HEATING I: Speaking yesterday to ERT's Panagiotis Stathis, Kyriakos Mitsotakis set an initial bar for citizens' heating this winter, which begins soon.
Government intervention, participation by the refineries, and heating oil that will open “below 1.75 euros” per liter, along with a horizontal increase in the allowance. All very nice. Except that 1.75 euros is not exactly any kind of… bargain.
To have a benchmark for comparison, in March 2022, immediately after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the nationwide average price was 1.519 euros on March 18 and 1.554 on March 25. On April 1 it was 1.585 euros.
In October of the same year, with the energy crisis “at its peak,” the average price was about 1.409 euros per liter. With subsidies of course, but that is what the consumer paid.
Likewise, although last year the price shot up at the end of March and in April, even exceeding 1.80 euros per liter, there was an essential difference.
The spike came at the end of the heating season, when most households had already made their main winter purchases.
The subsidized purchases, we remind you, ended last year, on March 31.
HEATING II: But there is also a second bill, which was not mentioned at all yesterday, and it concerns heating with natural gas, as the European TTF contract has risen from about 30 euros/MWh to 80 euros.
To understand it better, in PPC's basic variable household tariff, for example, the supply charge for the consumer is 1.03×TTF + 0.004 euros/kWh. With TTF at 32 euros, this corresponds to about 3.7 cents/kWh. With TTF at 80, to about 8.6 cents.
More than double the charge in the competitive part of the tariff, since there are also the non-competitive charges that always increase the final price, but reduce the percentage increase relative to the rise in natural gas.
Of course, those who have locked in a fixed contract are protected. PPC, to stay with the same example, currently offers a fixed rate at 4.2 cents/kWh. It is also certain that a heating allowance will be distributed to eligible natural gas users as well.
The rest, however, whether with oil or gas, it seems that this winter we will say… “bishop Panagiotis” when it comes to heating expenses.
MARINAKIS: A clash at the… top level emerged, on the occasion of the now very well-known case involving the unemployment benefit, as it was opened with a related statement by Pavlos Marinakis.
“The discussion should not have happened. It happened because Mr. Marinakis -because in New Democracy everyone can say whatever they want, as is well known, we have proven that- Mr. Marinakis, because he is government spokesperson, should be more careful”, argued Dora Bakoyannis, in an interview (on ANT1), making clear that “there is no issue” of reducing the duration of the benefit.
Mr. Marinakis was asked about the new intra-party fire during the political editors' briefing: “I think that for 3.5 years I have proven whether I am careful. And the care I must show is to be as accurate as possible, to defend government policies, to support people who may find themselves in a difficult position in the context of cannibalism.
This is what I will continue to do and, in any case, do not stick to the headlines of a news story, it is good to look at overall what someone says when answering”, he commented, trying once again to close the issue (which remains very much open).
As for Kyriakos Mitsotakis, he chose delicate balances, praising his close associate while also keeping clear distances from his stance on the specific issue:
“We have an excellent government spokesperson who is in a special position because he expresses the positions of the government. It is difficult to separate the roles between the politician who may express an opinion, which he himself clearly said is a personal opinion.
I surround him with absolute trust and I am very satisfied with his overall work”, he commented on ERT.
MITSOTAKIS: The prime minister chose to lower the tone toward Antonis Samaras, avoiding keeping him in the spotlight at every opportunity:
“Whatever I have to say about Mr. Samaras, I said it. If Mr. Samaras forms a party, ask me again”, was his answer to the relevant question.
The comment was different regarding Kostas Karamanlis, whom he is steadily trying to distinguish from the Messenian:
“I have a good relationship with Mr. Karamanlis, I believe also a good personal relationship. I respect the fact that he himself has wanted -and I think this too is something entirely legitimate- to distance himself from politics.
You know, at some point politicians' cycles close and Mr. Karamanlis is no longer an MP, he is no longer in parliament. I absolutely respect the fact that perhaps he no longer has the desire to intervene in the way he used to when he was an active politician”, he noted.
As election time approaches, moreover, it would be a mistake to have him against him.
LATINOPOULOU: When she is not dealing with Velopoulos and the other tenants of the “right-wing apartment building”, Aphrodite Latinopoulou also takes on European officials, with her latest… victim being the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
From the podium of the European Parliament, the president of “Voice of Reason” accused her, among other things, over the European Union's policies on migration, taxation, bureaucracy, the green transition and social policy.
“Mrs. Von der Leyen, there is no greater racist than you toward Europeans, with proof”, the MEP noted, explaining that “the EU has filled Europe with migrants”.
She also attacked her because “you are imposing on us green madness. The woke agenda. The Islamization of Europe”, while with an obvious dose of irony she stressed:
“But… you gave us paper straws, attached caps and Gay Pride. You are not simply Merkel's best student. You surpassed her”, she told her, shortly before returning to Greek reality and her effort to secure entry into Parliament in the upcoming elections.
SARANTIS: The 217 million euros it has invested in Brasov tell only half the story. The other half is that Hellenic Dairies, of the Sarantis family, has quietly turned Romania into a key hub of its international growth.
