ECONOMY

In Brief

Emporiki predicts loss of 570 million euros Emporiki Bank of Greece SA, the Greek unit of Credit Agricole SA, is predicting a net loss of about 570 million euros ($838 million) this year and said it will seek a capital injection to support plans to cut jobs and costs. The 2009 loss will widen from about 500 million euros last year, Athens-based Emporiki said yesterday in a statement on its website. The unit will probably post a loss of 300 million to 350 million euros next year before returning to profit in 2011. Emporiki is seeking an injection of about 1 billion euros in so-called Tier 1 funds to strengthen its capital ratios after the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression caused an economic slump in Southeastern Europe. «The new plan is fully supported by Emporiki’s majority shareholder, Credit Agricole,» the Greek retail bank said in the statement. «Emporiki is already showing some early signs of recovery,» Chief Executive Officer Alain Strub added. Emporiki is taking measures to «stabilize» its divisions in the Balkans and Cyprus, which were «severely hit by the recent economic deterioration in Southeast Europe,» the bank said. Business at those units will make up about 5 percent of the Greek bank’s results, according to the statement. Emporiki had a net loss of 190 million euros in the second quarter, weighing on the parent company’s results. Credit Agricole’s international banking division recorded a 50-million-euro loss in the period, compared with a 96-million-euro profit a year earlier. (Bloomberg) Foreign investors pump money into Greek stocks Foreign investors pumped a net 722 million euros ($1.06 billion) into Greece’s equities market in September, Athens bourse data showed yesterday. Foreign portfolios owned 49.8 percent of the Greek market’s free float in September, up from 48.4 percent in August, but down from 51.1 percent in September 2008. In contrast, domestic investors were net sellers, with outflows reaching 637 million euros. For the whole of 2008, foreign investors were net sellers, with outflows of 3.6 billion euros. The average daily trading value in September rose to 251 million euros from 199 million in August. It was down from the same month a year earlier when the bourse traded 280 million euros daily. Foreign investors accounted for 51 percent of transactions in September, compared with 60.5 percent in the same month in 2008. Month-on-month, the Greek equity market’s total capitalization rose 7.24 percent in September to 98.8 billion euros, about 39.5 percent of the country’s gross domestic product. Compared with September 2008, the market’s value was down 7.4 percent. The market capitalization of the bourse’s blue chip FTSE/ATHEX 20-share index, which attracts most of the foreign interest, rose 8.3 percent month-on-month to 70.7 billion euros. (Reuters) Wine revenues Cypriot wine grape growers earned 5.6 percent more in 2008, as higher prices more than offset a drop in production. The total value of sales to wine industries exceeded 5.7 million euros ($8.4 million), compared with almost 5.4 million euros in 2007, the Nicosia-based Cyprus Statistics Service said on Tuesday in its annual Vines Statistics Survey. (Bloomberg)

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