Hello. I know that the hottest gossip in Athens (and beyond) these days is what is going on, how it is developing and who is up against whom in the business rivalries over contracting. Now they have moved into energy too, with vertical and… horizontal corridors, international media, transatlantic multibillion-dollar pipelines and so on. Since I have not accustomed you to sloppy reporting, but to reasonably serious journalism (albeit with a touch of political gossip here), you will do me a favour. The favour is to let me complete my rounds of contacts so that I can reach a safer conclusion about what has happened and what is happening. For now, I can tell you that there is some concern about the matter at Maximos Mansion. I think the local dispute will be settled by those responsible within days, because the account feeding it all is one and the same for everybody: the Greek state. The international side is more complex in terms of interests, and we shall see how it develops, not least because US midterm elections are only days away. I will come back to this…

Communications recalibration

A central topic of discussion yesterday at Maximos Mansion, over the first morning coffee after Mitsotakis’s return from the US, was the several missteps of the previous week, for example Haris Theocharis and Spyros Koulkoudinas. Clearly, the cases were not all the same, but Mitsotakis disliked the “shambolic rabble” image that was projected, just as he disliked statements that feed the charges of arrogance and callousness against the government. That is why government spokesman Marinakis was asked to carry out a communications recalibration, with a careful “cutting adrift” of Deputy Minister Theocharis, who had earlier come out and acknowledged his mistake. In any case, if there is one person with a grudge against Theocharis, it is Samaras, since the two clashed during his time in government, which led to Theocharis being ousted from the Finance Ministry. If you noticed that Dora is missing from the “recalibration” equation I mentioned above, you noticed correctly. She does not fit into any calibre. She requires special handling, and I do not think she ever ceases to be an issue…

KYSEA and the Patriots

The prime minister’s schedule this week includes the regular meeting of the Government Council for Foreign Affairs and Defence (KYSEA), which did not take place in September, partly because of his week-long absence in the US. At this meeting, among other matters, the prospect of keeping the Patriot battery on Saudi soil will be assessed, while a visit by Mitsotakis to Riyadh is pending in the coming weeks. On the basis of the data so far, and because Athens does not want to blow up its relations with the Arab countries, an extension of the Greek battery’s presence is the favoured option, and not merely for a month but for somewhat longer, with an obvious reassessment depending on conditions on the ground.

Meeting two candidate successors to Lagarde

Those who follow European affairs closely spotted an interesting detail in yesterday’s press release from the Ministry of National Economy and Finance on Kyriakos Pierrakakis’s visit to Basel and Frankfurt. Among the people in the Greek finance minister’s and Eurogroup president’s programme are two names widely mentioned in Brussels and Frankfurt as possible successors to Christine Lagarde at the head of the ECB. They are the General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements, Pablo Hernández de Cos, whom Pierrakakis met yesterday in Basel, and the president of the Bundesbank, Joachim Nagel, with whom he will share a panel in Frankfurt today. Although Lagarde’s term formally ends in 2027, the debate over the next head of the European Central Bank has already “heated up” in the corridors of Europe.

Parlez-vous français?

Alexis Tsipras has given two interviews to foreign media in the past month, both French-language. A few weeks ago he spoke to Belgium’s Le Soir (which the know-alls here took to be French), while yesterday an interview covering every topic was published in the French political review Marianne. It is obvious that Alexis’s collaboration with the French communications firm Publicis includes an external rebranding strand as well as a domestic one, starting with assorted French-language media, I am told. Now, I do not know whether our Alexis has admirers in Paris, but not many people there vote in Greek elections anyway.

