In Brief
Traders, property owners cry out against onslaught of malls The Athens Traders’ Association (ESA) and the Property Owners’ Association of Greece yesterday expressed at a joint press briefing their strong concern about the «unchecked» development of large malls in the Athens area. «The new emerging reality is leading thousands of small enterprises to closure and the abandonment of thousands of leased and privately used shops on non-commercial streets,» officials said. «The operation of such large commercial concerns will deliver a crushing blow to small shops, causing the loss of commercial and realty values invested in over generations and leading entire municipalities and neighborhoods to decline.» Fourlis posts near triple Q1 profit rise Fourlis, which owns the Greek franchise of Swedish home furnishing giant IKEA, said yesterday its first-quarter net profits almost tripled, boosted by strong furniture sales and one-off capital gains. Fourlis, which also sells electrical appliances and sportswear, said it made a net profit of 12 million euros, up from 4.12 million euros in the same period last year. Fourlis made extraordinary gains from the sale of a 10 percent stake in Greek electrical goods retailer Kotsovolos to Britain’s DSG International Plc. Group sales grew 35.4 percent to 125.6 million euros, with IKEA stores producing sales of 50.3 million euros, a 30 percent rise. (Reuters) Forthnet loss widens Internet service provider and telecoms operator Forthnet’s first-quarter loss widened as the company increased investment in infrastructure to expand its market share, it said yesterday. Losses for the three months to March widened to 7.4 million euros from a loss of 1.7 million euros in the same period last year, the company said in a statement. Forthnet, which competes with the country’s largest telecoms provider, OTE, in fixed-line telephony, is implementing a 253-million-euro, four-year investment plan which aims at developing its own broadband and fiber-optic network. The company had added a further 40,000 clients to reach a total of 142,000 customers by the end of May, it said. (Reuters) Marfin buys Cyprus Hilton Marfin Investment Group (MIG) said on yesterday it had completed the acquisition of a 64.3 percent holding in the Cyprus Hilton Hotel for 58.5 million euros. MIG said its subsidiary, MIG Leisure Ltd, was paying 30.47 euros per share in the Cyprus Tourism Development Company which operates the Cyprus Hilton, located in the capital Nicosia. MIG acquired the bulk of the Cyprus Tourism Development shares from Louis Group, the island’s largest leisure group. (Reuters) TT profit drops The Postal Savings Bank (TT), which is on the government’s agenda for further privatization this year, yesterday posted a 47.2 percent drop in first-quarter net profit to 39.13 million euros. Based on TT’s profit and loss statement, net interest income grew 11.8 percent to 69.4 million euros. Greece has said it plans to sell a 15 percent stake in TT this year as part of a privatization program to raise funds to pay down public debt. The government currently holds about 65 percent of the lender, which has a current market value of about 2.53 billion euros. (Reuters)
