Hello. We’ve moved happily into the middle of summer, and it’s clear everywhere that we’re heading into another very strong tourism season, with occupancy rates that may even break every record of the past. We’ll see how spending holds up, in other words, how much our tourists actually spend, but more on that later. Further down you’ll find the tourism figures for Rhodes, one of our three busiest destinations. Before I get to the news, a comment on the Marfin case, since it’s back in the headlines following the arrests over the 2010 arson attack that killed three people. What struck me was the police statement on Marfin issued by ELAS under Alexis Tsipras (not by [Citizens’ Protection Minister] Michalis Chrysochoidis, though it could have been), describing the arrests as a significant step towards the truth and towards justice, and above all a source of hope for the victims’ families, who have waited years for justice, and for society as a whole. Yes, you read that right: it’s a statement from Tsipras’s own party, ELAS (the Hellenic Left Coalition), which happens to share its acronym with the Hellenic Police force. This is the same political camp that, a few years ago, was telling us it “depends which side you’re on when the Molotov cocktail lands.” I won’t try to psychoanalyse whether Tsipras has genuinely changed or is doing this for electoral reasons, but either way, the statement carries some weight given his past. I didn’t see whether the other parties made similar statements, even though logically all of them should welcome this development, however late, even if it took 16 years to arrive.

Samaras and the blessing of Nea Ionia

Athens has its own share of drama for those who stayed in town over the weekend. Those attending yesterday’s joint liturgy in Nea Ionia, led by Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, Metropolitan Gabriel of Nea Ionia and Metropolitan Jeronymos of Kalavryta, saw former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras walk into Agios Stefanos church at one point, after the service had already begun, and take a seat in a pew far from the MPs and ministers who had been formally invited. Four New Democracy figures were present: Kostis Hatzidakis, Pavlos Marinakis, Adonis Georgiadis and Niki Kerameos, along with PASOK’s Milena Apostolaki and independent MP Athina Linou, while it’s well known that Samaras remains close to Metropolitan Gabriel. I’m told that beyond the blessing of the saints, there was no real contact between Samaras and the New Democracy MPs, just a nod, something like a hello, from a distance. I genuinely wonder what would drive a 75 year old man who has already served as prime minister to head to church in the height of summer, first thing in the morning, alongside a shrewd, well connected bishop, just to pick up a few extra votes. Honestly, for goodness’ sake.

The signing for the “haunted” Skaramagkas junction

Who would have thought that after so many years of planning, the project for the triple junction at Skaramagkas would finally reach the signing stage. That happens today at midday, at the Diomidous Botanical Garden in Chaidari, with the contract awarded to the METKA-DOMIKI KRITIS consortium, which won the relevant tender held last December. The final step came a few days ago, when Infrastructure Minister Christos Dimas steered the contract through parliament, and the project is now moving ahead, with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis also expected at the ceremony. The project will improve the link between Piraeus and Western Attica and the logistics hub at Thriasio Pedio, while generally easing traffic conditions across Western Attica. The Athens to Corinth National Road will be upgraded at the Schisto and Skaramagkas junctions, and a single road axis will be created linking Schisto Avenue with the Western Ring Road of Aigaleo. The project is also intended to relieve pressure on the Kifisos, offering an alternative route towards Piraeus.

F-35s and Phantoms head to France

There was plenty of discussion over the past few days about the prospect of Turkey acquiring F-35 jets from the United States, should sanctions under the CAATSA law be lifted. Since this has been floated many times before, and Greece remains in the programme for now, with Greek pilots due to begin training on the new fighter jet from 2027, while Turkey is still trying to find a way to secure even the six aircraft it paid for and which were built but never delivered, a bit of patience is in order. Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis made that point yesterday in response to ELAS leader Alexis Tsipras’s talk of a national defeat, as did government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis, putting things into a more realistic perspective. Turkey may well get the planes at some point; the real question is when, and where we ourselves will be by then. Staying with weapons, we’re also sending two Phantom jets to Paris to take part in the parade for France’s National Day on 14 July, which Mitsotakis will attend as a guest of French President Emmanuel Macron.

Chardalias’s assessment

Attica Regional Governor Nikos Chardalias has reached the halfway point of his term and is mounting a major push to present his record so far, at an event on Tuesday afternoon at the Athens Concert Hall. I understand this also doubles as an informal launch of his campaign for a second term, even though the next local elections aren’t until 2028. Chardalias’s message is that he’s delivering on everything he pledged and for which he won voters’ trust in the first round of the 2023 elections, and on Tuesday he’ll set out what has been achieved over the 30 months since he formally took office on 1 January 2024.