Olympian calm with an expiry date

While Allwyn’s shares were logging their seventh consecutive session of losses, the group’s executives put on a show of calm, reading the Brazilian constitution and the calendar. The ban on online betting imposed in Brasília is a provisional measure with immediate effect (medida provisória). The measure “lives” for 120 days. It expires automatically if it is not approved by both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate within the deadline, or if either of the two chambers rejects it. With Congress’s recesses, the deadline stretches to early March 2027. In other words, Lula’s government issued the law but does not control its fate. This coming Sunday, 4 October, Brazil elects a president and a Congress. Polls show Lula and Bolsonaro tied in a second-round scenario. The measure will most likely be decided by a new Congress, in a pre-election and post-election climate, with a sector that pays taxes, sponsors football and employs thousands of Brazilian citizens. Betano is already preparing appeals and cost cuts. Time in Brasília appears to be working in the providers’ favour. Until then, Allwyn will wait, while its management shows its confidence in developments through share buybacks worth €14.4 million in a single week at an average price of 12.20. Its treasury shares already stand at 5.43%, and the company is buying at a higher price than the one at which the stock closes.

Koutras builds his own “Daedalus” at Ellinikon

Dimitris Koutras is stepping up a gear in the most expensive new neighbourhood being built in Athens today, preparing his own residential project at Ellinikon. The plan provides for the construction of 50 to 60 homes and will be carried out through a joint venture formed between his own group, “Daedalus 10”, owned by his two grandsons, and a company linked to his nephew. The development concerns a six-stremma plot in one of the neighbourhoods near The Ellinikon Mall and the Commercial Hub on the north-eastern side of the vast redevelopment. It is still at the permitting stage, with the aim of getting the bulldozers in around Christmas or immediately afterwards, provided the approvals are completed without hitches. The name “Daedalus” certainly carries its own symbolism. The mythical Cretan architect and craftsman is considered the first great master builder of Greek mythology. For a builder who loves Greek mythology, as Dimitris Koutras does, the choice of “Daedalus” gives the family housing project a symbolism that links the art of construction with his grandsons’ Cretan roots. The investment is part of the package of five plots that Lamda Development made available through a tender process in 2024. The buyers included, besides the Daedalus group, Brook Lane Capital, TENBRINKE and Hellenic Ergon, which acquired two properties. The buyers took on both the financing and the full development of the homes. According to information, the commercial promotion and sale of the homes will be handled by Lamda Development itself, drawing on the sales machinery it has already developed for Ellinikon’s residential developments. For Lamda, the sale of the five plots brought in a total of around €106 million, at an average price of €2,100 per square metre of buildable area. The price for the Koutras group’s plot specifically is not known. However, the total investment expected to be mobilised by the five developments is estimated at at least €300 million.

Action advances on the markets… and on loans

Scenarios keep coming and going about the expansion of Action, the Dutch discount retail chain and one of the fastest-growing in Europe, about its possible entry into the Greek market and what that would mean, chiefly for Jumbo. Apostolos Vakakis has explained (the question is who is listening…) that he does not regard Action as a direct competitor to Jumbo, because the two models differ: Action operates with relatively small stores and a limited range of items, while Jumbo relies on much larger stores and clearly more products. In his view, Jumbo faces greater competition from the big supermarkets that constantly widen the range of products they sell. If Action does come to Greece, it will become clear who is right, the analysts who use it as a bogeyman for Jumbo or Vakakis. The only certainty is that Action is continuing its rapid expansion: a few days ago it opened its first store in Slovenia, bringing the number of European markets in which it operates to 16. The company has set a target of adding at least 400 new stores in 2026, having already reached 3,423 outlets by the end of June. On the basis of the financial results announced, its expansion is backed by strong financial momentum. In the first half of 2026, sales rose by 14% to €8.35 billion and operating EBITDA by 13% to €1.11 billion, with a margin of 13.3%. There is, however, also the question of leverage, particularly in the current interest rate environment, as it carries net debt of more than €7 billion. Action closed June with a ratio of net debt to run-rate EBITDA of 2.7 times and €718 million in available cash. At the end of March, net debt stood at around €7.46 billion, after it raised an additional €1.6 billion in 2025 as part of a capital restructuring and return of capital to shareholders.

Does the oversight end at the gate?

