NEW DEMOCRACY: That government officials from time to time behave arrogantly is commonly accepted. Kyriakos Mitsotakis himself has acknowledged it, complaints have been made in the Parliamentary Group, many within the blue camp discuss it privately, but now the admission is also being made publicly.
“I see arrogance in Mitsotakis’ ministers and I would say they should get off their high horse, as my father used to say. We have such phenomena too and they must be stopped, and immediately, because people do not forgive them and they are right”, Dora Bakoyannis said characteristically (on SKAI).
She also added that “after eight years there are people who have become tiresome”, in yet another -of several lately- intervention with an intra-party aroma. At the same time, ND parliamentary representative Dimitris Kairidis was arguing (in Parapolitika) that “ND’s main problem is its bad self, arrogance and elitism”.
He clarified that his reference concerns political figures of the party, including people who are in government positions. “People have problems, these are what we must deal with, those who ‘ride high’ should ‘dismount’ and we should all move forward together”, he stressed.
P.S. The opportunity was seized by ELAS deputy press representative Giorgos Balatsoukas: “When a top ND official and the prime minister’s sister speaks of ‘arrogant ministers,’ we do not have much to add. And when they begin to admit it among themselves too, one thing becomes clear: Power did not slip away from them. It intoxicated them”, he stressed.
NEW DEMOCRACY II: In the ruling party there was also a disagreement… at the top regarding the energy crisis and Tsipras’ proposal to reduce the excise tax on fuels.
“The state collects 4 billion euros from the special consumption tax on fuels; those who propose a tax reduction for a specific period of time should answer from where the fiscal cost will be covered”, government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said (on SKAI), flatly rejecting -as did the Ministry of National Economy and Finance- the former prime minister’s proposal for heating oil prices up to 1.4 euros.
SDOUKOU: The recent clash between Nik. Farantouris and Alexandra Sdoukou is taking on new dimensions, as the case seems to be moving beyond the “flirtations” -as they have accused each other- and the... interpretation of this specific word in dictionaries (!) to more substantive political issues.
Such as, for example, the fact that the ND press representative appears to have been particularly popular in ministerial offices of governments of different party origins, although she herself proudly declares she has been a member of ND since 1997.
Her CV states that from 2007 to 2015 she served as an adviser to the respective Energy ministers, while from 2012 to 2015, mainly under Giannis Maniatis, she served as director of the office of the Minister of Environment and Energy.
But there is also something even more specific. According to an official document published yesterday by “Efimerida ton Syntakton,” in March 2015, that is, with the change of government, it was decided that she would be seconded to the office of then minister Panagiotis Lafazanis, in the first SYRIZA government, with retroactive effect, in fact, from January 27, 2015. The decision is signed by Lafazanis himself and the then Economy Minister Giorgos Stathakis.
The phenomenon may be due to cross-party recognition of her unique abilities. Malicious tongues, however -including within ND, we note- describe her as a drifter and other equally inelegant things. You see, there is also the candidacy in Athens A, where it is predicted that “bodies will fall” among ND’s candidates.
PALIOU: Diana Shipping, of the interests of Semiramis Paliou, secured a higher freight rate for one of the ultramax bulkers in its fleet, in yet another sign of improvement in the dry bulk market. The New York-listed shipping company announced that the 60,404 dwt DSI Polaris, built in 2018, was chartered to Dai An Ocean Shipping for $18,000 per day.
The new charter is expected to begin on September 25 and has a minimum duration until May 1, 2028 and a maximum until June 30, 2028. The vessel is currently employed by Cargill Ocean Transportation at a rate of $12,250 per day, therefore the new agreement corresponds to an increase of about 47%.
During the minimum period, it is expected to generate gross revenue of about $10.4 million. Diana Shipping has a fleet of 36 bulkers, while last week it also secured $17,000 per day for the kamsarmax Astarte, versus $12,500 previously.
SHIPPING: VLCC freight rates in the Persian Gulf have surged to levels approaching $1.25 million per day, as attacks on ships and the effective disruption of alternative loadings via the Red Sea are limiting the market’s available options.
BRS Shipbrokers describes the levels as “hard to believe”, while estimating, however, that the current rise differs significantly from the 2007-2008 supercycle and that tanker earnings can remain high for quite some time.
In the Gulf of Oman, rates are reaching $830,000 per day, while on the West Africa–China route they are approaching $530,000. Clarksons had recorded levels above $1 million the previous week, while Gibsons now places them above $1.2 million.
BRS notes that this time the rise is being driven by VLCCs, as cargoes that would normally be transported by one VLCC are being “split” into two suezmaxes or three aframaxes.
ELLAKTOR: The group had cash and cash equivalents and immediately liquid assets amounting to 279.5 million euros on June 30, of which 78 million euros were in time deposits of more than three months and 84.1 million euros in investments (72 million euros in Money Market and 10 million euros in ATHEX-listed shares).
It is also to receive an amount of 18.95 million euros from the sale of the building that housed the “Ethnos” publishing group. Lease liabilities amount to 66.5 million euros and borrowing to 27.4 million euros. It is recalled that as a result of active operational restructuring the group returned 470 million euros to the parent company’s shareholders and distributed dividends of 191.5 million euros over the last three years.
The group is examining solutions for the utilization of an area of approximately 100 stremmas, which it owns around the perimeter of the Smart Park retail park.