Papastavrou in Thessaloniki

With water remaining firmly at the centre of government policy, and the bill overhauling the country’s water management framework now in public consultation as of Friday, Environment and Energy Minister Stavros Papastavrou continues his tour of the regions, presenting government initiatives on water security and ongoing projects. The reform is a key pillar of the new water security policy, which includes the country’s first National Water Strategy and a programme of 103 projects across 63 municipalities worth a total of 142 million euros. Today Papastavrou travels to Thessaloniki with Deputy Interior Minister for Macedonia and Thrace Konstantinos Gkiouleka, where the two will attend the signing, in Pylaia, of the contract for the construction of an external water supply network, a 12.5 million euro project backed by 8.5 million euros in ministry funding. They will then visit Oraiokastro to inspect a 12 million euro project tackling water shortages.

Attica Group: finally, light at the end of the tunnel

There appears to be a happy ending in sight for Attica Group, with the sale of Piraeus Bank’s ferry operator to K Group, the business group led by shipping and media entrepreneur Thodoris Kyriakou. As mentioned before, the deal won’t close over the summer, and much will depend on the timing of the elections. The essence of it is that the two sides have found common ground and are now waiting for the right moment to launch the formal steps that will seal the agreement and bring the announcements. Broadly speaking, if elections are held in 2027, the deal will be announced in the autumn; if they’re held in the autumn, the news will come towards the end of the year.

The SEC Commissioner in Athens

For the first time, a senior official from the US Securities and Exchange Commission is visiting Greece: Commissioner Mark Uyeda. He arrived as a guest of the Hellenic Capital Market Commission and today joins its chair, Vasiliki Lazarakou, for a fireside chat at the 12th Corporate Governance Conference, organised by the American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce, with an official meeting also planned with Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis. Uyeda serves as Vice Chair of the IOSCO Board (the International Organization of Securities Commissions) and sits on the Bureau of the OECD’s Corporate Governance Committee, where Lazarakou also participates, which is how his visit to Greece came about.

Seven listed companies moved into the “Supervision” category today

The Athens Stock Exchange has completed a fresh review of average free float, focused mainly on listed companies already flagged back in the first half of 2025. Seven companies move into the “Supervision” category from today, having failed to restore their free float by 30 June: Attica Group, Karelia Tobacco, Alpha Real Estate, Attica Publications, Daios Plastics, Iatriko Athinon and N. Varveris–Moda Bagno. Under the rules, the next stage could even mean relegation to the Alternative Market. Karelia stands out in particular, with a market capitalisation above one billion euros but a free float of just 4.51%, against a required 15%. Iatriko Athinon presents an interesting dynamic, as the market is now circulating information, not just rumours, about a possible share sale by its main shareholders aimed at bringing in foreign institutional investors, a move that would turn the “penalty” into an opportunity. By contrast, Trastor, Voyatzoglou and Prodea won an extension until 31 December after taking concrete steps to improve their free float. The exchange, in other words, is penalising inertia, not the difficulty of finding serious investors. The next development from the exchange’s relevant committee concerns Agrotikos Oikos Spyrou, which returns to the Main Market on Friday, 17 July, after a suspension of more than 12 months, proof that the path back through compliance remains open. The deeper story, though, lies in Brussels. The EU’s new Listing Act opens the door to free float thresholds as low as 10%, or even 5% under certain conditions, and the seven companies now under supervision are quietly betting that the rule will be relaxed before they’re forced to comply.

Rhodes flies past 7.2 million tourists

Rhodes is confirming its role, alongside Crete, as a flagship of Greek tourism, with developments bringing a new, more upmarket feel to the island, on top of a season that this year stretches even further into November. According to estimates from airport operator Fraport Greece, the island is set, for the first time in 2026, to surpass 7.2 million passengers, its highest figure ever (last year it topped seven million for the first time), with the first half of the year up 3% and July in particular running well ahead, up 7% in its first ten days. The airport serves 76 airlines, with connections to 148 destinations in 30 countries, having added five new routes this year. As part of further upgrades, a new terminal is now being built specifically to serve private aircraft, expected to be fully operational by next summer. Runway resurfacing works funded by the Recovery Fund are also in their final stage. Further expansion of the airport itself isn’t on the table, since work already carried out since Fraport took over the concession is judged sufficient to cover current capacity and forecasts.

