Hello, the news from yesterday mostly comes from the flood of polls – which more or less match across the channels – as well as the internal polling data of M.M. The bad news for the government is that the cabinet reshuffle didn’t really move the needle upwards, a little bit from Aristos (the handsome guy), a little bit from that cat Tsafos, they clouded the picture of Podence’s return to the team, or rather, Stavros Papastavrou in a taller and darker form. Anyway, a little bit here, a little bit there, New Democracy barely reaches 25%, but the scratches are deep everywhere, even for Mitsotakis himself. The good news for the government is that that poor little Nikolakis is heading towards single digits, and those damn pollsters who said that Zoitza would catch up and overtake him for second place were right. In Nik’s case, science throws up its hands because it takes a lot of effort to have Mitsotakis losing by 15 points, with the Left of SYRIZA completely vanished and shattered, there being four far-right parties, and still losing a little bit every day. And of course, this is very unpleasant and dangerous because, honestly, PASOK as it is, doesn’t represent an alternative to power, but not even a support role to the leading party.

“I wouldn’t have said it like that either”

Yesterday’s case regarding Pavlos Marinakis’ reference to PASOK representative Kostas Tsoukalas was truly interesting. The government unearthed an interview from two weeks ago, in which Tsoukalas analyzed the issue of referring political figures to their rightful judge, with the same logic used today by Triantopoulos. Of course, today both he and PASOK are saying something else. Marinakis, of course, was happy during the briefing, because, as he said, “I wouldn’t have said it so well either.”

Lesbos and the Blunder

PASOK is generally starting to lose its way. Next example, MP Panagiotis Doudonis, who wants to run in the three-member constituency of Lesbos in the next elections. A lecturer at Oxford, Doudonis knows some English, but he didn’t read a post by Tsafos, which he wanted to criticize. Tsafos (who also got an earful from Samaras yesterday) posted a map showing a series of Greek islands as Turkish, but then dismantled it in subsequent tweets. Doudonis, of course, saw the map and not the other tweets, so the continuation led to plenty of mockery on social media.

Voridis and Shipping

A very deep source of mine told me that Voridis was cut from the Ministry of Shipping for the sake of a shipowner who didn’t want another shipowner. Interesting, huh…

The “Package” for Defense and the Escape Clause

The government is making calculations at the moment for the “bonus” we’ll have in the near future from the activation of the escape clause as a result of the EU decisions. They say the relevant officials estimate the benefit for the budget to be around 1 billion annually. One-third of this will go for armaments, and the other two-thirds will go for social policy. In the Ministry of Defense, they are not “bothered” because they calculate that we need about €25 billion over the next decade, and the package from the escape clause adds up to just under €3 billion, so the rest is covered. Detailed announcements in about 2 weeks, during the pre-agenda session in Parliament and then in the closed briefing by Dendias in the Defense Procurement Committee.

The Best Client… of the Capital Markets Commission

(I have you all noted down) G. Kontopoulos of Hellenic Exchanges has become one of the best clients of the Capital Markets Commission. Yesterday, early in the morning before the stock exchange opened, for the second time in a week, a mixed team of inspectors and IT experts from the Capital Markets Commission went for an inspection at Hellenic Exchanges. The reason this time was the statements received by investors holding shares in EN.A, where the stock market valuations showed thousands for millions. For example, someone had €11,000, and the valuation from the stock exchange data showed €11,000,000.

Eurojackpot Comes Online

Record performances, far surpassing the set goals, were displayed by OPAP last year in a year that had it all (Euro, favorable sportsbook results, a significant rise in online). Analysts and investors are already looking at what the expected trajectory will be for 2025. The management has, of course, made plans, and one of the expected moves is the online offering of Eurojackpot, as the management told analysts that the game is preparing to go online this summer. It should be noted that a quarter ago, the license obtained by OPAP for Eurojackpot, in addition to land-based outlets (agencies), was extended to cover online play. OPAP has exclusive rights to conduct the game until 2034, having obtained the license from the Greek government in November 2022, with the game launching last March when the first Eurojackpot draw took place in Greece. Yesterday, with the boost from strong results and the high dividend yield it offers, OPAP reached €17.60, marking a 16-year high (September 2009).

