Alpha Bank, the second largest bank in Greece, is interested in purchasing a Turkish Bank, said the bank's chairman Yannis Costopoulos. In an interview with Greek daily Imerisia, Costopoulos said that the Turkish banking sector was not like that of Bulgaria or Romania. "The big Turkish banks are strong and they are at technologically high levels. It is not easy to compete with them," the Greek financial daily quoted him as saying.
Nevertheless, Alpha Bank is rumored to be flirting with Turkey's Alternatifbank, a small bank with a market capitalization of €225 million. The Alpha Bank Group is also active in the international banking market in other parts of the world, with a presence in South Cyprus and Southeastern Europe as well as in New York, London and Jersey in the Channel Islands.
[thenewanatolian]
In other business related news, Greek third quarter GDP grew 4.3 pct year on year due to the increase in final demand in the economy by 4.9 pct, the National Statistical Service (NSS) of Greece said.
[forbes]
posted on Wednesday, November 15
From Bloomberg:
"Stocks in Cyprus, the world's second-best performing market behind Peru this year, may get an addedboost as shares become available for trading in Greece, home ofsoutheast Europe's largest exchange.
The Cyprus Stock Exchange General Index has more thandoubled this year as investors anticipated mergers andacquisitions involving the eastern Mediterranean island's threebiggest banks ."
DF: As an aside, Peru is in its 5th year of positive economic growth.
[Bloomberg]
posted on Thursday, October 26
A ceremony was held at the Athens Golf Club awarding ten winners in various categories dealing with Retail Business in Greece this past year. Conducted by the Publishing Organization "Direction", the event was supported by the Association of Business Retail Commerce and the National Confederation of Greek Commerce.
And the winners, in their respective categories were:
Retailer of the Year: IKEA
Retail Franchisor: Goody's and 5 A' sec
Retail Manager: Socratis Kominakis, managing director of TIM Hellas
Retail Rising Star: Fnac
Retail Campaign: Germanos
Retail Store-Super Market: Sklavenitis
Retail Store-Dining: Starbacks
Retail Store-Clothing and Footwear: ZARA
Retail Store-Electrical Appliances and New Technologies: Fnac
Retail Department Store: Attica
DF: Nice to see more than a few Greek businesses holding their own against the mega global brands. More from the National Confederation of Greek Commerce after the jump..
[emed-tds]
posted on Tuesday, October 24
Aegean Airlines continues to grow and grab market share in the Balkans, making it the top airline connecting Thessaloniki with Western Europe. In order to stay ahead of the curve, Aegean recently aquired three new airplanes, all A320s, and will phase out three older models.
After conneting with Sofia, Bulgaria earlier this year, Aegean is looking to solidify flights to Bucharest this month. Also in the works are flights to Belgrade, and its first connection in Africa via Cairo. By 2008, an additional five routes are being drawn up within a 3 hour flight radius of Greece.
DF: Aegean has a flight cooperation plan with Lufthansa which serves the northern European market, a special cooperation with AIR ONE, connecting many Italian cities to Greece and lastly a cooperation with TAP Portugal which brings the Portuguese to Greece.
[aegeanair]
posted on Monday, October 23
Greeks have long had a fascination with American labels. Think names like Levis, Nike, Timberland, DNKY etc...
So it comes as no surprise that someone was trying to turn a fast buck off another U.S. brand. Customs authorities in Greece stopped a container of counterfeit Columbia Sportswear Co. footwear, resulting in a seizure of 19,200 pairs of counterfeit shoes.
The shoes had been manufactured in China and were en route to animporter based in Greece. In accordance with the sanctions allowed byGreek law, the shoes will be destroyed.
"We are especially grateful to the Piraeuscustoms office in Greece, for their assistance in this significantseizure," said Tim Boyle, president and CEO of Portland-based ColumbiaSportswear.
[columbia.com]
posted on Wednesday, October 18
Biz Notes:
- A common trading platform between Cyprus and Athens stock exchanges is set to launch on Oct. 30, 2006. The new trading system is a complete overhaul of the existing infrastructure.
- The official introduction of the Euro in Cyprus is scheduled to take place on Jan. 1, 2008.
- Check out [this story] about American security company SAIC. The San Diego based firm is in a major dispute with the Greek government over payment for services from the 2004 Olympics.
posted on Wednesday, October 11
Greece is fed up with Apple and they now have a website to prove it. The name pretty much sums it up: WewantAppleGreece.com.
Mac fans in the homeland are frustrated with the lack of availability, support, and pricing structure of Apple products and services have united in hopes of getting support from an actual corporate Apple body.
The site is a spin-out/tribute to WewantApplePoland.com, which confronts many of the same issues.
DF: At least some of us (smart ones) at DF ore loyal mac freaks. Congrats to our brothers and sisters in Greece. We applaud your efforts.
Definitely smell a trend:
posted on Thursday, October 5
The head of Greece's powerful industrialists' union refuted recent press allegations of price fixing by big business in Greece.
"There is the impression that cartels have been uncovered everywhere, including in the most competitive sectors of the economy," said Dimitris Daskalopoulos, president of the Federation of Greek Industries at a press conference.
This news follows a recent scandal involving the head of Greece's competition authority who allegedly solicited a EUR2.5 million bribe from a dairy company under investigation by his agency for alleged price-fixing with competitors.
previous story...
posted on Wednesday, October 4
Greece's second-quarter unemployment rate fell to 8.8 percent from 9.7 percent in the first quarter, the country's National Statistics Office said Thursday, following a continuing trend accross the country.
The statistics office said the unemployment rate was the lowest rate since 1998, when the current quarterly labor force data series was first used. The unemployment rate in the second quarter of 2005 was 9.6 percent.
The size of the overall work force relative to the population was at the highest level in years, the NSS said, with 53.3 percent of the population over 15 years old in work. (Woo hoo!) All age groups recorded a drop in unemployment. Those aged 15 to 29 years old, who traditionally have the highest unemploy ment rate, saw joblessness fall to 17.8 percent in the second quarter compared with 18.8 a year earlier. DF: Now if we can stop all the strikes and have some more stability in the work force in Greece, imagine the potential! By the way, following up on the story from yesterday, Greece is now 25% richer than it was a day ago, due to the upward rise of the GDP. Greece now has to give more to the EU budget as well. |
 |
posted on Thursday, September 28
Switzerland, Finland and Sweden are the world's most competitive economies according to The Global Competitiveness Report 2006-2007,released by the World Economic Forum on 26 September 2006. Denmark,Singapore, the United States, Japan, Germany, the Netherlands and theUnited Kingdom complete the top ten list, but the United States showsthe most pronounced drop, falling from first to sixth.
DF: Poland who? Ha!
posted on Tuesday, September 26
