PASOK: It entered the summer with 32 MPs and welcomes the winter… with 35. The reason is PASOK, which today welcomes into its ranks the fifth independent MP acquired through transfer, Evangelos Apostolakis.
The long-expected accession will be formalized early at noon in a meeting the MP will have with Nikos Androulakis, at the party’s office in Parliament.
The first autumn transfer was Alexandros Avlonitis, elected with SYRIZA, who had followed Stefanos Kasselakis from whose party he departed months ago.
While in the summer Michalis Chourdakis joined the “green” party (he was elected with Course of Freedom, went to Kasselakis’ party and also left).
They had all been preceded by Rania Thraskia and Petros Pappas, both elected with SYRIZA.
For PASOK’s Parliamentary Group to move toward… “forty” is considered rather impossible, since the pending cases remain Nina Kasimati and Theodora Tzakri (also elected with SYRIZA), who belonged to the “green” parliamentary force before 2012.
As for Mr. Apostolakis (also a retired admiral), information says that he will fight his electoral… naval battle in Piraeus A.
TSIPRAS: The ironies the former prime minister received for his visit to Mount Athos were abundant from his political opponents. The strange thing is that his former comrades in SYRIZA also led them, for whom he is a “red rag”, since they did not go to ELAS either because they did not want to or because he himself did not want them.
Why strange? Because when (as the column reminded on Friday) Mr. Tsipras first went to the Garden of the Virgin in 2014, also an election year, the same people not only did not react, but explained why… he did very well to go. With the (correct) argument that such visits are not made only by the… deeply or shallowly religious.
Since he did well to go then, why did he do wrong to go now? There is no official answer from the same people, but it is the obvious one: then he was our president, while now he is our opponent…
P.S. Of course, the harshest reaction came from Zoi Konstantopoulou, who in 2014 had not been bothered in the slightest…
MARINAKIS: Capital Tankers of Vangelis Marinakis is among the companies estimated to be able to benefit the most from the explosive rise in tanker freight rates, as geopolitical tension in the Middle East and the limited supply of ships create a particularly favorable environment for the market.
Arctic Securities describes the current situation as a “strong combination” for tanker trading and forecasts exceptionally high profits in the fourth quarter. Analyst Kristoffer Barth Skeie estimates that the market is heading toward “crazy profits” in Q4, with Capital Tankers being one of the companies best positioned to capitalize on the rally.
“We see Capital as one of the best ways to play the current strength of the market,” he notes, as the company has eight suezmaxes, four LR2s and four aframaxes operating in the spot market during Q4.
Based on suezmax rates at $250,000 per day, Arctic Securities calculates earnings per share of $2.30 for Capital Tankers in Q4. At the same time, it gives an estimated net asset value (NAV) of $23.27 per share at year-end.
The market’s momentum is also reflected in freight rates. Last week, charterers turned to suezmaxes instead of VLCCs in order to limit transport costs, with the result that rates on the West Africa-Continent route surged by 50%, to $408,000 per day.
Fearnley Securities had chosen Capital Tankers just one day earlier as one of its top stock picks for October. Analyst Fredrik Dybwad argued that the company is becoming “increasingly attractive” as more ships are delivered to the market and dividends increase.
At the same time, options for ships can add value to NAV, as ship values strengthen. Capital Tankers’ share rose by more than 2% to 182 kroner in Oslo, that is about 16.79 euros.
MARINAKIS II: Meanwhile, the upcoming entry of CMF into Euronext Athens has already caused a… small panic in brokerage offices.
The reasons are mainly two. The first has to do with Vangelis Marinakis. The reputation he has built in the international capital markets, through his extremely successful moves, from the Nasdaq to the Oslo stock exchange, creates a basis of trust with the investing public, analysts point out.
A basis extremely important in periods of international uncertainty like today’s.
The second reason has to do with CMF’s characteristics. The company’s model offers unique revenue visibility for shareholders ($3.9 billion contracted revenue backlog).
This is anything but accidental, as CMF has strategically focused on one sector (containerships), but also on a fleet (feeders, neo-panamax) that shows high demand as well as great stability in contrast to other shipping sectors.
SHIPPING: The Cypriot investment company Danship Partners, headed by Nikos Paneras, made its debut in the MR product tankers market by acquiring the 37,000 dwt Easterly Symphony, built in 2009, from the American Easterly Clean Ocean.
The South Korean-built vessel changed hands for about $20 million, while VesselValue values it at $23.8 million. Danship renamed the vessel Danship Symphony and has chartered it long-term to a major international operator.
The company, managed by executives of InterMaritime, states that it will seek opportunistic purchases in key shipping sectors. Danship had also made its first investment in March, buying an LR1 tanker and reselling it just one month later, reaping a high return.