Ines Sofia Niarchos opens a gallery in Athens

A new company was registered last Friday, 10 July, under the name Two Boots Gallery, a private company (IKE) that carries more than a whiff of the Niarchos name: its founder is Ines Sofia Niarchos, the youngest daughter of Spyros Niarchos (second son of the late Greek shipping magnate Stavros Niarchos) and Daphne Guinness, heir to the family behind the Guinness brewing dynasty. Ines Sofia Niarchos, said to keep a low profile and steer clear of the social circuit despite strong artistic interests, has apparently decided to open a gallery, and in the shadow of the Acropolis no less, with the new company registered on Filopappou Street. Its stated purpose covers a wide range of activities: organising and staging public and private art exhibitions, temporary or permanent; running an art gallery; producing and trading artworks and collectibles, both in physical spaces and online, including the import and export of art and cultural goods; providing curatorial services for exhibitions and related events; organising educational and research programmes, seminars, workshops, talks, fairs, festivals and cultural events; hospitality and entertainment services linked to cultural events; artist representation and promotion; art consultancy; producing and trading printed and digital photographic and audiovisual material; photography and audiovisual production services related to artistic works; public relations and communications services; interior decoration and art installation; and research and development in the arts and culture, among other activities. The company’s initial share capital is set at 25,000 euros, divided into 25,000 shares with a nominal value of one euro each. However, the total number of shares actually comes to 50,000 (also at one euro nominal value each), made up of 25,000 capital contribution shares and 25,000 non-capital contribution shares. Ines Sofia Niarchos paid in the 25,000 euros in capital contributions, while Rafael Louis Wallon Brownstone will provide management services to the company for five years, a contribution valued at 25,000 euros in total. The company thus has two shareholders, each holding a 50% stake.

Q&R is planning a second overseas acquisition

Just days after acquiring a 51% stake in Poland’s E-XIM IT, in what is considered the largest international move in its history, worth up to €6.9 million, Quality & Reliability is already signalling what comes next. According to sources, the group is already working on its next round of investment moves, with announcements expected by the end of the year at the latest, as it looks for a second delivery centre in the wider region to support expansion into Central and Eastern Europe and the Baltic states. As for why Q&R bought a company listed on the Warsaw exchange with negative EBITDA (minus €920,000 in 2025), market sources say the acquisition had been in preparation for some time, and that E-XIM’s management made a point of clearing up past liabilities so the company could move to the Greek group free of encumbrances. The same sources say E-XIM’s current financial year is expected to show positive EBITDA. Q&R now has an order backlog of more than 40 million euros, institutional investors holding 13% of its share capital, and has completed six acquisitions in a year and a half.

New records at Greek refineries, with Goldman Sachs’ seal of approval

Motor Oil and HELLENiQ Energy have become the stars of the domestic stock market, capitalising on strong refining margins and strategic business moves. Goldman Sachs gave the refiners an added boost by raising its price targets for both groups, a move clearly reflected on the board. Combined, the two companies’ market value has now reached 8.68 billion euros. Motor Oil has staged an impressive run, hitting a record high of 47 euros. The stock has gained 22.5% this July alone, posting nothing but gains bar a brief correction last Tuesday. MOH is up nearly 50% for 2026 so far, with investors reacting strongly to its “triple deal” and its strategic alliance with the Aktor Group, which includes an agreement in principle for Aktor’s acquisition of 50% of Dioriga Gas. The move reshapes the domestic energy map and strengthens the group’s outlook, offsetting concerns over government intervention to cut fuel prices. In the background is also Motor Oil’s candidacy for MSCI inclusion, with changes due on 12 August. HELLENiQ Energy has shown similarly strong resilience, fully recovering the ground lost during a three day slide at the start of the previous week. With a sharp 4% jump last Friday, the stock climbed to 11.39 euros, an 18.5 year high, its best close since January 2008. The stock is up 36.2% since the start of the year, underlining the extent to which refiners are driving the rally on the Athens Stock Exchange. For HELLENiQ Energy, the market is also eyeing the potential “bonus” from its hydrocarbons partnership with Chevron. Meanwhile, hostilities continue in the Gulf, and analysts expect refining margins to stay elevated for at least two more years, the time it’s likely to take for refineries damaged by bombing to resume operations. With the flow of finished products from the Persian Gulf disrupted and inventories low, Greek refineries are helping to fill some of that gap.

