In Brief
Firms warned of teething problems with IAS The compulsory application of International Accounting Standards (IAS) by listed companies as of 2003 will signal a substantial difference in the way basic indicators are recorded in financial statements, such as depreciation, leasing expenses and fixed capital, as they are based on the concept of real value, said the president of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Greece, Costas Kotsilinis, in a press briefing yesterday. He warned that the changeover will not be an easy affair and urged enterprises to form preparatory working groups, adding that many firms may not be ready to apply IAS accurately by next year and will have to be treated leniently. The EU is expected to complete the regulations for the introduction of the new system in the autumn, but 26 enterprises listed on the Athens bourse are already preparing their financial statements according to IAS. PwC is holding a conference, «Guiding the Greek Enterprise through the New Challenges,» at the Athenaeum Inter-Continental hotel on April 16 and 17. 10-year benchmark bond spread falls The average spread between Greek and German 10-year bonds fell from 38 basis points in February to 34 in March, according to a press release of the Bank of Greece yesterday. The Greek bond closed at 97.47 (yielding 5.58 percent) at the end of March, from 99.48 (5.31 percent) in February. The turnover of the Greek electronic market (HDAT) reached 37.3 billion euros from 36.5 euros in February (18 billion in March 2001). Investor interest concentrated mainly on bonds with maturities between three and seven years, which attracted 43 percent of turnover. ELVO in the black The Hellenic Vehicles Industry (ELVO) achieved profits of 778.9 million drachmas (2.28 million euros) in 2001, after losses of 5.6 million drachmas in 2000 and many years in the red, according to a press release. «The return to profitability is the result of a higher profit margin, lower financial expenses and the successful renegotiation of older contracts of the company,» said the release. OPAP dividend The Football Pools Organization (OPAP) will propose to shareholders a dividend of 0.43 euro per share for 2001, according to a press release yesterday. The total amount to be distributed is 191.4 million euros, or 80.6 percent of profits. Shareholders have already received an advance dividend of 0.17 euro. The total dividend amounts to a more than 7 percent yield of the share on the basis of present price. OPAP plans to introduce new betting games in September. Foreign investors Foreign institutionals owned 24.04 percent of the total capitalization of the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) at the end of February, against 21.62 percent at the end of May 2001, according to data released yesterday. The respective rates regarding the 20 blue chips in the FTSE/ASE index were 32.39 and 27.80 percent.
