In Brief
Eurobank Properties to take control of Serb company Athens-listed Eurobank Properties agreed yesterday to buy out the Serb corporation Reco Real Property AD, which owns a mixed-use building (offices and shops) in the center of Belgrade. The EFG Eurobank subsidiary will pay 22.63 million euros for 100 percent of Reco’s shares. The building has 11 levels and a total leasable surface of 5,503.46 square meters. Reco has already agreed to lease 3,121.66 sq.m. to international advertising company Mc Ericsson Public Relations Belgrade. The rest of the surface (2,381.80 sq.m.) will be leased to international firms to host a fashion store and a cafe, according to preliminary agreements signed. Dairy cartel ruling expected next week The Competition Commission will issue its decision next week regarding alleged cartel practices by dairy companies, including efforts to a broad distribution of supply sources and fixing prices in the local fresh milk market. The dairy companies involved are Delta (since absorbed by Vivartia), FAGE, Olympos, MEVGAL and Nestle. An investigation was launched after the General Directorate for Competition suggested that a meeting of the companies in Larissa three years ago was aimed at establishing a milk cartel. A number of dairy companies and supermarkets are also involved in another case of price fixing, the ruling for which is expected in September. Agricultural shifts The National Statistics Service (NSS) has recorded major changes in farm crops in Greece, following a considerable increase last year in the surface covered by sunflower cultivation (up 65.4 percent) and soft wheat (16.4 percent), while there was a reduction in tobacco (down 55.2 percent), sugar beet (21.7 percent), durum wheat (9.5 percent) and corn (4.7 percent). Cyprus tourism Cyprus’s revenues from tourism from January to May were 1.9 percent higher year-on-year at 274.5 million Cyprus pounds (466.6 million euros), the island’s Statistics Department said yesterday. In May 2007, revenues from tourism hit 119.8 million Cyprus pounds and were 7.1 percent higher than May 2006. (Reuters) Turk receipts Turkish tourism revenues rose 1 percent year-on-year to $3.73 billion in the second quarter, up from $3.69 billion in the same period last year, the Turkish Statistics Institute said yesterday. Turkey’s tourism revenues help ease the country’s wide current account deficit. In the first quarter, revenues had risen 8 percent to $2.16 billion. The revenues stalled despite a large rise in the number of tourists. Tourism operators say all-inclusive hotels and extreme heat waves discourage tourists leaving their hotels and spending more in Turkey. Operators also say that Turkey’s mass tourism industry fails to attract upmarket, high-spending tourists and this limits revenues. (Reuters) Euromedica in Corinth Listed health company Euromedica has announced its purchase of 41 percent of the Corinth Axial Diagnostic center, adding it to its network of now 28 diagnostic centers across Greece.