So the Kifisos can spoil even the best sustainable development narrative. And in the case of Papadopoulos Biscuits, the timing is, to say the least, awkward. Just a few days after the incident involving a tanker and waste that allegedly ended up in the Kifisos, the company released its financial statements for 2025. There we read that sustainable development is a key pillar of its strategy, that it takes measures to manage liquid and solid waste and that it “systematically” monitors its environmental performance. The company has, of course, made clear that the tanker in question belongs to a third company, an external partner of its own, and that it is investigating the incident. In its financial statements, however, it is the company itself that states that, beyond the measurements required by law, it takes measures to limit and manage its waste and systematically monitors its environmental performance. And somewhere here the rather harder question arises: who was monitoring the partner? Because environmental responsibility can hardly operate on the basis of “up to here it is mine and from the gate onwards it is yours”. Once an industrial firm assigns the management of its waste to third parties, the crucial matter is what safeguards it has to know what happens to that waste after it leaves its premises. And somehow “systematically” and “in practice”, words used by Papadopoulos itself, suddenly take on a different weight. The issue is not only what its partner allegedly did. It is also whether the company itself supervised it enough. Because if the monitoring stopped at the factory gate, then there is a big hole in the system.

The strain begins

A difficult day for central Europe today, with the wholesale electricity price ranging from €146 to €180/MWh. In Greece the average price stands at €122/MWh, but with large fluctuations, starting from zero prices between 9am and 5pm and reaching €243 early in the morning. Renewables will provide 68% of the energy mix today.

Invoicing from Nea Psychiko to Dubai

Ilyda is a small-cap company listed on the Athens Stock Exchange with half-year turnover of €5.22 million. Since yesterday, a big door has opened that leads it to a very dynamic market which, from January 2027, will oblige thousands of businesses to change the way they issue invoices. The UAE Ministry of Finance has accredited Ravera E-Invoicing Services, a Dubai company, as an Accredited Service Provider for electronic invoicing. The platform belongs to Ilyda and offers cloud services, design, development, operation, maintenance and second- and third-level support. Ravera handles sales, onboarding and first-level support. Ilyda will be paid through recurring subscriptions. In the Emirates, e-invoicing is becoming mandatory under a five-corner Peppol model and the PINT-AE format, with simultaneous transmission to the Federal Tax Authority, exclusively through accredited providers. In the first phase, businesses with turnover above AED 50 million (about €11.5 million) are included, and must appoint a provider by 30 October 2026 and invoice electronically from 1 January 2027. In the second phase, all other businesses follow on 1 July 2027. Public bodies come in on 1 October 2027. In conclusion, one month remains until the first deadline and accredited providers are not many. Ilyda is mounting a landing in the Emirates, with a balance sheet that does not need a bank. The accounts show zero borrowing, cash of €8.53 million (+61%) and equity of €17.99 million. In the half-year, EBITDA was €3.75 million (+77%) and net profit €3.13 million (+96%). In Greece, it has been a certified provider since 2021 with Meg myData.

Balancing acts between new peaks and a sixth monthly rise

The Athens bourse indulged in a buying spree yesterday, with the General Index returning above the 2,700-point mark, for the first time since 17 September at intraday level. On a closing basis, it had not reached 2,700 points since 11 September, when it stopped at 2,726.49 points, which is also the high for the year. Should it break through again, the next highest close is found on 26 October 2009 at 2,781.13 points. With yesterday’s close at 2,707.83 points, the General Index is closer to this year’s peaks than to failing to record its sixth consecutive monthly rise. It only needs September to end above 2,677.26 points (the August close).

