JUSTICE: It seems that lack of restraint and arrogance are not traits confined to Justice Minister Giorgos Floridis, known in political circles as “the Taliban”, but are also shared by his brother, Vasileios Floridis, a deputy prosecutor at the Supreme Court.
In an article in Kathimerini, the latter set out to uncover a... “vein of corruption” in the judiciary, effectively accusing colleagues of handing down fabricated judicial rulings.
But what prompted this?
The referral to trial of 11 defendants in a case that also involves the son of Development Minister Takis Theodorikakos, against the backdrop of earlier allegations of a cover-up over a police check.
Mr Vasileios Floridis had handled the case at the Supreme Court personally, recommending that the referral order be quashed and the defendants acquitted.
But the Supreme Court judges unanimously rejected his recommendation.
So, rather than accept the judicial process, the senior prosecutor decided to put his colleagues in the firing line, challenging not merely their legal judgment but also their integrity!
And so the… slaps began.
JUSTICE II: First, the Association of Judges and Prosecutors described the attack as unprecedented and, after giving him a thorough dressing-down, reminded him of an earlier, rather... awkward, statement.
In 2016, he himself wrote that judicial officers with relatives active in politics should recuse themselves from cases involving political figures. Even if they are the most honest people around!
Apparently, those principles matter more when they apply to… others!
But the withering rebuke came from the leadership of the Supreme Court itself, which evidently recognised the scale of the institutional breach and the damage the institution could suffer, particularly after other blows, notably in the wiretapping case.
In a joint statement, the president and prosecutor of the Supreme Court reminded him that prosecutors’ recommendations do not bind judicial councils, and that the remedies available under the law do not include... articles in the press by prosecutors who disagree with court rulings.
They ended with a cutting reference to “emotional reactions of a media-driven nature”.
In other words, they told him that disagreeing with a judicial ruling is one thing; publicly denouncing as more or less corrupt the judges who did not accept your view is quite another.
Media reports also say that the possibility of disciplinary proceedings against him is being considered. And here we come to a small but extremely interesting... family detail.
The authority to initiate them rests with his brother, in his capacity as justice minister.
JUSTICE III: Needless to say, Deputy Prosecutor Floridis is not a member of the government, so his actions cannot automatically be attributed to it. Still, it is difficult not to recognise in his conduct the familiar pattern adopted by those in government.
We swear by the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary, provided its decisions do not touch important “people of our own”.
Otherwise, accusations begin about conspiracies, shadowy centres (for example, the wiretapping affair) and now, it seems, “veins of corruption”.
To be clear, the guilt or innocence of the defendants is a matter exclusively for the judiciary. Not ministers, their relatives or journalists.
That is precisely why judicial independence cannot be... selective. Nor should it appear to depend on who the defendant’s father is or who the prosecutor’s brother is.
Otherwise, the rule of law becomes... a family affair.
POLITICS: The first clash between the government and ELAS in the new political… season, prompted by the Thessaloniki International Fair, was fought with “weapons” drawn from song titles: “twin moons” and, above all, the lyric “you speak so nicely, but I know you” were invoked by Kyriakos Mitsotakis to attack Alexis Tsipras and PASOK.
PASOK spokesman Kostas Tsoukalas had replied with Stavros Xarchakos and “the false, grand words” (from the legendary “Rebetiko”)… and we all found ourselves humming along as we turned to YouTube for a refresher.
Well, now we have moved on to international and Greek cinema, as film titles (and plots) have seemed to echo events here.
Mr Tsipras was first to make the move, invoking “The Godfather” in response to the corruption cases that keep breaking: “Any resemblance to real people and situations is entirely coincidental,” he wrote on social media… before asking rhetorically: “Is it?”.
Government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis took up the challenge, recalling a film from classic Greek cinema featuring Mavrogi alouros: “Since the former prime minister likes to confuse cinema with real life, there are other films to remind him of his political record. ‘There Is Honour, Too’, for example,” he said.