OTE: a comeback to an 18 year high

OTE’s stock staged a notable comeback at the close of the week. Despite trading lower for almost the entire week, it jumped 3.1% on Friday, wiping out earlier losses and climbing to 19.64 euros, a new 18 year high, with the board last at these levels in mid May 2008, when the stock traded above 20 euros. With the group’s market value now approaching 8 billion euros (7.93 billion euros), OTE has locked in gains of 16.5% since the start of the year. Investor confidence rests on both its financial performance and its strong ESG strategy, with the group making steady progress towards climate neutrality and a circular economy, while expanding its social footprint, reaching 1.1 million beneficiaries through its digital inclusion programmes.

Bank of Cyprus: holding above 10 euros with a digital dividend push

Bank of Cyprus shares look to be consolidating above the psychologically important 10 euro mark. After a two day rally of 4.3%, the stock closed Friday at 10.18 euros, touching 10.29 euros intraday, both new record highs. The move came on notably heavy turnover for the stock, reaching 7.98 million euros on volume of 788,000 shares. The bank has gained 28.2% since the start of the year, taking its market value to 4.43 billion euros. The buying interest is being fuelled partly by the bank’s ongoing operational upgrades: it has announced that future dividend payments will be made exclusively by electronic transfer, a move that reinforces its digital strategy, simplifies procedures and cuts operating costs for the benefit of shareholders.

Greek owners ordered 299 ships, bought 223 secondhand and sold 313

Every week the market watches who’s buying and who’s selling. For most people it’s just a list of transactions; for those who know shipping, these moves are the best “confidence indicator” for where the market is heading. Despite geopolitical tensions, disruption on shipping routes and uncertainty in international markets, Greek shipowners aren’t slowing down. Instead, they keep renewing their fleets through carefully targeted moves, picking both secondhand vessels and newbuilds with care. Last week, interest was focused entirely on dry bulk. Greek interests acquired the Kamsarmax C.S. Olive, of 82,175 dwt, built in 2009 at Japan’s Tsuneishi Shipbuilding, for 17 million dollars. They also bought the Ultramax Livita, of 63,532 dwt, built in 2017 at Shin Kasado Dockyard, for 30.5 million dollars, with its special survey and drydocking scheduled for March 2027. On the newbuilding side, the picture was more selective. Tsakos Energy Navigation was the only Greek company to place a new order this week, committing 254.4 million dollars to build an LNG carrier with a capacity of 174,000 cubic metres at Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea, for delivery in 2029, an investment that shows confidence in the LNG market remains strong despite recent volatility. The more interesting picture, though, lies behind the individual numbers. Over the past 12 months, Greek owned shipping companies have ordered 299 newbuildings, acquired 223 secondhand vessels, and at the same time sold 313 ships on the secondary market. This isn’t simply fleet expansion, but a deliberate renewal strategy: divesting from older tonnage and replacing it with more modern, efficient and technologically advanced vessels. Greek owners traditionally move countercyclically, using periods of uncertainty to close deals they expect to pay off once the market stabilises.

Youroukos joins the world’s decision making centre for containership safety

The entry of George Youroukos’s Technomar Shipping into the Container Ship Safety Forum (CSSF) has gone largely unnoticed by the wider public, but in the international containership market it’s seen as a significant development. The CSSF doesn’t open its doors easily; it’s a network of leading companies that exchange expertise and shape best practice on safety for one of shipping’s most demanding sectors. Technomar’s invitation to the forum’s Athens meeting, and its subsequent acceptance as a full member, shows the company has earned the trust of the international shipping community. With a fleet of 87 containerships and a carrying capacity of around 520,000 TEUs, the company is taking on an increasingly active role in developments around safety, operational excellence and risk management.

Igoumenitsa and Patras’s missed opportunity

The choice of Igoumenitsa as the support base for hydrocarbon related activities has put Patras back in the spotlight, raising the question of whether the city is paying the price for the climate it has built around investment. No one would argue that such a major business decision comes down to a single factor, but investment decisions weigh more than infrastructure, ports and geography; they also weigh the environment companies will be operating in, and the message a region sends carries its own weight. In recent years, an impression seems to have taken hold that Patras views major investment with wariness, if not outright hostility. Regardless of the intentions behind it, that image is bound to raise questions for any business group weighing where to put its capital. The Igoumenitsa case points to a broader issue: does Patras actually want to compete for major productive investment, to make the most of its port, develop its marina, strengthen its cruise business and create new jobs, or is it content to watch other cities take the lead. For some, the question comes down to why Patras hasn’t managed to convince anyone that it’s the most attractive destination for new investment.

