The seasonally adjusted Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for July stood at 52.9 points, showing an expansion of the Greek manufacturing sector for the eighth straight month. The rise, however, was lower than in June and the lowest since February. Delivery times were extended and raw materials prices rose. About one-third of respondents reported a strong increase in orders, while just less than 20 percent reported decreases. PMI’s measuring base of 50 points shows no change.

A consortium which includes Greece’s Intralot as a minority partner has won an international tender for the supply, installation and operation of an online sports betting system in Turkey. The Cukorova Holding Group, which has a strong presence in the country’s financial services, telecommunications, Internet and media sectors, holds a majority interest in the consortium, Inteltek. The contract signed with the state agency Sportoto and the Sports and Youth Secretariat is for five years and the system, for which Intralot will supply the betting technology, is projected for launching early in 2003. Sales will be conducted through 6,000 outlets, fixed-line and mobile telephony facilities, two-way digital television and the Internet. Intralot has supplied the technology for the sports betting system in Greece and won similar contracts in Chile and Peru.

The Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) has received proposals by interested firms for participation in two tenders, one for drawing up a marketing plan for conference tourism (combined with periodic sectoral exhibitions), and another for an adviser in the project for changing the categorization of hotels into the “star system.” Ten proposals were submitted for the marketing plan, by TEC consultants, Grant Thornton, Synergon, JBR Hellas, Trek Consulting, Interbrand Associates, Martakis Tourism Consultants, Market Analysis and I Force, and the Athens University of Economics. The five consortiums which submitted proposals for the hotel categorization project are led by Lloyd’s Register, Planet Ernst & Young, KPMG Kyriakou, Hellenic Register and DQS Deutsche Gesellschaft. The new system will apply to more than 8,000 hotels.

The Agriculture Ministry announced three programs for the development of animal farming parks, the relocation of existing units and improvements to waste management facilities, and the development and better management of grazing pastures in mountainous regions. The three programs envisage the provision of EU subsidies totaling 72 million euros for up to 100 percent of some project expenses.

Tassoglou-Delonghi, the wholesale commerce listed firm which reaped part of a record 15.2-million-euro fine on Wednesday for spreading false information and abusing confidential information in bourse transactions during the bull market of 1999, protested that it had not received a full copy of the decision, suggested that its involvement in the affair was the result of being misled by its investment advisers, and said the fine was in any case unfair.