Market Comment
The suspension of US tariffs on Mexican and Canadian products saw global stocks rebound on Tuesday, with the Greek bourse also bouncing after Monday’s slump. The bullish trends “spread” across the board however volatility seems a key feature in the short term as sentiment remains fragile. Volumes also improved on the back of Trade Estates 34 block trades for a total value of €28.9 million at a price of €1.5 per share, representing 16% of the share capital
General index closed at 1,520.82 points, adding 0.88% to Monday’s 1,507.50 points. The large-cap FTSE-25 index expanded 0.92%, ending at 3,703.88 points. The banks index earned 1%, thanks to Piraeus rising 2.58%, Alpha fetching 1%, National growing 0.64%, Optima collecting 0.61% and Eurobank climbing 0.30%. Among the other blue chips, Jumbo obtained 2.19% and Athens International Airport improved 1.89%, while GEK Terna gave up 0.66%. In total 80 stocks secured gains, 41 endured losses and 40 remained unchanged. Turnover amounted to €170.5m down from Monday’s €184.4m.
Wall Street tempered losses yesterday yet Trump’s tariffs remain the focus of attention. We expect cautiousness to prevail in today’s session and AthEx to correlate with European peers.
¢ In the Spotlight
Banking Sector: According to BoG Data the weighted average interest rate on outstanding deposits stood at 0.49% (almost unchanged m-o-m) while the interest rate for loans stood at 5.5% down 25bps from 5.75% in November. More specifically:
§ In December 2024, the weighted average interest rates on new deposits and loans stood at 0.45% and 5.21% respectively. The interest rate spread between new deposits and loans remained almost unchanged at 4.76 percentage points.
§ The interest rate spread between outstanding amounts of deposits and loans decreased to 5.01 percentage points. The weighted average interest rate on outstanding amounts of deposits (including overnight deposits) remained almost unchanged at 0.49% compared to the previous month.
§ In particular, the average interest rate on outstanding amounts of deposits with an agreed maturity of up to 2 years placed by households remained almost unchanged at 1.80%, while the corresponding rate on deposits placed by non-financial corporations decreased by 12 basis points to 2.50%.
§ The weighted average interest rate on outstanding amounts of loans decreased by 25 basis points to 5.50%. In particular, the average interest rate on outstanding amounts of housing loans with over 5 years’ maturity decreased by 6 basis points to 4.20%. The corresponding rate on consumer and other loans to individuals and private non-profit institutions decreased by 4 basis points to 8.28%.
§ The average interest rate on corporate loans with over 5 years’ maturity decreased by 41 basis points to 5.10%. The corresponding rate on loans to sole proprietors decreased by 11 basis points to 6.28%.
Greece/Energy Market: In an effort to support households amid rising energy costs, the Greek Ministry of Environment and Energy has announced emergency electricity bill subsidies for February. The initiative aims to provide relief for fluctuating electricity prices while ensuring retail price stability. The subsidy will be available to households on variable electricity tariffs, covering both main and secondary residences. The financial support is structured as follows: 1) Households consuming up to 500 kWh per month will receive a subsidy of €15/MWh (1.5 cents/kWh). This category covers approximately 90% of Greek households. 2) Social Household Tariff (SHT) beneficiaries will receive a higher subsidy of €35/MWh (3.5 cents/kWh) for their total consumption. 3) The subsidy applies regardless of income level or electricity provider, ensuring broad accessibility. The total cost of the subsidy program for February is €19.6 million, aimed at offsetting rising energy prices.
Greece/Hellenic Corporation of Assets and Participations (HCAP)-Fundgrowth: Mr Y. Papachristou was appointed the new Chief Executive Officer of the Hellenic Corporation of Assets and Participations (HCAP)-Fundgrowth. Final candidates for the CEO position included Papachristou, who was ultimately selected, alongside the current CEO of HCAP, Grigoris D. Dimitriadis, and the CEO of the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF), Dimitris Politis.
Fourlis/Trade Estates: The company placed through ASE (block of shares) a 16% stake in its REIT subsidiary Trade Estates yesterday (19,279,935 shares) at €1.5/share, thus reducing its stake to 47.32% from 63.32% previously and will no longer fully consolidate the REIT. Instead it will be consolidated under the Equity method, ie. Reporting the dividends received, below the EBITDA line. Recall that IPO was done at €1.92/share while selling price implies a hefty 40.5% discount over NAV (9M:24 €2.52/share). Autohellas, currently controlling a 10% stake bought a further 3,013,220 shares (2.5% stake) thus raising its participation to 12.5%. CEO Mr. Papoulis bought 667k shares. Latsco Family Office, current shareholder in Trade Estates, also bought shares without yet been clarified its additional stake. Foreign and domestic investors also participated in the placement. This is good news, in our view for Fourlis, as it crystalizes the listed company’s B/S, turning it back to a pure retail stock.
Ellaktor: €0.85/share capital return ex-date March 24. Capital return record date March 26. Payment March 31.
Eurobank: Eurobank is the first systemic bank to receive approval from the Ministry of National Economy and Finance for the disbursement of the eighth (8th) tranche of the Recovery & Resilience Fund (RRF), amounting to 300 million euros, having met the targets, based on the Operational Agreement signed with the Greek State. Following the 8th tranche, in a period of two and a half years since the start of the program, Eurobank is already managing 2.2 billion euros through the RRF and financing investments of businesses of all sizes operating in the Greek Territory.
Sarantis: FY:24 results on March 12. AGM on April 28. Ex dividend date May 2. Dividend record date May 5. Dividend payment May 9. Q1:25 results May 6. H1:25 results September 9. 9M:25 results October 23.
CNL Capital: FY:24 results on April 29. AGM on May 28. Ex dividend date June 3. Dividend record date June 4. Dividend payment June 10. H1:25 results September 29.
Noval: The REIT acquired a piece of land in Northern Athens for €185K (201.33m2), which is next to a REIT’s RE development.