Banks’ records “pushed” the Athens bourse

Bank stocks were the main driver of the rise on the Athens Stock Exchange, giving the General Index the necessary push to return above 2,700 points. The sector’s picture remains strong, with buying spread across all the systemic banks. In the front line were Alpha Bank and Piraeus Bank, with gains of between 3.5% and 4%, again approaching their records for the year. Alpha Bank closed at €4.773, approaching its yearly high of €4.934, while Piraeus settled at €10.65, with its high for the year at €10.82. Particularly significant, however, were the performances of Eurobank and National Bank, which posted gains of more than 2% and also new 11-year highs. Eurobank rose above €4.8 for the first time since August 2015, lifting its market capitalisation to €17.3 billion. Similarly, National closed at €17.8, its highest level since November 2015, with a market value of more than €16 billion. Bank of Cyprus is also close to its peak, having closed at €10.8 with a high for the year (and an all-time record) of €10.92.

A profitable handover

With increased profits and a full treasury, ICAP CRIF is moving towards a change of baton, as Nikitas Konstantellos, its head for almost two decades, heads towards retirement. Almost five years after the Italian group CRIF acquired ICAP, the financial statements just published show that the group increased its turnover in 2025 by 10% to €31.78 million and its net profit by 10.8% to €4.83 million. Cash reached €9.51 million. ICAP CRIF Ratings, the spun-off credit rating arm, is proving a money machine: in its first full year of operation it recorded sales of €8.61 million and net profit of €3.84 million. In 2025 it distributed a dividend of €2 million to its parent, and in 2026 it lent the parent €4.5 million. ICAP CRIF, for its part, extended a €7 million loan to Italy’s CRIF. There is also an asterisk: the auditors expressed a reservation over the valuation of €1.75 million of goodwill from the acquisition of Date Firme, which was acquired in Romania in May 2024 for €2.06 million.

Giannakopoulos, his daughter and the new company

Dimitris Giannakopoulos, besides being head of Vianex and owner of the Panathinaikos basketball club, is, as is well known, involved in various other business activities. For example, on 24 September a new company named “DG Private” was established. Of course, the DG may come from the initials of the pharmaceutical industrialist himself, but also from those of his daughter Despina. The purpose of the new company, based in Kifisia, includes retail trade in sports equipment, retail sale of toys of every kind, footwear and leather goods, cosmetics and more. It also covers business consultancy, public relations and communications services, wholesale trade in clothing and footwear, and entertainment and leisure activities. The initial share capital was set at €25,000 and was paid in by Despina Giannakopoulou, who is also the sole shareholder. Her father, Dimitris Giannakopoulos, took over the management of the company.

The “reshuffle” at Asteras

We recently had a limited-scale “reshuffle” in the management of Astir Palace Vouliagmeni, which owns the Asteras hotel complex. In other times we would have called this reshuffle “corrective” or… mini. Nevertheless, it has its particular significance. As a reminder, after shipowner Giorgos Prokopiou acquired Asteras, the board of Astir Palace comprised himself as Chairman, Iraklis Pavlou as Chief Executive, Dimitris Lampropoulos as Vice-Chairman and Chief Financial Officer, and Paris Kasidokostas-Latsis and Konstantinos Mitsios as members. According to minutes of the board dated 31 August 2026, Konstantinos Mitsios resigned as a board member and Ioanna Prokopiou was elected as a new member to replace him. She is, of course, one of the powerful shipowner’s four daughters, who manages the companies Prominence Maritime and Sea Traders and also sits on the board of the Union of Greek Shipowners. The new board of Astir Palace after the reshuffle comprises Giorgos Prokopiou as Chairman, Iraklis Pavlou as Chief Executive, Dimitris Lampropoulos as Vice-Chairman, and Paris Kasidokostas-Latsis and Ioanna Prokopiou as members. The body’s term runs until February 2028.