ALUMIL: The group posted a significant improvement in profitability in the first half, with the generation of cash flows from operating activities, however, remaining at low levels (i.e. 6.2 million euros at group level, only 85 thousand euros at parent level), due to the surge in working capital needs and the increase in receivables from customers.
As a result, investments remained at the same levels as the corresponding ones last year (i.e. 8.9 million euros) and were financed, in part, by taking on new borrowing.
Sales in the half-year amounted to 288.3 million euros (+15.9%), the gross profit margin widened to 28.7% (H12025:25.9%), EBITDA came to 43.4 million euros (+45.2%) and net profits to 25.5 million euros.
ALUMIL II: By the end of this year, the company’s final agreements with the creditor banks are expected to be signed for the issuance of a syndicated bond loan totaling 135 million euros, which is structured in two series: the first, amounting to 108.5 million euros, concerns the refinancing of all existing borrowing, while the second (26.5 million euros) concerns covering working capital needs in the form of revolving credit.
The bonds will be covered by Piraeus, Crediabank, NBG and Αlpha Bank.
Piraeus and Credia are old creditors of the listed company, while NBG and Alpha Bank are reopening… ledgers with the northern Greek group.
It has not been clarified whether, with the new agreement, the obligation of ALUMIL to sell a stake in the (new) ALUFOND was lifted. The group, however, has stopped referring, for several quarters now, to the venture of selling a stake in the latter.
ORILINA: The REIC completed the acquisition of a four-story building with 30 furnished apartments on Geraniou Street in central Athens (Piraeus and Geraniou) from Blend Development, of the interests of Dimitrios Kallitsantsis, for a price that approached 7 million euros.
Orilina’s binding offer was submitted at the end of February and was followed by due diligence. It is recalled that Blend has signed a management contract for the above property with the international platform Limehome.
LAMDA DEVELOPMENT: The construction of the Riviera Galleria shopping center at the Agios Kosmas Marina is expected to be completed within the first quarter of next year.
The concreting works have been completed, while the electromechanical installations, the works on the facades and the canopy, the configuration of interior spaces as well as the exterior works and the roof insulation are in progress.
SARANTIS: Sustainable dividend yield of 3-4% as well as significant room for acquisition moves is what Eurobank Equities sees in the listed company, in its report in which, however, it lowers the bar to 15.1 from 16 euros.
Despite the pressures on this year’s profits, the brokerage identifies room for a recovery in profits from 2027. On the distributions front, it expects a dividend of 0.40 euros for this year’s fiscal year (yield 3.3%), 0.45 euros for 2027 (3.7%) and 0.49 euros for 2028 (4.1%).
Overall, in combination with the target price, the brokerage forecasts a total expected return of 23.8% for those who invest in the stock.
ALTER EGO MEDIA: The listed company’s strong half-year results did not go unnoticed by analysts and the investment community. Edison rushed to upgrade the fair price for the share to 7.30 euros, without taking into account in its valuation the possible additional value from the company’s participation in the joint streaming platform with Motor Oil and the ANT1 group.
The positive climate was also reflected on the board, with the stock closing up 1.25% and with significant trading volume, as the new figures seem to have strengthened interest around the listed company.
According to information, the management of Alter Ego Media is starting today in London a series of meetings with foreign institutional investors. And the roadshow does not stop there: next week the plane heads for Paris, where the program includes a new round of contacts with the international investment community.
It seems that after the results, management is also stepping up in investor relations.
SHIPPING: A strong wave of selling violently put an end to the upward movement of the two shipping companies, which occupied the top two positions among the stocks with the biggest losses yesterday. The Star Bulk share, from the low of 26.65 on the first day of trading, had reached as high as 28.39 euros on Monday, with cumulative gains at 6.52%.
Yesterday’s close, however, found the stock at 26.84 euros with the decline at 5.46%. The price is now below 27.05 euros, from where it debuted on Euronext Athens, but higher than the 24.5 euros at which the shares were offered in the context of the Public Offering.
Even stronger was the pressure received by the shares of Safe Bulkers. The losses were 6.8% and the close at 7.4 euros. Previously, the company had been running an upward streak from 7.055 euros to 7.94 euros with cumulative gains at 12.5%.
The high for the stock stands at 8.5 euros (September 7), while the placement for 12 million shares was made at 6.7 euros.
REFINERIES: The two shipping companies were followed by the shares of Helleniq Energy and Motοr Oil, completing the quartet of stocks in which strong profit taking was recorded. For the two listed companies, the discussion around the possibility of extra taxation also weighed.
In the case of the Vardinogiannis group’s stock, the decline reached 4.95% (close 64.3 euros), while trades were made even at 63.5 euros (-6.13%).
The record for the stock is at 69.95 euros (September 17), while cumulative gains since the start of the conflict in the Middle East reach 75.3%. It is recalled that recently Eurobank Equities raised the target price for the stock to 73.9 euros while maintaining the “buy” recommendation. At the same time, however, it removed it from the top picks in favor of Coca Cola.
On the other hand, Helleniq Energy fell 4.8% to 16.85 euros with turnover of 12.86 million euros. Now the “war streak” for the stock… was limited to 91.25%. Goldman Sachs recently gave a target price of 17.8 euros, in the fourth upward revision of its estimate in just five months.