NEW DEMOCRACY: New Democracy is investing in the battle of ideas, prompted by the murder of Vagia Nestora in Thessaloniki.
After the initial shock of the tragic news, one after another, government and party officials spoke in unison about political tolerance and the “protective umbrella” provided by left-wing and center-left parties to the anti-authoritarian movement, while recalling past behavior by opposition parties that “fostered” violence.
In this context:
Konstantinos Kyranakis (pictured) attacked Alexis Tsipras, noting that “it has consequences when Tsipras, a figure of the left, introduces himself with a name associated with the civil war.”
Kostis Hatzidakis denounced that “certain parties apply a double standard when it comes to violence.”
Pavlos Marinakis argued that “the attack was carried out by far-left extremists, and certain political parties apply double standards in these cases.”
Akis Skertsos stated that “the opposition’s fascist rhetoric arms the terrorists.”
Adonis Georgiadis noted that “violence by the far left must finally be outlawed once and for all.”
Alexandra Sdoukou expressed the view that “statements and expressions by SYRIZA officials have fueled incidents of verbal violence that could lead to actual violence.”
Thanasis Kontogeorgis also urged that “we not forget remarks such as, ‘We’ll finish them off or they’ll finish us off,’ ‘the government and the party—a criminal organization,’ ‘pedophiles, rapists, murderers, and so on,’ and support for members of the November 17 group.”
Maximos Mansion and Piraeus Street reject the opposition’s accusations that they are exploiting the tragedy, but the truth is that, taking advantage of this opportunity, they are given the opportunity to address their party base on an ideological and political level and to attempt to improve their low poll numbers.
OPPOSITION: The question, however—“how will we make it to the elections?”—dominates informal discussions with opposition leaders following the deadly attack in Thessaloniki.
Initial accusations against the ruling party of “exploiting” this incident have given way to questions about the “ideological” identity of the perpetrators and the true target of their attack.
So far, only the KKE and Zoe Konstantopoulou have referred to a “provocative act” and “provocation,” respectively, while even Kyriakos Velopoulos surprised observers with his stance: He accused the government of “exploiting a brutal incident” and “creating a climate of civil war,” leading to social division…
The spark for interpretations of (to put it mildly…) political exploitation was provided by New Democracy MP and Secretary Kostas Kyranakis, who essentially accused “our main political rival” Alexis Tsipras as the mastermind, because he gave his new party …the civil war-era name, ELAS, meaning the Greek Leftist Alliance.
P.S. As interlocutors from the progressive camp pointedly noted, the irony is that the ELAS Mr. Kyranakis refers to was founded as a liberation army fighting the German occupiers and laid down its arms in 1944 under the Varkiza Agreement….
KYRANAKIS: Given Mr. Tsipras’s immediate condemnation of the attack in Thessaloniki and the uproar caused by the above accusation against him, Mr. Kyranakis attempted yesterday to correct his initial statement but… to no avail: after initially describing Tsipras’s statement as “welcome, correct, and unqualified,” he slipped back into the same old patterns, adding: “However, when you have ten years of actions behind you, a single statement isn’t enough,” he said.
Without explaining what those actions are or what else Mr. Tsipras (and others) must do to receive… absolution from Mr. Kyranakis and, through him, from the ruling party.
Hellenic Police (ELAS): PASOK spoke of an attempt at “division and artificial polarization of a civil war nature,” SYRIZA of a “political freefall,” and ELAS of “atrocities,” directly attributing to Mr. Kyranakis “division and civil war-style rhetoric.”
In light of the above, officials from Tsipras’s party are also sending a message to a wide audience—one that goes beyond the government’s political exploitation of the attack in Thessaloniki: “You can’t address today’s issues with yesterday’s solutions. What the New Democracy secretary is doing is a result of the pressure his party is under from the polls and the “Samaras party” currently being formed, leading him to choose division and toxicity in the run-up to the elections.”
The choice of Thessaloniki for this particular attack “may not be coincidental,” note officials across the opposition, referring (also) to the city’s “history” of such actions.
Are we in trouble?…
MARINAKIS: The details of the New Karaiskakis Stadium revealed yesterday by Olympiacos’s power broker are impressive, to say the least.
It’s a 250-million-euro project that he will finance himself to build the largest soccer stadium in Greece, with a capacity of over 53,000.
The new “Georgios Karaiskakis” Stadium will enhance Piraeus, and traffic improvements and adjustments will make it easier for fans to get to and from the stadium.
The stadium will have four levels and a total height exceeding 52 meters, featuring a new bioclimatic roof spanning 30,000 square meters and 5,000 square meters dedicated to dining, cafes, and service kiosks. Plans include over 100 ultra-luxury suites of various sizes and more than 5,000 square meters of premium hospitality spaces.
The 10,000 square meters of giant LED screens make the facility the largest multi-faceted display screen for soccer and cultural events in Europe.
