Beta Sec – Daily report 22-08-2024 Market Comment – In the Spotlight

AthEx returned to gains Wednesday after Tuesday’s slight correction following moderate rise in European peers.

General index ended at 1,432.53 points, up 0.49%, having risen as high as 1,434.58 (0.64%). Turnover was €70.15m, with 14,581,437 shares changing hands. Large caps gained 0.60% and mid-caps 0.16%. Among large caps, the biggest gainers were Eurobank (3.74%), Aegean Airlines (2.69%), Piraeus Port Authority (2.35%) and Athens International Airport (1.91%).

The biggest losses were sustained by construction group Ellaktor (1.70%), toy company Jumbo (1.59%) and Motor Oil (1.21%). Overall, the biggest gains were made by wool industry Tria Alfa common stock (7.84%) and Alpha Real Estate Services (6.04%).

The loss leaders were Frigoglass (5.22%) and Foodlink (4.81%). The biggest trading volume was seen by Eurobank and Alpha Bank, trading 5,412,319 and 2,377,575 shares, respectively. The stocks with the greatest trading value were Eurobank (€11.18 milion) and Motor Oil (€9.44 million).  Of the 119 traded shares, 58 ended with gains, 34 with losses and 27 were unchanged.

Investors on selective stance mode on the back of seasonal trading volumes.  Optimism over lower U.S. interest rates support sentiment abroad which in turn provide some incentives for selective buying. 

Greece/PDMA: 26 week T-bills yield stood at 3.09% vs. 3.30% in the previous auction. Total bids of €985m submitted exceeding the asking amount by 1.97 times. 

Greece/Balance of Payments:  According to the Bank of Greece, in June 2024 the current account registered a surplus of €270.8m against a deficit in June 2023, due to an improvement in the primary income account and to a lesser extent in the balances of goods and services. The goods deficit narrowed, reflecting an increase in exports and a decrease in imports. At current prices, exports increased by 3.3% y-o-y (-2.0% y-o-y at constant prices) and imports decreased by 1.4% y-o-y (-3.1% y-o-y at constant prices). More specifically, non-oil exports of goods at current prices decreased by 5.8% y-o-y (-9.2% y-o-y at constant prices), while the corresponding imports decreased by 1.5% y-o-y (-1.8% y-o-y at constant prices). The increase in the services balance is attributed primarily to an improvement in the travel balance and, secondarily, the transport balance. In June 2024, non-residents’ arrivals rose by 8.8% y-o-y and the relevant receipts grew by 7.7% y-o-y.

• In the January – June 2024 period, the current account deficit rose by €693.4m y-o-y and stood at €8.8bn. The goods deficit grew as exports dropped and imports increased. At current prices, goods exports dropped by 2.9% y-o-y (-5.9% y-o-y at constant prices) and goods imports grew by 3.4% y-o-y (+3.8% at constant prices y-o-y).

More specifically, non-oil goods exports at current prices declined by 4.4% y-o-y, while the corresponding imports increased by 4.0% y-o-y (-7.3% y-o-y and +4.4% y-o-y at constant prices, respectively).

• The surplus of the services balance widened, mainly as a result of an improvement in the travel balance and, secondarily, in the transport balance. Compared with the H1:23, non-residents’ arrivals increased by 15.5% y-o-y and the relevant receipts rose by 12.2% y-o-y.

The deficit of the primary income account grew y-o-y, mainly owing to a decline in net receipts under other primary income. The surplus of the secondary income account almost doubled y-o-y, owing to higher net receipts of the other sectors of the economy excluding general government.

Greece/Travel receipts: The balance of travel services showed a surplus of €5,553.1m in January-June 2024, up from a surplus of €5,053.5m in the corresponding period of 2023, according to the Bank of Greece.

• Travel receipts rose by €754.8m or 12.2% to €6,921.3m, while travel payments increased by €255.3m or 22.9% to €1,368.2m. The rise in travel receipts stemmed from a 15.5% increase in inbound traveler flows, as average expenditure per trip fell by 3.1%.

Net travel receipts offset 31.8% of the goods deficit and contributed 76.8% of total net services receipts. Receipts from EU27 residents rose by 14.8% to €3,815.8m and receipts from residents of other countries by 8.4% to €2,818.6m.

• In more detail, receipts from Germany grew by 7.4% to €1,223.3m, as did receipts from France, by 2.5% to €445.7m. Receipts from Italy also increased by 48.8% to €329.0m.

Turning to other countries, receipts from the United Kingdom rose by 19.9% to 1,008.6 million euros and receipts from the United States increased by 1.0% to €540m. Lastly, receipts from Russia decreased by 70.1% to €5.2m.

Kri – Kri: Shares go ex-dividend today (0.35 eur/share gross). Payment starts on August 28.

Thessaloniki Water: AGM approved €0.0276 FY:24 dividend/share. Ex-date on August 27^th, Payment starts on September 3^rd 

Titan Cement: S&P upgraded Titan’s credit rating to ‘BB+’ From ‘BB’ on solid operating performance sustaining metric improvements; outlook stable. In more details:

§  S&P said that Titan Cement has enjoyed solid operating performance in 2023 and during H1:24, with stronger-than-anticipated sales and EBITDA, and thus expected to continue to deliver resilient organic revenue growth of 4%-5% in 2024-2025, while preserving its profitability, and consistently generate sizable free operating cash flow thanks to supportive conditions in its core markets and cost-base optimization.

§  S&P projects that funds from operations (FFO) to debt will remain well above 30%, at about 65%-75% in 2024-2025, thanks to continued strong operating performance and a supportive financial policy.

§  Therefore, the raiting agency raised long-term issuer credit rating on Titan Cement to ‘BB+’ from ‘BB’ and affirmed the ‘B’ short-term rating. At the same time, S&P raised rating on Titan Cement’s senior unsecured debt to ‘BB+’ from ‘BB’, for which the recovery rating remains ‘3’ (65% estimated recovery in a default).

§  The stable outlook reflects the view that, in 2024-2025, Titan will maintain an adequate liquidity profile and sustain FFO to debt well above 30%, which S&P views as commensurate with the ‘BB+’ rating. 

Epsilon Net: The company announced that following the completion of the Tender Offer, Ginger Digital Bidco SA and persons acting in concert with Ginger held a total of 53,184,511 shares, representing 98.13% of the company’s paid-up share capital. On August 20, 2024,

• Ginger exercised the squeeze out right by submitting a request to the Hellenic Capital Market Commission, to acquire the remaining 1,015,489 common shares of the company, at a consideration of €12 per share, in order to then proceed with the delisting of Epsilon Net from ATHEX.

Additionally, Epsilon Net announced that it will hold its AGM on September 10. Among the items to be discussed is the distribution of dividend of 0.09 eur/share from FY:23 profits.

Real Estate: Starting September 1, the minimum amount to be invested in properties in the center of Athens, the capital’s northern and southern suburbs and the municipalities of Thessaloniki, Mykonos and Santorini, as well as on islands with a population exceeding 3,100, will rise from €500,000 to €800,000.

• In other areas, it will rise from €250,000 to €400,000. Also, to discourage prospective Golden Visa applicants from buying a series of small properties to meet the criteria, they must buy a single property of an area of at least 120 square meters.