Mobile telephony firm Vodafone was crowned Greece's «reputation champion» for 2005, while OTE Telecom was the company with the best reputation regarding its work environment and its social responsibility, according to the business survey «Reputation Balance 2005,» presented by Tradelink Reputation Management. The 20 best-reputed companies in Greece are Vodafone, Coca-Cola, Intracom, Delta, OTE, Goody's, CosmOTE, FAGE, Germanos, Alpha Bank, Carrefour, AB Vassilopoulos, PPC, Sklavenitis, Interamerican, Eurobank, National Bank of Greece, Champion Marinopoulos, Kotsovolos and TIM. The equivalent top 20 for entrepreneurs/managers includes six men whose firms are also in the company chart. These are D. Daskalopoulos, S. Kokkalis, D. Kontominas, G. Costopoulos, S. Latsis and G. Philippou. The survey also measured the reputations of non-governmental organizations in Greece. Leading were Doctors without Frontiers, followed by Doctors of the World, the Child's Smile, Unicef, Red Cross, Elpida, Greenpeace, Amnesty International, WWF and the Consumers Institute (INKA).

A delegation of US firm Oshkosh Truck Corporation yesterday presented to officials of the Defense and Finance ministries and the Hellenic Center for Investment a number of proposals for joint production of military vehicles with domestic defense companies. German aircraft maker Dornier also presented a proposal for constructing amphibious aircraft in Greece. More proposals are expected soon, the Defense Ministry said.

Mobil lubricants are re-entering the Greek market, imported by ExxonMobil Lubricants & Specialties Europe, a branch of ExxonMobil Petroleum & Chemical. On sale will be car lubricants, for the wider public, lubricants for commercial vehicles and lubricants for special industrial applications. ExxonMobil recently agreed with Greek petrol station chain EKO ELDA to supply the latter's 1,350 stations in Greece with its lubricants.

The troubled Hellenic Mining Company, 39 percent-owned by the Church of Cyprus, and the Mytilineos Group are very close to a deal about the sale of the former's Hellenic Copper Mines (HCM) that manages the Skouriotissa mine in Cyprus. Mytilineos, also a HCM shareholder, offered to purchase the remaining shares for just 255,000 euros. HCM owes three months' worth of salaries to 43 employees and 29 million euros to various creditors, while the mine remains closed.

The government will probably equalize the taxes on heating and automotive diesel in order to limit occurrences of illegal trading, but the measure will not burden households, Economy Minister Giorgos Alogoskoufis said. Heating fuel today is much cheaper due to lower taxes.

Alpha Bank shareholders yesterday approved the merger by absorption of subsidiary information technology firm Delta Singular, which will involve an increase in the bank's share capital. The merger will be finalized next month.