DOTSOFT: We were right after all—the price of the major transaction between the sellers/shareholders and the Diorama fund was officially announced. This is because one of the sellers, Anastasios Manos, is the company’s chairman and CEO, so he was required to disclose not only the number of shares but also the value of the transaction.
We did him an injustice, however, because the… required disclosures were made on June 25. The only difference was that this was not done via a stock exchange announcement—that is, through the usual channel—but through the Daily Trading Activity Bulletin.
This means (and we admit we hadn’t realized this) that investors must now, in addition to monitoring companies’ announcements via the Stock Exchange, must also monitor the Bulletin daily to find out what executives of the companies they’re interested in are buying and selling.
This is because the disclosure is unlikely to appear anywhere else, not even in the announcements on the company’s website, as was the case with Dotsoft.
In short, as if by magic, the “job” of shareholders is becoming increasingly difficult. In the name of… transparency, we assume, this was decided by certain officials, most likely from the Hellenic Capital Market Commission, which typically regulates such matters.
DOTSOFT II: Based on the Daily Trading Activity Report and Mr. Manos’s transaction, however, it is now officially confirmed that the price of the large transaction—40% of the company—was 19.23 euros per share, even though the stock was trading at 29 euros on the board that day.
So the transaction took place at roughly two-thirds of the stock’s market value at the time, representing a discount of nearly 34%.
OK, the stock’s liquidity is extremely limited, and the buyer obviously wanted to lock in a big discount right off the bat, to have a “cushion” when he decides to sell his stake.
What is puzzling, however, is that in the sessions that followed, the stock continued to rise unabated.
Yesterday, it closed at 36.20 euros, up 9.7% for the day, trading roughly 25% higher than the stock price on the day of the transaction. And roughly 88% higher than the price at which Diorama bought it!
“It’s the stock market,” you might say, so Luigi Pirandello’s “that’s how it is if you think so” certainly applies. We, however, wonder if the stock will release any news that justifies this new sharp rise.
Unless, of course, those driving up the price with 1,000–2,000 shares simply believe that Diorama has the Midas touch.
PROODEFTIKI: Although the management of Proodeftiki ATE had announced the cancellation of the Extraordinary General Meeting scheduled for yesterday—which was to address, among other things, the election of a new board of directors— that did not stop quite a few people from gathering outside the company’s offices on Spyrou Trikoupi Street.
And we say “outside” because they found chains and padlocks at the door. People who identified themselves as shareholders, shareholder representatives, and candidates for the new Board of Directors—whose résumés apparently did not satisfy the current management—gathered for quite some time and discussed the matter among themselves, voicing criticism of management’s decision—and more.
Of course, developments were bound to follow quickly, as it was announced shortly thereafter that a new Extraordinary General Meeting would be convened on September 15. A General Meeting that is expected to be particularly… interesting.
P.S. This column also attempted to contact the chairman of the Board of Directors, George Kontolatis, to get his take on the developments, but was unsuccessful as of the time of writing.
PROFILE: This column “warned” yesterday morning of the possibility of a “surprise” from the publicly traded company to its shareholders. A few hours later, Profile announced an extraordinary General Meeting on July 23 to discuss a capital return of 0.24 euros per share (totaling nearly six million euros).
The stock’s reaction was immediate. It hit a new all-time high of 8.65 euros (+7.05%), with trading volume exceeding 2.5 million euros.
Following this move, the stock has posted a 22% return over the past quarter. However, by international standards—given the sector in which it operates and based on its results and projections for the coming years—its valuation remains low!
COCA COLA: The largest company by market capitalization on the Stock Exchange has posted gains in eight of the last nine trading sessions. During this period, it achieved a 13% return, bringing its market capitalization to over 22 billion euros.
The acquisition of Coca-Cola Beverages Africa, which is changing the landscape for the group, is fueling the upward trend that led to this historic record.
MOTOR OIL: The Vardinoyannis Group’s stock also set a new all-time high yesterday. It surpassed the 41-euro mark (closing at 41.08, up 2.8%), with the stock generating a trading volume of 12.1 million euros.
Over the past six months, the stock’s return has now exceeded 30%.
Eurobank Equities considers the stock a “top pick” in the sector, setting a target price of 53.2 euros. It forecasts EBITDA of approximately 1.3 billion euros in 2026 and approximately 1.1 billion euros for the next two years.
Pantelakis Securities is on the same page, setting a target price of 51.2 euros.
There is significant upside potential in both cases.
EYDAP: A 4.05% gain pushed the stock to a 218-month high, bringing the share price to 11.3 euros. It has delivered a return of 44% to shareholders, including GEK Terna, which acquired nearly 13% of the company in late March.
The company is pursuing significant investments, and with the new regulatory framework, it has visibility into its future revenues.