PANAGIOTIDI: Freight rates for the fleet of Icon Energy, the Nasdaq-listed company controlled by Ismini Panagiotidi, are recording a strong rise, as the dry bulk market remains on an upward trajectory.
Icon has one panamax, one kamsarmax and one ultramax, which are employed under time-charter contracts with fixed or floating rates. For the third quarter, the fleet’s average daily rate is expected to be formed at $19,000, up 23% year-on-year, while vessel utilization so far stands at 100%.
The company notes that all scheduled dry dockings were completed between December 2025 and June 2026, with no new off-hire periods or related capital expenditures expected until the second quarter of 2029.
Icon attributes the market’s momentum to strong flows of iron ore, bauxite and corn, while estimating that the medium- to long-term prospects remain positive.
KOUSTAS: Distribution to the shareholders of Danaos Corp., the shipping company run by Giannis Coustas, is reaching record levels since the reinstatement of its dividends five years ago. The company announced a total dividend of $6 per share, which corresponds to about $110 million, based on the 18.26 million shares outstanding.
The distribution includes a regular dividend of $1 for the third quarter and an extraordinary distribution of $5 per share. This is Danaos’ highest dividend since 2021, when it reinstated distributions after a 13-year interruption.
The company’s profitability was significantly strengthened after the debt restructuring and the rise in the freight market during the pandemic period. Danaos has 76 containerships and 28 under construction, while the dry cargo fleet includes 11 capesizes and four newcastlemax newbuildings.
TERNA ENERGY: The amount of 33.38 million euros will be collected from its 100% subsidiary TERNA Energy by Abu Dhabi Future Energy as, being its sole shareholder, it decided on September 21 on an equal capital return.
Earlier this year, there had been two other capital returns by TENERG to its then parent company Masdar Hellas.
The first was worth 10.65 million euros and the second 5.9 million euros.
AKTOR ATE: From the most loss-making asset of the ELLAKTOR group into a machine for producing profits and cash flows from operating activities, AKTOR ATE was transformed by the Aktor group.
The loss-making and capital-consuming AKTOR ATE for a series of years closed fiscal year 2025 with net profits of 96.8 million euros. The gross margin reached 17% and EBITDA came to 155.1 million euros.
The construction company reduced borrowing, limiting its financial costs to 11.5 million euros. At the same time, it restrained the amount of receivables from customers (275.3 million euros) and other receivables (116.3 million euros), although receivables from Public construction contracts increased by almost 100 million euros (187.34 million euros from 89.2 million euros).
Liabilities to suppliers increased by 91 million euros, contributing together with profitability to the impressive improvement in the generation of cash flows from operating activities.
Net borrowing was limited to 11.3 million euros, while it proceeded to an impairment of subsidiary values of 29.13 million euros (ed. note: 24.85 million euros concern TOMI AVETE).
The mix of projects it implemented in 2025 (Thessaloniki Metro, Pyrgos-Patra, etc.) may have played a role in the improvement of margins and in the collection of receivables.
J&J: Change of guard at Johnson & Johnson Medical Greece, with Christina Prifti taking over as President and CEO and Achilleas Keramidas as Vice President and deputy CEO.
The change comes a few months after the resignation, on June 30, of Ioannis Syleounis from the Board of Directors, when representation had passed to Panagiotis Pitsillidis and Keramidas.
The new Board of Directors, with a term until 2029, assumes broad responsibilities in tenders, guarantees and supply contracts with public and private hospitals.
COCO-MAT: The 22.5 million euros of bank borrowing remain the great burden on the company’s balance sheet. Opposite them, equity stands at just 676 thousand euros, from 1.17 million in 2024. And yet, last year losses fell to 501 thousand euros from 2.55 million, although turnover declined to 17.43 million euros.
The little secret is that almost 2 million euros were recorded as extraordinary and non-operating income, from just 69 thousand euros in 2024.
So, COCO-MAT did indeed dramatically reduce its losses. With debt, however, of 22.5 million euros and an extraordinary “cushion” of almost 2 million, the interesting point is what will remain in the current fiscal year when the extraordinary items go away.
BANKS: The four systemic banks “erased” from their stock market value an amount exceeding 4 billion euros in the first two sessions of October. From 58.48 billion euros on September 30, total capitalization fell to 54.38 billion euros on Friday, with the loss amounting to 4.095 billion euros.
At the stock level, Alpha Bank fell to 4.46 euros, from 4.86 euros, with a capitalization loss of 902.5 million euros. Eurobank stood at 4.58 euros, from 4.94 euros, “losing” 1.299 billion euros in capitalization.
Piraeus fell to 10.18 euros, from 10.97 euros, with its capitalization decreasing by 976.4 million euros, while National closed at 16.835 euros, from 17.85 euros, recording a loss of 916.7 million euros.
It is what they call a start on the… left foot.