In Brief
CosmOTE declared Greek ‘Company of the Year’ for 2003 Mobile telephony operator CosmOTE was declared Greek «Company of the Year» by British magazine The Banker – a Financial Times publication. The evaluation was based on criteria, such as economic performance, application of new technologies, growth prospects, corporate governance and corporate social responsibility. «CosmOTE is a rare case of a company which, having started third, managed to climb to top position in its market, and we consider that its main characteristic is the immediate adoption of new technologies for the creation of value-added services that meet customers’ requirements,» said The Banker’s managing editor, Stephen Timewell. Hoteliers complain of favoritism in town-planning regulations The Panhellenic Federation of Hoteliers (POX) yesterday complained of favoritism to particular interests in the tourism industry which undermines healthy competition. POX said in a statement that the policy had begun with the granting of «scandalous» town-planning incentives to government-controlled Hellenic Tourist Properties (ETA) and was later extended to arrangements for specific large private firms. POX is seeking a comprehensive solution of town-planning problems for all of the country’s hotels that would reduce operating costs. Responding, ETA dismissed the claim of favoritism, pointing out that it was not signed either by the Chamber of Hotels or the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises. OPAP UBS raised its price target for shares in Greek gaming operator OPAP to 13.30 euros from 12.00 previously and kept its «Neutral 2» rating on the stock, it said in a research note. «We raise our price target by 11 percent based on higher earnings estimates and peer group comparison. At our price target OPAP would trade at 8.2 times 2005 expected earnings,» UBS said. (Reuters) New Turk currency Travelers to Turkey will no longer become instant millionaires after Jan. 1 next year. Parliament yesterday voted to launch a new currency by knocking six zeros off the lira. After Jan. 1, one million Turkish lira will become one New Turkish lira. The measure comes as Turkey is beginning to rein in decades of chronic inflation that has pushed the lira from 1.5 to the dollar in the 1940s to 1,325,000 to the dollar as of yesterday. The country’s smallest coin is now the 50,000 (4 cents). Bus fare for a short ride is 900,000 lira (67 cents). (AP) Plaisio Retailer Plaisio Computers said fiscal 2003 pretax profit rose 61.8 percent to 14.6 million euros on a 25 percent jump in revenues to 181.9 million euros as it boosted its market share. Management will propose an increased dividend per share of 0.21 euros versus 0.14 euros. (Reuters) Marak Marak Electronics, in partnership with China’s ZTE, is to provide OTE Telecom with fast Internet ADSL systems totaling a capacity of 2,000 subscribers for use at Olympic installations during the 2004 Athens Games. Marak will also provide full technical support until the end of 2004.
