Beta Sec – Daily report 18-12-2024 Market Monitor – Market Comment – In the Spotlight

Sellers dominated the market on Tuesday, focusing on blue chips, and especially banks. Infrastructure companies begged to differ though, recording growth.

General Index closed at 1,452.80 points, shedding 0.80% from Monday’s 1,464.48 points. The large-cap FTSE-25 index contracted 1.03%, ending at 3,531.71 points, though mid-caps expanded 0.01%. The banks index conceded 1.02%, as National gave up 1.55%, Alpha fell 1.40%,

Piraeus dropped 0.98% and Eurobank eased 0.36%. Autohellas improved 1.74%, as Jumbo declined 2.83% and OPAP parted with 2.41%. In total 49 stocks secured gains, 70 endured losses and 42 remained unchanged. Turnover amounted to €120.6m, up from Monday’s €116.4m.

Investors on wait-and-see mode ahead of FED meeting tonight. While the central bank is widely expected to cut rates by 25 basis points, it is also expected to signal a slower pace of easing in 2025- a trend that could herald pressure on risk-driven markets.

Autohellas/Agean: On December 15 the company bought 28.5K shares of Aegean for €294.1K

IT Sector:  According to a Deloitte study, entitled “The prospects of the ICT sector in Greece”, which was presented at the conference of the Federation of Hellenic ICT Enterprises (SEPE), the compound annual growth rate of ICT stood at 6.17% over the last 6 years, with the real value of the sector is expected to reach 7.750 billion euros this year from 5.804 billion euros in 2019, contributing 3.9% to the country’s GDP in 2024 from 3.5% in 2023.

In the EU, the contribution of ICT (average) totals 5.5%, so Greece must acquire a value of 12.5 billion euros in 2029, that is, “run” at an average rate of 10.03%. If it maintains the same rate (6.17%), the value of the sector will be 10.4 billion or 4.6% of GDP. In the last five years, the sector has been growing at a rate four times higher than the rest of the economy (CAGR of growth of the Greek economy 2019 – 2023, 1.65%), which also demonstrates that greater effort is needed for Greece to achieve convergence.

According to the findings of the study, companies in the sector, with an estimated turnover of 13.8 billion euros annually and more than 300,000 employees, contribute significantly to the country’s economic activity.

BriQ Properties: International Intercontinental REIC will seize trading on December 23. Shares will be exchanged with 1.194 Briq Properties shares to 1 old Interocontinental share. New shares will start trading on January 2 2025.

AS Company: AGM greenlighed 0.053 eur/share capital return. Ex-date on December 19, payment starts on december 30.

Athens Water (9M:24 results): Turnover increased by 6.4% to €2796.m in the 9M period; Pre-tax profit of €24.9m from €16.7m in 9M:23, increased by 49.5%. In Q3:24, turnover increased by 5.1% and amounted to €105.1m.

EBITDA amounted to €51.1m from €43.6m in the 9M:23 period showing an increase of 17.2%. The EBITDA margin amounted to 18% from 17%. Regarding Q3:24, EBITDA appears reduced by 14.4% to €20.9 million compared to €24.4 million in 2023 as operating expenses increased by 12% from €75.4 million to €84.3 million.

Profit after tax increased by 58.8% to €17m from €10.7m in the first nine months of 2023. Net profit margin stood at 6% from 4% compared to the same period last year.

IPTO Holdings: Gemini plans to build and operate hyperscale-ready Data Centers in JV with IPTO in the greater Athens area, with the creation of facilities with a total capacity of up to 130 MW.

• These infrastructures will contribute to the creation of a strong digital ecosystem that will support the growing needs of cloud service providers, content delivery networks and businesses operating in Greece.

The consortium’s Data Centers will be developed with an emphasis on energy efficiency, using advanced cooling technologies and “green” energy from RES to minimize their environmental footprint.

• The consortium envisions Athens as a major digital hub in SE Europe, which will offer hyperscalers and other wholesale customers secure and reliable services, strengthening Greece’s position in the international data economy.

Helleniq Energy: Press reports state that today, after market, the agreement on the sale of 35% of DEPA Emporia by Helleniq Energy to the Hellenic State Property Fund is expected to be announced. The agreement has been approved by the BoDs of the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund and Helleniq Energy and the official announcement of the transaction is expected.

• The price for the acquisition of 35% of DEPA Emporia, reportedly with an estimated enterprise value of €600 million, corresponding to the book value of the company at the end of 2023. Based on this valuation, the price for 35% amounts to EUR 200 million.

The repayment of the price from the HRADF to Helleniq Energy will be made through dividends distributed by the latter to the HRADF as a 31.2% shareholder over the next three years. That is, Helleniq Energy will offset the €200 million cash price value by withholding the dividends paid to the Hellenic Fund.

• From the sale of DEPA Emporia, 50% of the proceeds, i.e. 100 million, will be distributed in 2025 as a special dividend, from which Helleniq Energy will also retain what would have corresponded to the TAPED and in the next two years it will have received the entire price.

Profile: 159,488 new shares will be issued from stock options exercise. Strike price was 0.85 eur/share and the exact date of the listing of the new shares will be announced in due time.

Kind regards,

Manos Chatzidakis

Head of research

29 Alexandras Avenue

11473 Athens,Greece

Tel: +30 210 6478988/754

Email: [email protected]

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