Financial Mirror Weekly Newspaper - 18-24 April.

FinancialMirror

â‚Ź1.00 Issue No. 976 April 18 - 24, 2012

2 NEWS

FINANCIAL MIRROR, April 18 - 24, 2012

Spain yields jump at auction, bigger test ahead l

Treasury sells €3.2 bln of bills, above target

Spain’s short-term borrowing costs jumped at a sale of more than 3 bln euros of short-term government debt on Tuesday, reflecting fears about the country’s finances and boding ill for a key long-term debt auction later in the week.

The Spanish Treasury sold 3.2 bln euros of 12 and 18-month bills, just above its target range of 2-3 bln in sales - solid demand from investors a day after the country’s key 10-year bond yield hit a fivemonth high above 6%.

But it was forced to pay a stiff premium compared with a month ago. The yield on the 12-month bill was 2.623% compared with 1.418% at the last sale on March 20, and 3.110% on the 18-month bill, up from 1.711% last month.

The sales were in sharp contrast to the country’s debt auctions in the first quarter of the year as banks, backed by a wall of cheap European Central Bank cash, put some of it to work in debt of countries at the fringes of the euro zone.

“The key was again domestic bank bidding ... But it doesn’t change the bigger picture too much. The key will be the bond auction on Thursday,” said Michael Leister, rate strategist at DZ Bank.

Spain has eased its debt problem somewhat by selling close to 50% of its planned issuance of medium and long-term debt for the year, which will give the Treasury some comfort even if yields will likely rise at Thursday’s bond sales.

International investors continue to steer clear from Spain’s debt, leaving domestic banks as the main buyers.

At the end of February, non-residents held 42% of Spanish public debt, the lowest level since 2007 and down from 50% in December, Treasury figures show.

Analysts said national banks continued to support the auctions. The bid-to-cover ratio, an indicator of investor demand was 2.9 on the 12month bill, compared with 2.1 last time, and was 3.8 on the 18-month bill, up from 2.9 in March.

Yet this was not seen as necessarily positive for Thursday.

“Overall, these results are unlikely to provide any impediment to the current bid tone in peripherals but they do not guarantee a positive outcome as regards the more important litmus test for Spanish investor appetite looming in the form of Thursday’s sales,” said Richard McGuire, at Rabobank.

Investors bet ECB will support Spain Some investors are betting the rise in Spanish borrowing costs will force the European Central Bank to dust off its bond-buying programme to shore up the euro zone’s fourth largest economy and head off a more acute phase in the debt crisis.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy spooked markets last month by loosening his country’s budget deficit targets. Since then, bond yields have climbed at an accelerating pace as international long-term investors pull money out of the country.

Spain’s problems could quickly spread because investors deem Europe’s 500 bln euro bailout fund too small to prevent contagion to Italy’s huge 1.6 trln euro bond market.

There is some fierce opposition within the ECB to resuming bond buys but investors have nevertheless started to trade with one eye on the chance they will step in to lower Spanish yields.

“As I look at my screen and Spain 10-year yields are up at 6% - things are starting to get worrying again,” said Peter Westaway, chief economist for Europe at Vanguard, an investment management firm overseeing $1.8 trln in assets.

“If they go up to 6.5 to 7%, that could become very problematic, and if Italy started go back above Spain again then that would be really serious.”

Speculative investors are cutting short bets that make a profit when Spanish bond prices fall and getting ready for a shift into assets that carry

higher risk and greater reward.

“We are about 50 basis points away from a level at which the ECB is likely to intervene,” said JPMorgan fixed income strategist Pavan Wadhwa, who sees 6.5% in 10-year yields as the likely trigger for ECB action.

“We specifically recommend exiting short-peripheral trades if the Spanish 10-year yield reaches 6.25%, given the progressively higher risk of policy intervention.”

OPPOSITION The ECB has purchased more than 200 bln euros of peripheral debt in its Securities Markets Programme since May 2010 in an attempt to lower yields.

But the central bank’s December and February offers of cheap longterm loans (LTROs) totalling 1 trln euros restored some market calm and it stopped bond purchases in recent weeks.

The ECB has only bought 7.4 bln euros of debt this year.

Recent comments from ECB policymakers suggest they are divided about whether the programme should be restarted. Southern European members typically see it as an effective way to tackle the crisis but there is stiff opposition from members in the fiscally-stronger north.

Reactivating the programme could heighten tensions and among policymakers at the ECB, souring the atmosphere and making it harder for

President Mario Draghi to find consensus.

ANYTHING POSSIBLE Ten-year borrowing costs broke above 6% in Monday for the first time since the ECB announced plans in December for its first LTRO. The ECB could also help Spain by pumping money into banks through another offer of cheap long-term loans. Bank of Spain Governor Miguel Angel Fernandez Ordonez said on Tuesday that there had been no such proposal although anything was possible.