Profits and Dividends

The explanations, forecasts, and analysis of financial figures given by OPAP’s management to financial analysts yesterday at noon obviously satisfied the market, which once again raised the capitalization above €6.5 billion, with a +2.68% increase to €17.6 per share. In simple terms, the management explained the highest growth margins, which largely align with economic growth, while the company’s online games, which now contribute one-third of its revenue, continue to increase systematically. OPAP has liquidity, is canceling the shares it previously bought via buyback, and the management stated that they will consider what to do with the share buyback. And since clear accounts make good friends, the management also mentioned that it intends to continue the attractive dividend policy towards shareholders.

Green Light for Sklavenitis and Pitsos

With two specific conditions, namely examining the possibility of keeping the “PITSOS” sign in place and creating a museum space to host the company’s history, the Ministry of Culture approved the final plan for the new project at the former Pitsos industrial complex in Elaionas, which has been passed on to Sklavenitis. As stated in the decision, the final plan with “change of use to supermarket, restaurants, multi-purpose rooms, and playground, roof modification, etc.” is approved because the proposed interventions do not alter the industrial building complex and improve accessibility to it and the surrounding area. The study also includes reinforcement of the supporting structure, removal of auxiliary buildings, change of facades, and internal modifications to the Pitsos factory complex located on the streets of An. Karkavitsa 1 and Kanapitsiri 7 in Elaionas, Nikaia – Agios Ioannis Rentis Municipality.

The… Restrooms

Moving on to RES (Renewable Energy Sources), it is well known that place names in Greece are often marked by… creativity. In some cases, when there is no alternative “official” name, it is the only option to geographically define a location. This is probably how the creation of a 14.24 MW photovoltaic park in the location “Katouristres 2” in the Local Community of Exarhou, Grevena Municipality, came about. Initially, for there to be a “Katouristres 2,” there must also be “Katouristres 1” nearby, where another photovoltaic station is also operating. In any case, under this name, the Ministry of Environment and Energy issued an “Information Act for an intervention on public forested land under Article 3 of Law 998/79, as amended, covering an area of 544,630.91 square meters, for the implementation and installation of the project: ‘Photovoltaic Park, 14.24 MW in the location “Katouristres 2′”. Well, at least when the photovoltaic system is completed, the area will acquire another use.

The CFO Recruitment at EYDAP is Not an Easy Job

It’s been several months since the EYDAP management realized the need to appoint a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for the Group. After many efforts and negotiations with trade unions, the management began the process of finding a suitable executive from the market, resorting to the services of Egon Zehnder’s office in Athens. After the selection process, Egon prepared a shortlist of candidates for CFO at EYDAP, and it seemed that the series was finally ending. However, now the management “opened” the internal process, meaning they reached out to EYDAP employees who believe they have the qualifications and willingness to take on this task. Therefore, for the next 15 days, the “internal list” of candidates will be prepared to be compared with Egon Zehnder’s shortlist, and ultimately, EYDAP Group will appoint a CFO.

New German Businesses (Defense Industry) in Greece

The former CEO of “Hellenic Defense Systems,” Nikos Kostopoulos, didn’t take long to find a job. He took on the role of Management Executive Director at Endeavor Integrated Solutions, owned by Giorgos Kokkalis. Endeavor Integrated Solutions represents three major German defense companies: Diehl Defense GmbH & Co. KG, which manufactures weapons and is based in Überlingen; Eurospike, which has three major shareholders, the large Rheinmetall, Diehl, and the Israeli company Rafael with the famous missiles; and Ramsis, which owns the well-known RAM missiles, 50% by Diehl and 50% by MBDA, which manufactures the notorious Meteor missiles. Endeavor Integrated Solutions also deals with shipping operations, shipyard management, etc. Today, however, as the European defense industry gains new momentum, their plans are expanding into defense, starting with the infamous “Dome” (or “Achilles’ Shield” as they prefer in the Ministry of Defense).