In Brief
New director named at CCHBC Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company SA announced yesterday that Alexander (Sandy) Allan, a company board director, has resigned from his post, effective immediately. No reason for the resignation was given. He had been a non-executive director of the board for the past five years. The Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Company, which has a 23.8 percent stake in CCHBC, has nominated Alexander B. Cummings to replace Allan. Cummings has been president and chief operating officer for the company’s operations in Africa. Coca-Cola HBC, based in Athens, has operations in 28 countries, serving 540 million people, and is the world’s second-largest bottler of products for The Coca-Cola Company. Last month CCHBC announced that second-quarter net profits were up 19 percent to $216.1 million (170.1 million euros). (AP) Turkey can meet 2007 inflation target ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey can meet next year’s 4 percent inflation target under a deal with the International Monetary Fund, Economy Minister Ali Babacan said in a televised interview yesterday. He also said this year’s inflation would probably come in below 10 percent, compared with an official target of 5 percent. «The chance that (next year’s) inflation will be in the single digits is very, very high,» Babacan told local television channel NTV. Curbing inflation is seen as key to Turkey’s economic stability. Higher-than-expected CPI figures released at the end of April spurred a major sell-off in Turkish markets, knocking as much as 25 percent off the currency’s value. The lira has since recovered much of its losses. CPI fell 0.44 percent month-on-month in August, surprising economists who had forecast a rise of 0.4 percent in a Reuters poll. Annual August inflation was 10.26 percent. The IMF, Turkey’s major lender, is expected to visit in early October to review the country’s $10 billion loan program. Almunia concerned European Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said yesterday that high oil prices and the possibility of a slowdown in the United States posed risks for the European economy. «(Those elements) oblige us to look at 2007 with caution,» Almunia told a business lunch in Madrid, «If they happen they will put a brake on European economies.» (Reuters) Milestone Bulgaria’s largest mobile operator, Mobiltel, owned by Telekom Austria, said yesterday its client base had increased to 4 million people. The figure, more than half Bulgaria’s 7.8 million people, includes both contract and prepaid customers. The firm’s market share fell to 55.3 percent in the first half of the year, from 62.2 percent in the same period in 2005. Mobiltel’s competitors on the Bulgarian market are the second-largest operator Globul, owned by Greece’s OTE, and Vivatel, the mobile unit of fixed-line Bulgarian telecoms firm BTC. (Reuters) Expansion plans Packaging firm Maillis plans to increase its production plans to 20, by building two units in Saudi Arabia and India, its management announced yesterday. They added that a second line of production of polyester tape had been added to its South Carolina plant, one of three in the US.