Pier 6 changes the game

The €58 million in revenue and €16.5 million in net profit at the Thessaloniki Port Authority are the news you have already read. The more interesting part, however, lies behind the numbers. Because what is being built in Thessaloniki is not simply a bigger pier. It is the infrastructure on which the port wants to change category. And the numbers explain why. With the completion of Pier 6, the container terminal’s capacity is expected to rise from 650,000 to 1.5 million TEU, while the port will be able to receive ships of up to 24,000 TEU. In other words, from a port that today serves ships of up to around 10,000 TEU, the Thessaloniki Port Authority wants to move into the category of mainline calls by large containerships. This is exactly what management describes in its presentations to the investment community. When you add so much capacity, you are not doing it merely to serve today’s cargoes. You are doing it to win new ones. And Thessaloniki’s gaze is evidently towards the Balkans and deeper into Central and Eastern Europe, where freight flows are decided and where competition between ports is becoming ever tougher. There is also one further factor worth keeping in mind. The Thessaloniki Port Authority has already put on the table Thessaloniki’s participation in the planned IMEC trade corridor. So the stakes of Pier 6 are much bigger than a €195.6 million construction project. It is about putting Thessaloniki more firmly on the map of the major European logistics corridors and giving it greater weight against the competing gateways of the region. The only thing that needs attention is that, for Pier 6 to deliver what it promises, links to the hinterland must run in parallel, as must the speed at which the box leaves Thessaloniki for the Balkans and Central Europe. And that is where it will ultimately be decided how big the Thessaloniki Port Authority’s game can become.

Italians look increasingly towards Crete

The visit of Italian ambassador Paolo Cuculi to the Heraklion Port Authority and his meeting with chief executive Minas Papadakis should not be read as merely ceremonial. The Italian diplomat toured Crete with a clear economic agenda: more business partnerships, tourism, trade and, of course, maritime transport. The Italian presence in Heraklion’s port is not theoretical. The Grimaldi group has taken control of the port authority and has already opened a new cycle of investment. At the meeting with Cuculi, the possibilities for closer cooperation in tourism, trade, entrepreneurship and maritime transport were discussed. Rome is closely watching the strengthening of the Italian business footprint in Crete, and Heraklion is becoming one of the key points of that presence in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Frangou “locks in” the MRs early

The market for MR tankers may be gathering pace, but at Navios Maritime Partners Angeliki Frangou appears to prefer converting good momentum into revenue visibility in good time. It is being said in the market that the two newbuild MRs, Nave Galileo and Nave Asteriks, of 51,000 dwt, have already been locked in from their delivery in 2027 on five-year charters to Phillips 66 at $24,000 a day. Navios has four MRs in total under construction at Minaminippon Shipbuilding in Japan, while another vessel from the programme, due for delivery this year, is reported to have already secured a five-year charter to Chevron, also at $24,000 a day. Put simply, Frangou is building a body of contracted revenue from now with two of the biggest names in the American energy market. And she is doing so while brokers raise their valuations: five-year charters for MRs in the Atlantic are now estimated at around $25,500 a day, while for one year, asking rates have reached as high as $35,000 to $37,500.

Wall Street has already voted in the (coming) November elections

Thirty-five days before the midterm elections of 3 November, Wall Street traders have already worked out the result on the basis of history and statistics. They believe the House will go to the Democrats and the Senate narrowly to the Republicans. Bloomberg described this on 10 September as the “ideal scenario” for markets: Trump keeps his veto, but no sweeping legislation is going to upset the applecart over the next two years. No tax shocks, no surprise spending. History and statistics agree. In 23 of the 24 periods before midterm elections in America, from late September of the election year to July of the following year, the S&P 500 has delivered positive returns, with an average return of 19%. The sole exception was 1930. Schwab reminds us that this average owes a great deal to 1982, when the Fed was starting to cut rates. Today it is doing the opposite. Interest rates are the big mystery. Wall Street is currently pricing in a 73% probability of a new hike on 27 to 28 October, just six days before the polls. The ECB also meets on 28 to 29 October. Morgan Stanley and Citi say the elections change corporate earnings very little. Tariffs, immigration and legislation remain with the White House. Reuters recalls the “midterm curse”, which is high volatility in September and October, when indices are at record highs. Wall Street’s current high levels rest on Artificial Intelligence, or SuperIntelligence, as PotUS likes to call it. At the dinner for Xi Jinping on 24 September, sitting beside Trump were Bezos, Musk, Pichai, Huang and the leadership of OpenAI. They did not go there for the photograph. They were there because Wall Street’s calm until November passes through their valuations. Wall Street wants a divided Congress. The Fed, however, does not vote.

