More buyouts expected soon
Stocks in the Greek market enjoyed another week of gains, driven by blue chips and particularly banks, in a week dominated by positive corporate results. The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index gained 2.34 percent last week, rising to 4.912.53 points on Friday from 4,800.40 points the previous week. At the beginning of the week the atmosphere was tangibly negative due to the forest fire tragedy in southern Greece, but good corporate news and the rising trends in foreign markets eventually took the general index above the 4,900-point level. Telecommunications outperformed last week, posting a 3.99 percent rise, followed by personal and household goods (up 2.81 percent), banks (2.79 percent) and raw materials (2.51 percent). Insurance stocks led losers (down 3.20 percent), ahead of media (3 percent) and oil-gas (2.27). Among the week’s most important developments were the very good results of the National Bank of Greece, the improved results of OTE telecom and the better-than-expected figures of power utility PPC, regarding which Citigroup said in a report that «after several quarters in which it failed to meet expectations, PPC has given us a good surprise. The net profit is 100 percent higher than our estimates and 67 percent above what the market expected.» Informed stockbrokers suggest that the season of buyouts has begun in earnest, as the sizeable cash flow from recent share capital increases is seeking targets. Buyouts are expected to extend to smaller companies. Analysts see more mergers and acquisitions as well as strategic investor entries in banks, food companies, shipping firms and retailers.
