bulgarias Euro-Atlantic orientation, something that we are counting on in the future in our course towards fulfilling the priorities of our foreign policy,? Saxe-Coburgotski, the former king Simeon II, said in his letter to Simitis.

The letter was released by the Greek press and mass media ministry.

[07] Greek stocks move cautiously higher on ASE

Equity prices prices continued moving higher on the Athens Stock Exchange on Thursday, extending Tuesday's gains and pushing the general index back above the 2,700 resistance level.

The Greek market ignored falls in other European stock markets helped by renewed buying interest in blue chip stocks, particularily in banks with National Bank (+2.29%), Piraeus Bank (+2.77%) and Eurobank (+1.24%) leading the advance.

Telecom stocks, however, fell on early profit taking, after Tuesday's sharp gains.

Traders noted, however, that a declining turnover was limiting the market's upward prospects.

The general index ended 0.60 percent highegr at 2,706.71 points, with turnover a 104.661 million euros, or 36 billion drachmas.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended at 1,510.86 points, up 0.92 percent, the FTSE/ASE 40 index rose 1.02 percent to 309.31 points, and the Small Cap index increased 0.92 percent to 900.62 points.

The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks rose 0.45 percent.

Broadly, advancers led decliners by 226 to 88 with another 45 issues unchanged.

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