In Brief
Greek April inflation stubborn at six-year high Surging energy and food costs kept Greece’s national measure of consumer inflation at a six-year high of 4.4 percent in April, the National Statistics Service (NSS) said yesterday. Upward price pressures in Greece showed no letup in April, although overall inflation for the 15-member eurozone eased to an annual 3.3 percent after a 3.6 percent surge in March. The larger-than-forecast deceleration in eurozone inflation, coupled with sagging business sentiment, has boosted the case for eventual European Central Bank rate cuts if price pressures subside further. Greece’s EU-harmonized measure was also 4.4 percent, 1.1 percentage points above the eurozone average. (Reuters) Coke bottler keeps 08 target; Q1 hits forecasts Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Co, the world’s second-largest bottler of Coca-Cola drinks, said it was confident of meeting profit targets this year after reporting an expected 11 percent profit growth in the first quarter. It said it would meet its 2008 earnings-per-share target of 1.46 to 1.49 euros, despite soaring oil prices weighing on PET plastics used for bottles. Earlier, the bottler said net profit rose to 28 million euros from 25.4 million in the same period in 2007, in line with analysts forecasts. (Reuters) Goldenport Goldenport Holdings Inc, a Greek shipowner whose shares trade on the London Stock eExchange, has leased out more ships through 2010. Its total fleet is now 95 percent booked for this year, compared with 93 percent in February. For 2009, it is at 74 percent, from 61 percent, and for 2010 at 49 percent, from 33 percent, Goldenport said in a statement distributed today by the Regulatory News Service. (Bloomberg) Turk gold imports Turkey’s leading gold importer, Goldas, said yesterday a sharp fall in Turkish gold imports over the last two months was not due to its suspension of gold trading. Goldas halted trade on the Istanbul Gold Exchange in March after reports of a dispute with Societe Generale over a consignment of gold. Goldas Chief Executive Sedat Yalinkaya told Reuters by e-mail the company was unable to say when trading would resume. (Reuters) AIA The European Commission has awarded Athens International Airport the «GreenBuilding Partner Award 2008» for an impressive performance in energy savings. AIA achieved successive reductions in energy consumption of 9 percent and 4.7 percent in 2006 and 2007, respectively. Italy in TIF Italy will be honored country at this year’s 73rd Thessaloniki International Trade Fair in September. Events accompanying the Italian participation will include fashion, cinema, gastronomy and soccer.
