FAIS I: It is no small feat for a share to lose almost a third of its market value while the rest of the market is having a... party!
Yet that is exactly what is happening to Fais Group, owned by Sami Fais, which continues to disappoint investors despite the Greek stock market’s spectacular rally.
The company listed on 27 March 2025 at an offer price of €4.70. The day before yesterday, it closed at €3.20, having never again reached its listing price. That is a total decline of 31.9%, while over the same period the General Index has surged by… 49.2%!
The 81-percentage-point gap speaks volumes. Even after dividends and capital returns totalling €0.312 per share, those who took part in the IPO are still nursing losses of more than 25%.
To put it another way, the share now needs to rise by around 47% to get back to €4.70.
In Fais’s case, then, despite the hopes of many investors, the old saying that the morning tells you how the day will go seems to be holding true.
The first warning sign came with the IPO, which was oversubscribed by just 1.42 times, with 76% of the shares on offer going to retail investors. Even then, it was clear that the valuation had failed to convince the big players.
After all this time, it is hard to argue that they were wrong, or that the IPO valuation reflected what the company could deliver.
But the problem is probably not confined to the initial valuation. There is also the issue of the investment story, which seems to be getting murkier rather than clearer.
FAIS II: In the first half of 2026, sales and EBITDA rose by just 3%. Net profit was up 125%, but behind that impressive increase was mainly a one-off gain of €3.68 million from the sale of a hotel in Santorini.
It was a hotel the group had bought only in September 2024, before selling it in 2026 for €28.3 million.
This is not the only such case. In 2024, the company also recorded €5.5 million in one-off income (not profit) from the sale of a vessel, an activity it subsequently discontinued.
Brands, shops, hotels, property, vessels... We do not dispute that such transactions can generate substantial profits.
But what is the coherent growth strategy that shareholders are being asked to fund?
That question is reinforced by how the proceeds from the listing were used. About €13.5 million went towards repaying debt, and just €5.5 million towards expanding the store network.
To be fair, net debt has fallen to €47 million, and the current valuation does not look demanding. But the share’s market performance remains stubbornly negative.
Perhaps that is partly because, with average daily trading value of around €60,000-70,000, the share also suffers from limited liquidity.
In short, Sami Fais succeeded in taking his group public at a valuation that, as events have shown, was high.
But those who paid €4.70 for their ticket were firmly turned away at the door of the party the Greek stock market has been enjoying.
And it seems they may be left waiting outside for some time.
PASOK: All parties are now gearing up for an election, with PASOK and ELAS entering the final (?) stretch of their contest for second place in the polls.
Harilaou Trikoupi has shifted into high gear, believing it is “entirely achievable” that it will overtake Amalias by the end of the year. That is why not a single line of the plan for campaign visits across the country is being changed.
After Crete, Central Macedonia and the Athens region, it is the turn of Thessaly, where PASOK has strong links with the farming community. The pattern is, of course, the same: teams of party officials and MPs will visit “cities and villages”, while Nikos Androulakis will conclude the tour with a major political speech.
Soon afterwards, the same scene will be played out in the southern Peloponnese, prompted by the PASOK leader’s appearance at the Central Union of Municipalities of Greece (KEDE) conference in Kalamata.
The “green” optimism about a turnaround in the polls stems from the autumn surveys (in September and October), which show PASOK inching upwards, while ELAS is losing ground at much the same pace.
“If this continues for another two months, surely we’ll draw level — and our trend will still be upwards,” Androulakis’s aides say.
And if they do draw level… “then there’ll be no stopping us,” they conclude. Such is their momentum that they may even be anticipating a nationwide first place for PASOK before the general election is called…
ELAS: Alexis Tsipras’s team has been pursuing a similar strategy for some time, with party officials making visits and the former prime minister himself touring the country and giving speeches.
A meeting of the National Council — the mammoth body made up of 400 members — is due to take place in late November. The first names of election candidates are expected to be announced shortly before or after it.
Those names are reportedly set to include former SYRIZA MPs who became independents and are handing back their seats one by one, including George Karameros, Symeon Kedikoglou, Efi Achtsioglou, Dionysis Kalamatianos and Haris Mamoulakis, as well as any others who by then will have resigned their parliamentary seats and joined ELAS.
The big question — and the gamble — is whether these names, or some of them, will add to or detract from the strength of their new party, given the strained relations or friction some had with Mr Tsipras before he resigned as SYRIZA leader.
His aides, however, appear wary of announcing the former MPs’ candidacies “en masse”, for fear that ELAS could be labelled “SYRIZA 2”.
In short, they are looking for the right dose in the mix of... “left-wing mobilisation”.
VASSILIADIS: Shipowner Byron Vassiliadis is marking his entry into the very large crude carrier (VLCC) market.
Venergy Maritime, based in Piraeus, confirmed an order for two VLCCs, each with a capacity of 306,000 dwt, with options for two more, at China’s Hengli Heavy Industry shipyard. Deliveries are scheduled for the first quarter of 2029.
The new deal could take Venergy’s orderbook to 26 tankers, in addition to the three MR2 vessels already in operation. Meanwhile, affiliated company OceanV Maritime has eight containerships under construction.
