We expect the market to continue the rally albeit lower pace given the considerable short term gains across the board.
¢ In the Spotlight
Greece/PDMA: On January 22, 2025 the Hellenic Republic will auction 26 Weeks T-Bills, in book entry form, with maturity July 25, 2025. The amount to be auctioned is 500 million euro. Settlement date is January 24, 2025. During the auction non – competitive bids can be submitted up to 20% of the auction amount. No additional non-competitive bids will be accepted on January 23, 2025.
Greece/Budget Execution: The Greek state posted a primary surplus of €8.6bln at the end of 2024, surpassing the €4.6bln target. Based on the budget execution data for Jan.–Dec. 2024, the state budget recorded a €300mln surplus, compared to the target of a deficit of €3.6bln, as outlined in the 2025 Budget Report, and a deficit of €3.76bln for the same period in 2023. The primary result on a modified cash basis settled at a surplus of €8.629bln, compared to a target of €4.635bln and a primary surplus of €3.92bln for the same period in 2023. A significant part of the disparity from the target stems from increased cash revenues from the Public Investment Program (PIP) by €612 million, as well as from the deferral of defense program payments to 2025 and under execution of transfers to Social Security Funds (OKA), which amounted to €740mln and €1.907bln, respectively. These factors did not affect the result in fiscal terms. Without these amounts, the positive difference in the primary surplus relative to the target is €735mln, of which €467mln is due to an overachievement in tax revenues after refunds. In previous budget execution reports, in October, a net amount of €3.241bln was collected from the new Concession Agreement for Attiki Odos, which was fully recorded under “Sales of Goods and Services.” The Concession Agreement stipulated that the amount included VAT (amounting to €784.8 million), and therefore, this amount should have been recorded under “Taxes.” To properly implement the terms of the Concession Agreement, in December, an amount of €784.8 million was transferred from “Sales of Goods and Services” to “Taxes.” State budget expenses for Dec.-Jan. 2024 amounted to €73.741mln lower by €2.749mln against the revised €76.490mln included in the introductory report of the 2025 budget.
Alter Ego Media: IPO commences today and will run utill January 22. IPO price range set between €3.7 – €4. IPO proceeds €57mn, net €50.8mn to finance new acquisitions, new content development and production and WC requirements. The group is aiming to issue up to 14,249,000 new, dematerialized, common, registered, voting shares. The the maximum price of the new shares will be set at €4.00 per share, with the company aiming to raise c. €57m. Additionally, the Athens Stock Exchange, following the session of its Listings and Market Operation Committee, ascertained that all listing requirements are met regarding the listing on the Main Market of the ATHEX on condition that adequate free float of the company’s shares will be achieved.
Greece/CPI: According to the final figures published by Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical office, inflation in Greece settled at 3.7% in December 2023 (2.9% in November), compared to the Eurozone average of 2.9% (2.4% in November). The CPI stood at 9.2% a year earlier, and the annual EU inflation was 3.4% in December 2023, down from 3.1% in November. Core inflation, which excludes volatile items such as energy and food and is closely monitored by the European Central Bank (ECB) as a more reliable indicator, showed mixed results. The annual core inflation rate dropped slightly to 3.4% from 3.6%. However, on a monthly basis, it increased by 0.5%, higher than the preliminary estimate of 0.4%. Denmark recorded the lowest annual inflation rate in December at 0.4%, followed by Italy and Belgium, both at 0.5%. The highest inflation rates were observed in the Czech Republic (7.6%), Romania (7.0%), and Slovakia (6.6%). Compared to November, annual inflation decreased in 15 member states, remained stable in one, and increased in 11.
Helleniq Energy: the company trades ex FY:24 gross interim dividend €0.20/share (net €0.19/share) as of today.
Attica Bank: As of January 20, 2025, the 17,049 new (CR) shares of the bank are admitted on ATHEX, following the conversion of 151 bonds. On January 20, 2025, the total number of the company’s listed shares amounts to 1,618,012,407 (CR) shares.
ThPA: On January 16, Belterra bought 11K shares at €28.88/share thus rising its stake to 72.62% (7,320,143 shares), direct (5.62% or 566,543 shares) and indirect through South Europe Gateway (67% or 6,753,600 shares).
Ellaktor: Moh’s stake dropped to 23.89% (83.2mn shares) from 26.88% (93.6mn shares) previously following the partial call option exercise by Reggerbough, the stake of which rose to 51.142% (178,072,350 shares) by acquiring the additional 2.9868% stake (10.4mn shares).
Ellaktor: The company acquired the remaining 1,444,274 shares in REDS that it did not control at €2.7/share.
Greece/Airport Traffic Statistics: Passenger traffic at all Greek airports rose significantly in 2024, Greece’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said on Friday, reporting an increase of 9.3% compared to 2023. Traffic in all Greek airports where commercial flights are carried out (24 operated by the CAA, 14 by Fraport Greece and Athens International Airport) in January-December 2024 reached 79,403,911 passengers, up from 72,616,584 in 2023. Regarding the number of flights (domestic and international aircraft arrivals and departures) in 2024 in all of the country’s 39 airports whose air traffic control is mainly carried out by the CAA, there was an increase of 7.6% compared to with the corresponding period of January-December 2023. For the 24 CAA airports, in particular, a total of 603,931 flights were operated throughout 2024, compared to 561,366 flights in 2023, while there was an 8% increase in passenger traffic. In particular, the total number of passengers (international and domestic passenger arrivals and departures) over the 12 months of 2024 amounted to 11,975,632 passengers, compared to 11,092,141 passengers in the corresponding period of 2023.
Market Comment
AthEx had a strong session on Friday, as both stock prices and turnover jumped and the main index reached a new 13-year high, climbing to a level unseen since April 2011. Most blue chips, including banks, which served as the market leaders, enjoyed significant gains, while mid-caps outperformed by a wide margin. This has been the fourth consecutive week of rise for the benchmark.
General index closed at 1,524.67 points, adding 1.18% to Thursday’s 1,506.83 points. On a weekly basis it improved 1.39%. The large-cap FTSE-25 index expanded 1.49%, ending at 3,719.94 points, though mid-caps contracted 0.18%. The banks index soared 2.95%, as Eurobank shone with a 4.53% rise, Alpha fetched 2.77%, Piraeus grew 2.47%, National augmented 2.08% and Optima earned 2.04%. In total 66 stocks collected gains, 49 suffered losses and 46 remained unchanged. Turnover was the highest of the last 15 sessions, amounting to €185.2m, against Thursday’s €115.1m.
US markets to remain closed on national holiday today. Note that consumer price index (CPI) data last week has eased inflation jitters, helping to restore risk sentiment after a dip in early January. Robust earnings from major US banks contributed to the risk-on environment as well, although focus will now shift to upcoming mega-cap tech earnings over the coming weeks. Given their significant role in driving Wall Street’s performance over the past year, their results will likely play a crucial role in shaping the direction of major US indices moving forward.
As far as AthEx, domestic market is up 3.74% ytd with impressive performance from banking sector (Piraeus +12.2%, Eurobank +11.7%, Alpha Bank 10%, NBG 8.7%) reflecting optimism for FY:25 outlook. We expect the market to continue the rally albeit lower pace given the considerable short term gains across the board.
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.
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