We expect selective interest to continue and investors to keep a close touch with foreign markets
¢ In the Spotlight
Greece/PDMA: Greece initiated and concluded the sale of a new 10-year bond yesterday its first issue of debt in 2025, with demand exceeding €40.5bn and the Greek state finally accepting €4bn of offers. Based on the initial guidance, the coupon of the issue was set at 107 basis points above the Mid-Swap (2.58%), i.e. around 3.65%.Greece’s financing program for 2025 foresees lower borrowing than in 2024, of about 8.0 billion euros.
- Approximately 6 billion euros are expected to be raised from new bond issues and the remainder, approximately 2 billion euros, from reissues of existing bonds. A significant part of the amount that Greece will borrow is expected to be directed towards new early debt repayments of 5 billion euros in 2025.
Jumbo (2024 trading update): The Company provided its trading update for December 2024 and FY’24. Sales in December advanced 2% bringing FY’24 sales growth at 6.3% vs a twice-revised 4% growth figure. Jumbo refrained from providing at this time guidance for top line growth in 2025 stating that will do so in due course following the 4 months 2025 performance.
- Geographically, sales in Greece accelerated 3% in December and 6% in 2024. In Cyprus sales advanced 1% in December and 2% overall in 2024. On the negative side, Bulgaria was down 4% in December and +2% for the whole 2024 whereas Romania was up 4% in December and 9% in 2024.
Related to network expansion, Jumbo plans to open another hyper store in Romania in 2025. In 2024, the Group’s started a new owned hyper store in Oradea (Romania), a new owned hyper store in Bucharest (Romania) and a new owned hyper store in Nicosia (Cyprus).
- In addition, the fully renovated Jumbo hyper stores in Karditsa and Larissa, which remained closed due to the unprecedented flooding event in early September 2023, became operational. As of 31 December 2024, the Jumbo Group had 88 stores, of which 53 in Greece, 6 in Cyprus, 10 in Bulgaria and 19 in Romania.
The Group also has online stores in Greece, Cyprus, and Romania. Through partnerships, the Group is present in 7 countries (Albania, Kosovo, Serbia, Northern Macedonia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Serbia, Montenegro and Israel) with 39 stores under the JUMBO brand.
- Titan: The company announced that its US business subsidiary, Titan America Sa, has filed a registration statement on Form F-1 with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
The offering is subject to market conditions, and there can be no assurance as to whether or when the offering may be completed, or as to the actual size or other terms of the offering.
- Titan America has applied to list its common shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “TTAM.” The IPO is planned to consist of a primary offering by Titan America, as well as a secondary sale by Titan Cement International SA.
Performance: Performance Technologies and ThreatScene have announced their strategic partnership in the field of cybersecurity. The partnership between the two companies aims to provide and improve cybersecurity services that enhance organizations’ compliance with regulatory standards and their resilience in dealing with modern threats.
- This is achieved by combining ThreatScene’s specialized solutions with the strong technological background of the cybersecurity team and the Security Operations Center (SOC) of Performance Technologies.
Alter Ego: 14,249,000 new shares to be issue in view of the upcoming IPO for listing on the ASE at a max price of €4/share. IPO to run between January 20 to January 22. New shares to start trading on January 27. IPO proceeds at €50.8mn.
Intralot: The Company signed a settlement agreement with the District of Washington DC in order to settle a civil matter. The issue related to the 2019 lottery games contract in that district and specifically to the percentage of works subcontracted to local businesses.
- The settlement provides for a $5mn payment while “Intralot, Inc.” denies any admission of fault, so that a long term litigation and substantial legal expenses to be avoided. With the settlement agreed, the contracts and operations of the group are not affected further in the area.
Cenergy Holdings: 1,161 stemming from fractional balances due to the SCI to be auctioned between January 27 to February 26.
- ThPA: On January 14, LEONIDSPORT B.V. bought 48,306 shares in the company (0.5% stake) at €27/share reaching 260,420 shares in ThPA (2.6% stake).
Motodynamics: The company announced it entered in negotiations with Toyota Greece in order to distribute its products through its network.
Web Sources: Bloomberg, Reuters, Euro2day, Capital, Liberal, Newmoney, Kathimerini, Energypress, Naftermporiki, Athens Macedonian News Agency , Oikonomikos Tahidromos, Mononews, Business Daily, Morning View, Economistas, Power Game, Insider, Bankingnews, Economico, Worldenergynews, AthEx.
Market Comment
AthEx had a positive day from start to finish on Tuesday, with the benchmark recovering some of the ground it had lost on Monday. Selective interest targeting bank stocks and other important large caps such as Titan Cement and OPAP, brought the main index of Athinon Avenue closer to the 1,500-point mark.
General index closed at 1,493.11 points, adding 0.19% to Monday’s 1,490.22 points. The large-cap FTSE-25 index expanded 0.22%, ending at 3,627.88 points. The banks index grabbed 0.57%, as Eurobank grew 2.06% and Optima earned 1.57%. Titan Cement improved 3.49% and OPAP augmented 2.18%. In total 59 stocks secured gains, 63 posted losses and 39 remained unchanged. Turnover amounted to €115.5m, down from Monday’s €116.6m.
The Q4:24 earnings season will kick off today, with result releases from the major US banks such as JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America. Moreover, US Consumer Price Index December figures (release 15:30 GR-Time) will also weight as any signs of inflation persistence may continue to keep the US dollar well-supported and US Treasury yields elevated, which may come at the expense of equities’ performance. Therefore, we expect selective interest to continue and investors to keep a close touch with foreign markets.