In total, Vassiliadis has ordered up to 34 vessels in 16 months, with investment exceeding $2 billion. The programme includes MR2 and LR2 product carriers, suezmaxes, VLCCs and containerships.
The businessman, who built a business in port services through V Group, entered the ocean-going shipping market in 2025 and is seeking to create an international tanker group.
COUSTAS: Moody’s has upgraded the outlook on shipowner John Coustas’s Danaos Corporation to positive from stable, citing greater revenue visibility, strong liquidity and prudent financial management at the Greek shipping company.
The agency also upgraded the rating on its unsecured bonds to Ba1 from Ba2. According to Moody’s, a long-term charter book at fixed rates, positive free cash flow and a focus on reducing debt strengthen the company’s resilience even in more challenging market conditions.
As of 30 June, Danaos had contracted revenues of $4.6 billion, with an average remaining charter term of 4.7 years, while cash and cash equivalents stood at $1 billion.
The company has 78 containerships in operation and 28 under construction, and has also expanded into bulk carriers. It is also considering entering the LNG carrier market through its participation in the Alaska LNG project.
DELAPORTAS: George Delaportas’s Meadway Bulkers has placed a new order for six ultramax bulk carriers, each with a capacity of 64,500 dwt, according to TradeWinds. The vessels will be built at Nantong Xiangyu shipyards in China, with deliveries scheduled for 2029 and 2030.
The cost of the deal has not been disclosed. However, according to Clarksons, the average price of a newbuild ultramax is about $36 million, based on the trend over the past three months. Once the new vessels are delivered, Meadway’s fleet will grow to 26 bulk carriers.
This is Delaportas’s biggest order since 2021, when Meadway Bulkers split from Meadway Shipping & Trading, which he ran with his brother Costas, who founded DryDel Shipping.
The company has already ordered six newbuildings in Japan or at Japanese-owned shipyards, while the choice of a Chinese yard is thought to be linked to the availability of shipbuilding slots.
MOH: Motor Oil Renewables Energy (MORE), Motor Oil’s renewables arm, is receiving its first notable return on its investment in Unagi.
Unagi has decided to reduce its share capital by €7.9 million and return capital to shareholders. A few months ago, MORE agreed with PPC Renewables that Unagi would transfer to it a 51% stake in 12 special-purpose vehicles (SPVs), which hold a portfolio of licences for solar parks, for a consideration of €60 million.
At the same time, MORE acquired the remaining 25% of Unagi from the Manolopoulos family for €18 million. Along with the solar parks, PPC Renewables also took on about €87 million in debt.
AKTOR RENEWABLES: Aktor Renewables MAE, a wholly owned subsidiary of Aktor Group of Companies, closed 2025 with a loss of €4.42 million. As of 31 December 2025, the company had €19.11 million in receivables from subsidiaries.
Finally, DNC Energy, another Aktor subsidiary in renewables, is proceeding with a €1.9 million capital increase.
BANKS: JP Morgan expects Greek banks to increase shareholder distributions through 2028. Its estimates put dividend yields at current share prices at between 4% and 7%.
Piraeus has the highest yield. The bank expects a dividend of €0.52 per share for 2026 and €0.67 for 2028. That translates into yields of 5.6% and 7.1%, while the total payout ratio rises to 60%.
National Bank of Greece follows, with a dividend of €0.65 this year and €0.90 in 2028. Its yield reaches 5.9% in 2028. The bank distributes 70% of its earnings, including share buybacks, the highest payout ratio in the sector. JP Morgan sees scope for higher distributions as early as this year, given excess capital of about €1 billion.
For Eurobank, the yield is estimated at 5.1% in 2028, and for Alpha Bank at 4%. The two banks distribute between 55% and 57.5% of their earnings.
BANKS II: The third-quarter earnings season for the four systemic banks begins today and ends on 4 November.
AXIA (Alpha Finance) expects another strong quarter, driven by interest income, cost discipline and a relatively steady picture on asset quality. The agency remains “tactically cautious”, even though the shares have fallen by about 14% since late September and are now trading at 8.6 times 2027 earnings.
Volatility in bond markets, geopolitical risks and the potential for risk aversion towards year-end are keeping enthusiasm in check.
But what are the factors investors are expected to focus on? For Eurobank, which reports today, the key question is whether there is room to exceed its already upgraded guidance: a return on tangible equity (RoTE) of about 17% and earnings-per-share growth of more than 10%.
Investors will also scrutinise profitability by geography, the completion and integration of Eurolife, and capital allocation priorities, from distributions to potential new acquisitions.
At Alpha Bank, the market will focus on credit expansion, the momentum in interest income and the integration of acquisitions.
For Piraeus, the agency says guidance remains the main issue: in the first half, management upgraded its core revenue outlook but left its profitability targets unchanged. The market will also watch the integration and performance of National Insurance.
National Bank of Greece reports last, on Wednesday 4 November, with profit from continuing operations estimated at €330 million (+19%). The market expects management to confirm or provide more detail on its target for a RoTE of more than 15%, with attention focused on interest and fee income.
Investors also want more detail on the timetable and impact of the agreements with Allianz and Dromeus Capital.
Any indication of a special distribution on top of the regular one would be welcome…