It remains to be seen who is less popular with the Greek public: “The Godfather” or Mavrogi alouros?…
PASOK: This column has often noted Harilaou Trikoupi’s decision to stop opening fronts with Koumoundourou, since the common opponent of both camps is… Amalias.
“We have no reason to clash with SYRIZA any more,” a thoroughly reliable “green” party figure said this summer, as we reported — promptly and accurately.
But “to go from that to claims that PASOK and SYRIZA figures are meeting to discuss an electoral alliance between the two parties if a second election is called, is a bit much,” another source (equally reliable and influential) now observes.
Besides, as some sceptics with extensive electoral and political experience point out, if SYRIZA wins the 1–1.5% that opinion polls give it, what exactly would it bring to any party it supported?
That depends, others reply, on how close PASOK is to ELAS and what share it needs to secure second place.
In any case, no official announcements about these scenarios have been made.
CAPITAL MARITIME: Despite the public offering being 4.3 times oversubscribed, the share-price performance of Capital Maritime Finance, whose controlling interests are held by Evangelos Marinakis, has so far failed to impress. Trading since the stock’s debut has, after all, taken place against a backdrop of intense international market pressure.
The shares opened at €7.50 on Tuesday and reached €7.70 on Wednesday, but fell 2.21% on Friday to close at €7.53. That is just 0.4% above the public offering price!
The column’s discussion with an experienced stock-market executive is therefore of interest. He believes the company’s current valuation is significantly below its true value.
In his view, two of the most important factors in determining a shipping company’s fair valuation multiple are the age of its fleet and the duration of its secured charter contracts.
He argues that Capital Maritime Finance has a significant advantage on both measures.
Indeed, according to the prospectus, the projected fleet’s weighted average age is just 0.5 years, as at 30 September 2026, assuming all deliveries have been completed.
At the same time, the average remaining duration of the charters is 9.4 years, with contracted revenue of $3.9bn.
Our interlocutor cited shipping company SFL as an example. Listed in New York, it has an older, diversified fleet and shorter charter durations.
According to his calculations, SFL trades at a multiple of about 8.5 times estimated 2028 EBITDA.
“So why shouldn’t CMFC be entitled to a higher multiple?” he asked.
CAPITAL MARITIME II: The company’s dividend policy also comes into the equation, with a target of distributing 60%–70% of adjusted net profit. Eurobank Equities has estimated a dividend yield of about 7% for 2027, based on the initial maximum offer price of €7.84.
There is also the prospect of significant growth as new ships are delivered. Based on estimates provided by our source, EBITDA is expected to rise from $79m in 2026 to $318m in 2028. That would mean as much as a fourfold increase in two years!
The forecast is not without foundation. As Panos Dantis noted in an analysis for Euro2day.gr, the company’s contracted revenue amounts to about $415m a year.
With historical EBITDA margins of 69.1%–73.1%, that translates into annualised EBITDA of $287m–$303m. The forecast is therefore close to the upper end of that range.
Of course, valuation does not depend on EBITDA alone. The extensive investment programme entails higher borrowing, while delivery schedules and charter contracts must also be met. These are factors investors must weigh, too.
Even so, our interlocutor was clear that, over the longer term, the share’s fair value is above €10 — at least 33% higher than Friday’s close.
Whether he will be proved right remains to be seen.
With the shares trading at €7.53 on the board and the broker seeing them above €10, there is a gap worth noting.
EUROBANK: Grivalia Hospitality (GH) will remain under the direct control of the Fairfax group following the sale of the remaining 80% of Eurolife AEAZ to Eurobank.
The insurer held 46.98% of Grivalia Hospitality, while Eurobank held 9.17%. By acquiring 100% of Eurolife AEAZ, Eurobank would have ended up with 56.15% of GH. That outcome was ultimately avoided when Fairfax decided that Eurolife AEAZ would transfer 10% of GH to Fairfax (US) Inc.
