In Brief
INKA calls for changes in policy on ads addressed to women Ads addressed to women are misleading and oversimplified, reflecting a retrograde view of women as an easier marketing target, the Consumers Institute (INKA) said in a statement in view of Women’s Day on Saturday. INKA says the presentation of women as sexual objects and as individuals more responsible for housework and child rearing, and with a supposed lower intellectual ability than men, are three major problems in fostering gender inequality through advertising. It called on the advertising industry, the media and the National Radio and Television Council to take a much stronger interest in policy as regards advertising in relation to women. Businesswomen’s organizations will announce the setting-up of a unified body for the promotion of entrepreneurship among women, named Aristi, in Thessaloniki on Friday. According to labor union data, the percentage of Greek women officially registered for employment has risen from 42.3 percent in 1992 to 50.2 percent last year; unemployment among them is 14.6 percent, compared to 6.2 percent among men and 8.7 percent in the rest of the EU. Telestet 2002 profit jumps, plans for 3G services Stet Hellas, owner of Greece’s third biggest mobile operator, Telestet, said 2002 net profit jumped 113.3 percent to 76.4 million euros. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 31.1 percent to 230.8 million euros on turnover growth of 31.8 percent to 690.3 million euros. Total usage time increased 34.6 percent. Managing Director Nicholaos Varsakis said Telestet’s customer base grew 17.7 percent to about 2.5 million, registering a bigger rise in the number of contract customers than any of the other three mobile operators. He said the company has installed 40 antennas in the Attica area in preparation for third-generation (3G) cell phones and new services on which the company plans to focus. Stet Hellas will recommend a dividend of 0.10 euros per share, up 11 percent from 2001. The Greek cell phone market now has an estimated penetration rate of 82 percent. Patents The EU Competitiveness Council in Brussels reached agreement on the introduction of a Community Patent Diploma, to be confirmed by the spring summit in Brussels on March 21. The diploma will be issued in English, French and German. It was also agreed to set up a special court in Luxembourg in 2010 which will deal with disputes over patent rights. Appointment Economist Miranda Xafa, recently with Schroder Salomon Smith Barney, has joined Piraeus Bank as a management adviser also in charge of liaising with analysts and media, Piraeus Bank said yesterday. Xafa was chief economic adviser to Prime Minister Constantinos Mitsotakis in 1991-93. (Reuters) Grundig Turkey’s leading electrical goods exporter Beko said yesterday it planned to buy a majority stake in Germany’s Grundig AG. A spokeswoman declined to put a value on the deal but a later Beko statement said it aimed to increase Grundig’s turnover by 50 percent over five years to 1.5 billion euros. Beko is part of the Koc Group and says it aims for a turnover of 1 billion euros in 2003, up from a targeted turnover of some 550 million euros in 2002. (Reuters)
