Until this time last year, AVE’s plan, whose interests include among others Nikos Vardinogiannis, was to become a food retailer. The Carrefour development plan may not have worked out for it -ed. note: for some, not a few, it was doomed from the outset- yet it was still playing the card of the deal with Bazaar. A deal that quite a few in the market also did not believe would go ahead. Nevertheless, until the beginning of December 2025 the scenario remained on the table.
The collapse of the deal with Bazaar, but above all the failure to reactivate Carrefour under its control led to the decision to change course. The logic, as presented by the listed company’s management at the regular general meeting in the summer, is relatively simple. You keep the activities that can grow without burdening the balance sheet, you limit those that generate losses and you transfer capital to new markets where you see higher returns.
This is what AVE is attempting today. At Carrefour it has changed model by transferring the corporate stores to franchise. In the first half, according to what it states in its financial statements, six new locations opened in Kyparissia, Corfu, Chios, Chania, Preveza and Santorini, while another eight are planned for the second.
AVE retains the master franchise, which, according to management, still has a duration of 6+10 years.
At the same time as it is limiting its direct exposure to food retail, it is opening a new door into pharmaceuticals. A few days after the close of the half-year it established, through AVE Participation, AVE Pharma, in which it controls 70%, with initial capital of 2.05 million euros. Through AVE Pharma it increased its stake in Erino Enterprises Company to 31.21%, which controls Vital Neon and, through it, corporate pharmacies and PharmaPlus, with a network of 100 members. The goal is to create a network of 100 franchise pharmacies by the end of 2027.
In this new mix, gaming of course remains, one of AVE’s core activities. The group markets videogames, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo consoles, as well as gaming accessories, through exclusive distribution agreements with suppliers mainly from abroad. This is an activity for which the company itself describes the continuation of cooperation with its key suppliers as critical.
However, the big challenge is Yalco. AVE, through AVE Participation, put 5 million euros into the capital increase and controls 32.05% of the company. According to management, Yalco's results in the half-year are moving 60% higher compared with 2025, while the goal is for its share to resume trading during the autumn, with a valuation of 16 million euros.
At the level of first-half results, its consolidated sales increased 23.9%, to 16.514 million euros, the gross profit margin rose to 24.1% from 21.4% and EBITDA turned positive, at 412,479 euros, from losses of 914,490 euros last year.
However, net losses widened to 1.397 million euros from 303,080 euros. The comparison is not entirely like-for-like, because last year the results had increased by 2.4 million euros from an agreement for the final repayment of loan obligations. Negative working capital was reduced to 259,000 euros from 7.08 million euros, while cash and cash equivalents at the end of June were just 799,000 euros.
Also entering the equation for the next day is the 10.2 million euro obligation to its shareholders, which it plans to capitalize within the financial year. And it may not be the only one. AVE, which has already restructured the greater part of its bank borrowing, states in the first-half financial statements that if working capital remains negative it may need to raise new capital, most likely through a share capital increase.