Already, its production there corresponds to 26% of the group's sales in 55 markets, while the distribution of products from other factories also passes through Romania.
The next step is already under construction. A new production unit with an operating horizon of early 2027.
TEMU: The Chinese platform needed just three years to overturn the balance in European e-commerce, and Greece is already high on the map of its advance.
According to ECDB data for 2025, the Chinese platform is now the second largest online retailer in the Greek market, while taking first place in four European countries.
EPSA: New money is entering the soft drinks company. The general meeting of September 7 decided on a share capital increase of 1.9 million euros, with the issuance of 344,828 new shares.
Thus, the capital of the historic industry now rises to 16.33 million euros. Capital increases of 3.2 million euros in 2023, 5.1 million in 2024 and 4.49 million in 2025 had preceded it. The bill? 14.7 million euros in new share capital in a little more than three years.
TERNA ENERGY: TERNA Energy is becoming a central reference point for Masdar's activities in Eastern Europe, as it has now undertaken the management and operational control of all the Arab group's operating projects in the region.
The same scheme also includes the promotion of new investments in five markets: Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Bulgaria and Romania. This means that TERNA Energy now has responsibility both for the operation of the existing portfolio and for supporting the further development of the Emirati group in our neighborhood.
In the case of Serbia, in fact, the model also entails an equity dimension for the company. According to information, a few days ago an agreement was signed in Belgrade under which TERNA Energy is proceeding with the acquisition of a 10% stake in Čibuk 1, which is Serbia's largest wind farm, with 57 wind turbines and installed capacity of 158 MW.
The signal for the above developments was given by the company's CEO, Aristotelis Chantavas, who had contacts with government officials and participated in the annual RES forum, RES Serbia 2026, together with Masdar CEO, Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, also signaling the importance being acquired by the new regional structure.
BANKS: A “bull” for domestic banks was once again JP Morgan, raising target prices again, with upside from current levels reaching as much as 30% despite the rise that has already preceded.
However, it appears more restrained than the market consensus regarding the distributions of Greek banks to shareholders.
In its models, Piraeus offers the highest dividend yield, at 6.2% in 2028. Its dividend per share is estimated at 0.55, 0.60 and 0.67 euros for 2026, 2027 and 2028 respectively. It is followed by National with 0.69, 0.82 and 0.90 euros and a yield of 5.1% in 2028. National also has the highest payout ratio, at 70% of profits.
According to JP Morgan, Eurobank is expected to distribute 0.16, 0.19 and 0.22 euros, with a yield of 4.7% in 2028. Alpha Bank is estimated at 0.12, 0.14 and 0.17 euros, with a yield of 3.5%.
For Alpha Bank, the house reduced the payout ratio to 55% from 60%, due to the rise in risk-weighted assets and acquisitions. Thus, its estimates fall short by up to 29% versus consensus, while for National, the estimate for 2028 is also 12% lower than the market's converging estimates.
For National, however, the house sees room for higher distributions already from this year, as the bank has excess capital of about 1 billion euros.
METLEN: A multi-layered system of conditions links the acquisition of shares by the top executives of Metlen Energy & Metals to the company's profitability, its stock market performance, the executives' personal performance and their remaining with the group.
The company granted on September 11, 2026 conditional share awards to 14 executives with managerial responsibilities, under the Metlen Energy & Metals Omnibus Plan.
The awards concern up to 220,505 shares in total and are granted free of charge. This number is the upper limit: the shares do not vest automatically, and the final number depends on the achievement of the targets.
Vesting is based on two measurable indicators. The first, with a weighting of 70%, is the adjusted earnings per share (Adjusted EPS) for fiscal year 2028. The minimum threshold is 5.50 euros and the maximum 7 euros.
In 2025 Metlen's earnings per share came to 2.20 euros. On this basis, the minimum threshold of 5.50 euros presupposes an increase of 150% in three years, that is, an average annual rate of 35.7%, while the maximum of 7 euros requires an increase of 218%, that is, an average annual rate of 47.1%.
It should of course be noted that last year the group's profits were reduced due to the well-known losses of the M Power Projects sub-sector. Based on 2024, the threshold of 5.50 euros corresponds to an increase of 23% in four years, that is, about 5.4% annually, and the maximum target of 7 euros to an increase of 57%, that is, about 11.9% annually.
The second indicator, with a weighting of 30%, is the relative total shareholder return (Relative TSR) over the three-year period 2026-2028. The comparison is made with FTSE 100 companies, excluding investment trusts. The minimum threshold is the median and the maximum the upper quartile.
Based on the scale, at the minimum threshold 25% of the award vests and at the maximum 100%, with linear scaling in between.
In addition, each award presupposes satisfactory personal performance by the executive during the three-year measurement period, as well as continuation of their employment relationship with the group.
For the two executive members of the board of directors, a holding period also applies. The shares they vest cannot be sold before the fifth anniversary of the grant, that is, before September 11, 2031.