In Brief
Piraeus Bank earnings grow in first half Piraeus Bank, Greece’s sixth-largest bank by market capitalization, said its consolidated first-half income after tax and minorities rose 12.5 percent to 42.6 million euros from 37.9 million in the year-earlier period. Assets were up 25.8 percent to 14.3 billion euros, deposits and repos grew 11.2 percent to 9.8 billion euros and lending rose 46.3 percent to 8.1 billion. The results include those of ETBA Bank, which was acquired in March. There was strong growth in loans to small and medium-size firms (56.3 percent), mortgage lending (49.4 percent) and consumer credit (43.5 percent). Shareholder equity rose from 811 million euros to 1,457 million, representing 10.2 percent of liabilities. Non-performing loans represent 4.6 percent of the total including ETBA, and 2.2 percent excluding ETBA. Net revenue rose 11.9 percent to 251 million euros, of which 90.6 percent was from core business. Net interest revenue was up 42.5 percent to 183.3 million euros, but the bank posted a loss of 2 million euros from trading activities in the six months to June, compared to a net revenue of 40.1 million in the same period last year. On Wednesday, investment house UBS Warburg issued a «hold» recommendation for Piraeus, with a target price of 6 euros. Yesterday, the share price closed slightly down at 6.7 euros. Piraeus Bank, with a market capitalization of 1.13 billion euros, has 209 branches in Greece and 27 abroad. Seven-month budget revenues on target Budget revenues were up 6.1 percent to 22.82 billion euros in the first seven months of the year, right on target for the second consecutive month, the Finance Ministry said. Ordinary revenues (from VAT, income and stock market transactions taxes) increased 7.6 percent, but those from special categories, notably car circulation taxes, fell by 19.5 percent. Bourse The Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) has approved Marfin Hellenic Securities as a market maker in the bourse, in addition to EFG Eurobank, Omega, P&K, Egnatia, National and Proton. The ASE also approved the prospectus for a 116-million-euro share capital increase of Lamda Development, a Latsis group member. The company intends to use the funds partly to finance the purchase of the area in the Athens suburb of Maroussi, where the Olympic press village will be built. Retail sales The Retail Sales Value Index rose 12 percent in May from a year earlier, bringing the increase for the five months to 8.8 percent, the National Statistics Service said. May sales in supermarkets rose 15.3 percent and in department stores 20.9 percent. Neorion Listed firm Neorion Shipyards more than tripled its first-half earnings to 7.48 million euros from the same period a year earlier, mainly due to the contribution of subsidiary Elefsis Shipyards. Turnover was up from 13 million euros to 30 million. Another complication is the tourist who might want to combine a Greek island and Games holiday, in which case they could stay outside Athens and visit Games events, he added.