At the same time, as part of preparations for the sale of Eurolife, Fairfax transferred 59.5m Eurobank shares held by the insurer to another group company, Fairfax Inc, freeing up a significant €247m in liquidity.
At the end of 2025, its investment portfolio held shares worth €407.8m, of which €224.7m was invested in shares of related parties (Eurobank, CairoMezz, etc.).
By all appearances, it made a notable gain on the transfer.
AEGEAN: After hovering near the level for several sessions, the airline’s shares finally hit a year low on Friday.
The shares closed at €10.59 (down 2.67%), their lowest level this year, below the previous low of €10.84 on 18 May. Trading value was high at €1.53m, partly because of a block trade of 30,000 shares worth €321,900.
The shares have fallen 22.8% since the start of the war in the Middle East.
GEK TERNA: It was a nerve-racking session for the shares of Giorgos Peristeris’s group, which came under heavy selling pressure.
During the session, the shares fell as much as 7.6%, before gradually paring their losses to close at €38.50, down 1.18%.
Turnover was high at €41.2m, while seven block trades were recorded, covering more than 145,000 shares with a combined value of €5.4m.
The share-price pressure prompted the main shareholder to buy 55,000 shares worth nearly €2.1m, a move disclosed on Friday afternoon.
The shares hit a record high of €47.18 on 27 August and have since fallen 18.4%. Even after the recent pressure, however, they are still up more than 51% this year.
On Friday, Santander set a target price of €62. Its report says GEK TERNA’s decision not to issue a eurobond — a move it has 12 months to make — should be seen as a sign of strength and a step to protect its shareholders.
INTRACOM: Sokratis Kokkalis bought almost 2m shares in the company over four sessions, spending about €2.5m.
The scale of the purchases goes beyond sending a message of confidence and is probably linked, according to market sources, to a concrete effort to highlight the value embedded in the listed company’s holdings and cash reserves.
If the purchases continue at the same pace, Sokratis Kokkalis will soon raise his stake to around 33.4%, at which point his true intentions will become clear.
Incidentally, from 30 October (the date on which the new Crediabank shares, issued as consideration to Europe Holdings shareholders, are credited), Intracom will hold 3.76% of the bank. It also received €17.8m from the capital return by Europe Holdings.
NATIONAL BANK OF GREECE: The bank’s management confirmed that strong performance continued in the third quarter of 2026 and that its upgraded full-year targets remained on track, in a briefing for analysts ahead of the nine-month results announcement.
As Beta Securities reported, net interest income is expected to increase quarter on quarter, thanks to the repricing of assets and higher benchmark interest rates.
The momentum in new lending recorded in the second quarter continued into the third, while demand for financing remains strong. October in particular saw a marked acceleration, with the approved but undisbursed loan portfolio supporting credit growth.
Fee income is on track to meet targets, with some scope to exceed them, although the third quarter is expected to be weaker following higher lending and capital-markets activity in the previous quarter. Income from financial transactions is expected to be marginally lower than in the second quarter.
On costs, operating expenses are on track to rise by about 8% year on year, while the cost of credit risk remains below 40 basis points, with steady inflows of non-performing exposures and a conservative provisioning policy. Deposits continue to outperform, supported by the resilience of households and the labour market.
Capital generation remained positive in the third quarter, while the bank maintained its forecast for a distribution of about 60% of profits, with the final decision deferred until year-end. The possibility of a special dividend also remains open.
Exceptional items include a €15m charge in the third quarter for LEPETE, while the fourth quarter is expected to include €25m in spending on school renovations and donations of about €5m per bank to universities.
NATIONAL BANK OF GREECE II: The up-front fee that Allianz will pay National Bank of Greece for the exclusive distribution of its insurance products through the bank’s network for 10 years, with an option to extend for a further five, remains a closely guarded secret.
National Bank may recognise part of the revenue when the SPA is signed or when the transaction is completed. Under IFRS, the remainder will be recognised gradually.