Wall Street, and what happens if the market corrects

Equities now account for around 33.5% of the total net worth of American households, according to Barclays Equities Tactical Strategies, citing Bloomberg data through 10 July 2026, a historic record. Real estate, by contrast, accounts for just 26.5% of Americans’ total net worth. The seven point gap in favour of equities is unprecedented; even at the height of the dot com bubble in 2000, the gap wasn’t this wide. In 2006, at the peak of the housing bubble, real estate stood at around 36% and equities at barely 20%. Today, the picture has completely flipped. Cash holdings are stuck near 11%, with almost no one keeping “dry powder”, whether under the mattress or simply sitting in a bank account outside the market. The S&P 500 has notched more than 23 record highs in 2026 alone, closing Friday at 7,575 points, up 21% year on year, while the Dow Jones broke through 53,000 points for the first time during the week. But there’s an imbalance behind the numbers: the wealthiest 10% of households now hold 87% of all equity wealth, and that same 10% now drives roughly half of American consumption, which itself accounts for 69% of GDP. Goldman Sachs estimates that a sustained 10% drop in equities would shave 0.5 percentage points off growth. In 1980, a Wall Street crash was news for the financial pages. In 2026, a major downturn would be a direct hit to every household’s balance sheet. The fabled American Dream is no longer a big house with a garden; it’s a house built out of stocks.

The “Starbucks syndrome” spooked Silicon Valley, and sent a message to Athens

Last Thursday, a Bloomberg journalist obtained an internal Starbucks presentation and published a story that brought Wall Street’s biggest fear back to the surface: artificial intelligence no longer just threatens jobs, it now threatens the business model of enterprise software itself. The big coffee chain spends roughly 400 million dollars a year on software. Starbucks management has decided to use AI to build its own in house applications to replace Microsoft’s inventory system and IBM’s maintenance tool, as part of a wider two billion dollar cost cutting programme. The market’s reaction was immediate: in premarket trading, IBM fell 3%, ServiceNow 3.5% and Salesforce 4%, even though Salesforce wasn’t even named in the report. Generative AI is rewriting the rules, turning the customer into a competitor of the IT giants themselves. In Greece, the enterprise software sector is currently thriving, offering quick fixes to businesses’ longstanding structural problems. The IT sector, with turnover of around 8.5 billion euros this year, is bidding farewell to the “golden age” of Recovery Fund money. The integrator model, reselling and customising foreign software, is precisely what’s under threat from the “Starbucks syndrome”. If banks, energy groups and retailers start building their own management systems, the pressure on margins will be twofold. That may partly explain the big pivot towards defence technology, cybersecurity and advanced digital infrastructure, with European funding in the background. The headline here is that a coffee chain can, and is trying to, write its own software. The consequences remain to be seen.

The cost of electricity becomes a political issue

Goldman Sachs has published a chart capturing an American peculiarity that has already become a political problem. Data centres now absorb almost 7% of US electricity demand, up from 3% in 2020, and Goldman Sachs forecasts that share will reach 11% by 2030. In the EU, the equivalent figure is below 4%, with a forecast of just 6%. That divergence shows up in forward electricity prices: US 24 month wholesale contracts have risen roughly 25% since January 2025. France is trading 20% lower, while Germany, Britain and Spain have remained largely unchanged. Only in Japan did prices spike temporarily, because of the war in Iran, and they already appear to be settling lower. In other words, America is paying for its own chips. In PJM, the largest US grid, serving 67 million consumers, wholesale prices jumped 76% year on year in the first quarter, to $136.53 per megawatt hour, with the independent market monitor describing the impact of data centres as “significant and irreversible”. Industrial electricity costs rose 31% in Pennsylvania and 26% in Ohio over the past year, against a 7% national average. One well known brick manufacturer in Ohio reported its bill jumping 90%. Seven in ten Americans now oppose having a data centre near their home. Pennsylvania’s governor is threatening to pull the state out of PJM, and the issue has, unsurprisingly, become part of the campaign debate ahead of November’s midterm elections. The technology that promises deflation through productivity gains is instead fuelling inflation through the power socket. The bill isn’t landing in Silicon Valley; it’s landing in the American South and the Rust Belt, precisely where the elections will be decided.