When the Japanese do not buy Western bonds and shares

Within 12 months, the yield on the 10-year Japanese government bond has risen from 1.75% to 3.09%. The yield is the interest rate at which a state borrows. The higher it climbs, the dearer the debt. Japan has debt above 200% of GDP and its Ministry of Finance had budgeted interest at 3%. That limit has been breached. Last Thursday, the 10-year reached 3.055%, the 30-year 4.13% and the 5-year a record high of 2.35%. None of this concerns only the Japanese and the taxes they will pay. It concerns Europeans and, of course, American taxpayers. For three decades, Japanese institutional investors, with zero yields at home, bought European and American bonds. Today their own bonds offer 3%, so the money can stay in Tokyo and not migrate to Frankfurt and Washington. The US 10-year exceeded 5% on 15 September, a high since 2007. The British 10-year is at 5.41%, a high since 2007. The French is at 4.7%, a high since 2008, with a deficit of 5.4% of GDP, the German at 3.64%, the Italian at 4.4% and the Spanish at 4%. Put simply, the world’s most active and reliable creditor now needs the money at home and is limiting its placements in Western bonds and shares. The rest have simply not yet grasped it.

Nvidia invests in itself

When you have nowhere to invest your money, the best placement is in… yourself. Nvidia announced yesterday that its board approved an additional $150 billion for share buybacks. This will raise the value of its buyback authorisation to $235 billion, with an execution horizon through to fiscal year 2028. It is the largest increase to a buyback programme in Wall Street history. The previous record was Apple’s $110 billion in 2024. This $235 billion (about €207 billion) exceeds the total market capitalisation of the Athens Stock Exchange (€197 billion). Nvidia’s market capitalisation is $5.42 trillion. The programme corresponds to about 4.3% of the company, at a price that Jensen Huang evidently considers cheap. The share, at $225, has gained 24% over twelve months, less than it used to. Huang himself said that “our liquidity generation allows us to invest and return capital”. At the same time, Nvidia is responding to those who question how long the virtuous cycle of SuperIntelligence will last.

An Arnault in the shoe cupboard

Wall Street is anxiously awaiting the results to be announced by Nike, which since last week has no longer been included in the S&P 100 after 18 years of membership. Nike reacted by putting the name Arnault on its board. Alexandre Arnault, 34, the third of Bernard Arnault’s five children, became an independent member of the board of the Beaverton company on 16 September. Nike hastened to assure everyone that there is no business deal behind this choice. It is a standard formulation, especially useful when the father controls LVMH. Alexandre Arnault has been Deputy CEO of Moët Hennessy since February 2025 and vice-chairman at Tiffany & Co. following the $15.8 billion acquisition, and was CEO of Rimowa for four years, having brought it into LVMH in 2016 at the age of 24. Before these posts, Alexandre Arnault (a graduate of Télécom Paris and École Polytechnique) had worked at McKinsey and KKR. He has sat on the boards of Carrefour, Birkenstock and Moncler. Nike left the S&P 100 on 21 September, with SanDisk taking its place. The share has lost about 78% from its November 2021 peak ($177.5), with market capitalisation falling from $280 billion to around $54 billion. It is already in its fifth consecutive year of declining profits (the share has lost 43% this year alone). Turnover for 2026 is estimated at $46.4 billion, against $51.4 billion in FY2024. In China, it is losing market share, with an eighth consecutive quarter of decline. The day after tomorrow, Thursday, CEO Elliott Hill announces guidance for the first quarter of 2027. Arnault wrote that he had always been a “Nike fan”. In Paris they know how to sell desire at a price that needs no discount. In Beaverton, for five years now, they have been selling at a discount something that was once desire.