But many investors see the bond-buying programme as the ECB’s most likely option and banks are recommending ‘risk-on’ strategies that will profit as investors regain confidence and start buying assets with a higher return.

Some banks say the ECB has done enough already and are expecting Spanish debt to stabilise without any extra help.

Deutsche Bank says the threat of ECB buying and the potential use of banks’ existing stockpile of cheap cash may be enough to bring yields down.

Deutsche strategists have closed a short position on two-year Spanish bonds and now look for a fall in the price of safe-haven U.S. Treasuries and German inflation-linked debt as ways to play a reduction in euro zone stress.

Sarkozy defiant on ECB role as vote nears France’s Nicolas Sarkozy stepped up his demand on Tuesday to give the European Central Bank a bigger role in driving growth, despite a German rebuff, in a quest to convince voters just days from an election that he is the best defender of the economy.

Sarkozy raised hackles in Berlin by declaring at a weekend campaign rally that he wanted a debate on having the ECB direct its exchange rate policy to propel growth, breaching a November agreement not to publicly discuss the bank’s role.

The conservative president, who is losing momentum in opinion polls, told France Inter radio that giving the ECB a pro-growth role would not require modifying European treaties or throw the bank’s independence into question.

“It is not possible that the ECB does not participate in supporting growth, like all the central banks in the world,” Sarkozy said, citing China’s use of the yuan exchange rate to boost its export-led economic output.

“It is wrong to say that just because the ECB is independent, we do not have the right to talk.”

Sarkozy is locked in a battle, primarily over the economy, with Socialist Francois Hollande, who has a double-digit lead in opinion polls for a May 6 runoff that will follow next Sunday’s first-round vote between ten candidates.

An Ipsos opinion poll put Hollande and Sarkozy neck and neck on 27% each in the first round, ahead of far-right leader Marine Le Pen with 15.5%, hard leftist Jean-Luc Melenchon with 14.5% and centrist

Francois Bayrou with 10%.

The two rivals have sparred furiously over the economy, with Sarkozy warning that a Socialist victory could scare investors and Hollande saying any darkening of France’s credit outlook would reflect Sarkozy’s record, not his own arrival in office.

While financial analysts are most concerned about Hollande’s spending plans, a study by the conservative-leaning think-tank Institut Montaigne published in business daily Les Echos on Tuesday found Sarkozy had over-estimated his own savings plan by 20%, leaving a fifth of his programme unfunded.

DUEL FOR VOTES In a glimmer of hope for Sarkozy, political forecaster ElectionScope, which says it correctly predicted the winners of the two last sets of presidential elections in France and the United States, predicted a wafer-thin win for the incumbent.

Factoring in Sarkozy’s credibility ratings, jobless figures, past legislative ballots and other data, its simulation model found Sarkozy could win a runoff with 50.2% to Hollande’s 49.8%, albeit with a 1.7 point margin of error. Sarkozy’s reopening of the ECB’s role came nearly three months after Hollande called in his election manifesto for the central bank’s mandate to be widened to promoting growth and employment as well as price stability.

The Socialist also wants a renegotiation of Europe’s newly agreed

budget discipline pact to add pro-growth clauses.

Berlin steadfastly opposes any extension of the ECB’s mission and sees capping inflation as the best way to promote growth, as that keeps down medium and long-term interest rates.

Sarkozy said he was not trying to change the bank’s mandate, which is limited to maintaining price stability, unlike the U.S. Federal Reserve, which has a double mandate to ensure moderate inflation and also sustain employment.

In a system of freely floating currencies, the central bank can only influence exchange rates via its interest rate policy and through the money supply.

Pressing for a cheaper euro to boost French exports of aircraft, luxury goods and cereals is popular with voters, and Sarkozy took a similar stance in his 2007 election campaign without ever following through on it.

On Tuesday, Sarkozy welcomed a recent dip in the euro-dollar rate, saying: “Each time the euro loses a centime (against the dollar), it’s one billion extra in competitiveness for Airbus.”

Hollande is promising higher taxes on the wealthy as a way to redress public finances, notably a 75% tax rate on income above 1 mln euros.

On Tuesday he said the idea of a higher value-added tax rate on luxury goods made sense, though it is not in his manifesto. That could help balance his plan to cancel an upcoming rise in the main VAT rate to 21.2% from 19.6% from October, a measure Sarkozy has enacted to enable cuts in social charges for companies.

Goldman beats Wall Street, but dials back risk Goldman Sachs Group surprised Wall Street on Tuesday, reporting better-than-expected profit and dialing back risktaking in ways that are uncharacteristic for the traditionally aggressive investment bank.

