Athens News Agency: News in English, 00-06-07

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Serbia - Opposition - Solana - Hombach

[02] PM Simitis-Aznar-Talks

[03] Ankara-Sgouros-Concert

[04] Foreign Exchange Rates-Thursday

[05] Weather Forecast-Thursday

[06] National Insurance-Hellenic Petroleum

[07] Despec Hellas-new acquisition

[08] Olympic Airways-Athens-Venice

[09] Lyberis Publications-1st quarter results

[10] Bank of Piraeus-insurance

[11] Greece-electronic trading

[12] ASE-close

[13] Greece-wholesale prices-April figures

[01] Serbia - Opposition - Solana - Hombach

Stability Pact coordinator for SE Europe, Bondo Hombach, and the European Union's High Representative for Foreign and Defence Policy, Javier Solana, said after meeting Serbian opposition leaders in Thessaloniki on Wednesday that Yugoslavia would have a place in the Stability Pact if President Milosevic was ousted from power.

The two-hour meeting took place behind closed doors, but sources said that the Serbian opposition leaders called for an end to sanctions against Yugoslavia, arguing that they hurt the general population rather than Milosevic.

[02] PM Simitis-Aznar-Talks

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar congratulated Greece and the Greek government on Wednesday "which succeeded in covering the necessary distance to enable the country to join the euro zone".

"Greece's participation in the euro constitutes a success for Greece and a success for Europe," Aznar told reporters at a joint press conference with his Greek counterpart Costas Simitis. He also expressed satisfaction over his visit to Greece and his talks with Simitis.

"Undoubtedly the presence of the drachma in the euro is very positive for the present and the future of Greece and Europe," Aznar added and wished Greece every success for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.

Simitis said his conversation with his Spanish counterpart was "very friendly and cordial", adding that it focused on bilateral relations between the two countries and problems and developments in the European Union.

[03] Ankara-Sgouros-Concert

Greek pianist Dimitris Sgouros will give a concert in Ankara on June 8, accompanied by the Turkish Bilkent University Symphonic Orchestra directed by Gurel Aykal.

The proceeds of the event, organised by the Greek Embassy in Turkey, will be provided to support UNICEF's activities in Turkey and the rehabilitation of last year's earthquake victims.

[04] Foreign Exchange Rates-Thursday

Following are indicative rates for commercial banks released by the central bank for the next working day.

Thursdays rates (buying)

Euro 333.967

U.S. dollar 349.283

German mark 170.755

[05] Weather Forecast-Thursday

The day will start sunny on Thursday, turning to scattered cloud on the mainland in the afternoon, and maybe storms in central and northern Greece by evening.

[06] National Insurance-Hellenic Petroleum

National Insurance, a member of National Bank of Greece Group, has agreed to pay 40 million US dollars in compensation to Hellenic Petroleum for damages from a fire at the company's Thessaloniki refinery, February 19, 1999.

It is the biggest ever compensation in the Greek industry history and its completion followed 15 months of negotiations.

[07] Despec Hellas-new acquisition

Despec Hellas on Wednesday announced a pre-agreement for the purchase of a 51 percent stake in INT, a mobile business and mobile computing company for an undisclosed sum.

The company said the deal aimed to boost its activities in the mobile business market through the promotion of INT's products in southeastern Europe and other developing countries.

INT, is an exclusive distributor of Psion products. The company expects its sales to exceed 700 million drachmas and profits to exceed 70 million drachmas this year.

[08] Olympic Airways-Athens-Venice

Olympic Airways on Wednesday announced the beginning of its new route to Venice from June 9 in cooperation with Alpieagles.

The new route will be serviced every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday with a daily Fokker 100 aircraft flight.

Venice is the four Italian destination for Olympic Airways after Rome, Milan and Naples.

[09] Lyberis Publications-1st quarter results

Lyberis Publications on Wednesday reported a 30 percent rise in its 1st quarter turnover and a 61 percent jump in pre-tax profits compared with the same period last year.

The company's consolidated turnover and pre-tax profits rose 20 pct and 17 pct, respectively, over the same period.

Lyberis reported a turnover of 8.4 billion drachmas in 1999 and pre-tax profits of 1.12 billion.

A general shareholders' meeting on Wednesday approved a 80 drachmas per share dividend to shareholders.

Lyberis recently acquired a 50 percent rise in Desmi Printing. The group also includes Libecom, a software and Internet provider company, and Hellenic Printing.

Lyberis announced the creation of a new company, Liberis Athens, to focus on the publishing and communications sectors ahead of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.

Antonis Lyberis, the group's chairman and chief executive, said that the new company will help to promote all activities related with the Games, through special bi-lingual surveys, editions and bulletins.

[10] Bank of Piraeus-insurance

The Bank of Piraeus Group on Wednesday announced plans to expand into the insurance market through its subsidiary Piraeus Life Insurance SA, a company based on Xioslife.

The new company will become a raw model for low costs (operating and sales) with fundamental innovations in its organisation and sales departments, supported by the latest computer technology.

The group decided to make its own moves in the insurance market following the break-up of its deal with Allianz.

The Bank of Piraeus Group incorporates Bank of Piraeus, Bank of Macedonia-Thrace and Xiosbank. Their legal merger is expected to be completed by the end of the month.

[11] Greece-electronic trading

Lambrakis Press Organisation and P&K Capital Securities on Wednesday announced the creation of a joint company to offer stock market trading in Greece and abroad through the Internet from its site www.pksec.gr.

The new company will also offer on-line information on stock share prices and investment portfolios, mutual funds news, market news, analysts and surveys.

[12] ASE-close

Equity prices came under renewed strong selling pressure on Wednesday to end sharply lower in subdued turnover on the Athens Stock Exchange.

Dealers said market sentiment remained negative because of the absence of fresh incentives and lack of liquidity. Analysts said investors ignored positive news over the country's EMU membership but reacted negatively to delays in the government's privatisation programme.

The general index broke the 4,400 support level for the first time in 23 sessions to end at 4,348.78 points, off 2.62 percent. Turnover was a low 127 billion drachmas.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended at 2,411.93 points, off 2.51 percent, and the FTSE/ASE 40 index dropped 2.96 percent to 632.25 points.

The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks ended at 871.05 points, off 6.21 percent.

[13] Greece-wholesale prices-April figures

Greece's wholesale prices' index rose 0.3 percent in April from the previous month, registering the lowest monthly increase in the corresponding months in the previous two years, National Statistics Service said on Wednesday.

The index recorded rises of 1.1 percent in the same months in 1998 and 1999.

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