Ten lossmaking firms to be placed under supervision
At least 10 companies listed on the Athens Stock Exchange are expected to be put under supervision by bourse authorities this week because of their losses last year. The companies are Tassoglou, Cambas, Datamedia, Space Hellas, Plias, the Ideal Group, Allatini Ceramics, Corinth Pipeworks, Alisida and Olympic Catering. These companies will be placed under supervision if they can’t present extenuating evidence when bourse officials document their statistics early this week. Two cases, namely Tassoglou and Cambas, will be placed under supervision as they have posted losses for three consecutive financial years. The remaining eight – Datamedia, Space Hellas, Plias, the Ideal Group, Allatini Ceramics, Corinth Pipeworks, Alisida and Olympic Catering – will be placed under supervision because of the abrupt and sharp drop in their 2002 pretax profits. Losses recorded by these eight companies were bigger in absolute numbers than results in 2001 and were also 20 percent higher than revenues. Three other companies also meet the requirements of the bourse’s decision No. 64 and normally would have been placed under supervision. However, there are adequate facts that explain the significant decline in results and justify the decision for them to be excluded from the list. These companies are hotel groups Ionian and Lampsa which closed down the Hilton and Grand Bretagne hotels respectively last year for renovation work related to the 2004 Olympic Games. The third company is Hellatex which suffered major damage due to the floods which hit Attica last year. Three other companies – P&K, Dias and Active – also had three consecutive years of losses. However, these firms are not under the bourse’s supervision but under that of the Capital Market Commission. Insurance company Aspis Pronia is another example of a company that posted losses that were 20 percent higher than its revenues. However, insurance companies come under the supervision of the Trade Ministry (part of the Development Ministry) and not under that of the bourse.