In fixed income, currency and commodities trading (FICC) — where Goldman has been known for lucrative, if risky, bets — the bank highlighted interest-rate products as a bright spot and said other major businesses reported lower revenue.

In another move that made the Wall Street firm look a little more like the less profitable, run-of-the-mill commercial banks, Goldman raised its dividend 31% to 46 cents per share,

only the third time since the bank went public in 1999.

Investors had been expecting Goldman to find ways to increase profitability and post even stronger results, especially after major rivals JPMorgan Chase & Co and Citigroup Inc outperformed expectations in the first quarter.

Goldman’s revenue from FICC was $3.5 bln in the first quarter, down 20% from a strong year-ago quarter but more than double the fourth quarter. Still, UBS analyst Brennan Hawken described the revenue as “light” against his forecast of $4.2 bln. Revenue was down across most of Goldman’s businesses compared with a year earlier, except for financial advisory and stock trading for clients.

Its investment management division was perhaps the weakest business, reporting net outflows and lower revenue.

Goldman earned $2.1 bln, or $3.92 per share, for the first quarter. In the year-ago period, which was generally stronger for investment banks’ trading and banking activity, it earned $4.38 per share, excluding a one-time cost for buying back preferred stock from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. In lieu of higher revenue, Goldman also made further cuts to staffing and expenses to boost its bottom line, in what is expected to be the final stretch of an aggressive cost-cutting program that began during the second half of 2011.

FINANCIAL MIRROR, April 18 - 24, 2012

CYPRUS

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Church Inc., the Saviour l

2,000MW power plant with Israeli, Russian investors The Church of Cyprus, which has admittedly lost some 60% of its revenues from earnings in investments, as well as a drop in collections due to the economic crisis, plans to build a 2000MW power plant on its own property near the Vassiliko Cement Works factory.

Archbishop Chrysostomos II told reporters during the Orthodox Easter holidays that although the Church does not have the money to invest in the venture, it would be putting up the land in a joint venture with Russian and Israeli investors.

“For now, the power station will burn diesel fuel, but this will change as soon as Cyprus gets its own natural gas supply,” the Archbishop said.

He said that the 2000 MW design capacity of the power station is far more than Cyprus’ current needs of about 1300 MW, therefore the Church hopes the new venture will export most, if not all, its capacity to Israel.

This will probably be achieved through the EuroAsia Interconnector underwater cable being built by DEH Quantum that should be ready in three years’ time.

The cable, blessed by Cyprus, Israel and Greece, will cost some 1.5 bln euros to build but will generate 17 bln euros in future earnings.

The Archbishop’s announcement coincided with the arrival on Monday of Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, here to push through a recently signed search-and-rescue agreement.

The pact could lead to air and naval maneuvres in the area as Cyprus explores for gas in its exclusive economic zone near Israel’s recent natural gas finds.

Prime Minister Beniamin Netanyahu did not directly respond to questions during his recent visit to the isalnd, whether Israel would provide security for the Cypriot gas field.

Israel’s relations with Cyprus, as well as with Greece, sky-rocketed with the sharp deterioration in Israel’s ties with Turkey, although Israeli officials have said the reason for the dramatic change was not only Turkey, but also economic and other mutual interests. Netanyahu has spoken repeatedly in recent months about a regional alliance that includes Israel, Cyprus, Greece, Romania and Bulgaria.

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Cyprus, Israel agree to joint gas development

JOINT GAS DEVELOPMENT Lieberman and his Cypriot counterpart Erato Kozakou Markoulli said after their talks on Tuesday that the two neighbours are in the final stages of their negotiations on gas exploitation.

The plans include building a pipe to the southern coast of Cyprus and building a liquefaction plant at a cost of over 10 bln euros.

Asked to comment on threatening tones by Turkey against Cyprus, Lieberman said these are “unacceptable.”

Lieberman announced the Israeli finance minister will visit Cyprus in the coming months to conclude agreements on protecting investments in both countries.

He also said he discussed with Markoulli a proposal to set up a regional crisis handling force which will involve Cyprus, Israel, Greece, Bulgaria and Romania, but not Turkey.

“This co-operation on many issues, including emergencies like earthquakes, flooding and fires is very crucial and could be very efficient as we have seen in the recent (forest) fires in Israel and the flooding in Bulgaria,” Lieberman said.

Speaking to the press after the meeting, Markoulli said they had a discussion on some of the pending agreements currently under negotiation, “especially the one on the shared development and exploitation of hydrocarbon reservoirs in the cross median line”, noting that “we are in the final stages of the negotiations on this agreement and hopefully soon we will have the opportunity to sign it”.

Lieberman added that a lot of tourists from Israel visit Cyprus, hoping that this tourist flow will increase.

The Israeli official said that they also discussed water management and energy issues, stressing that “we will have more investments and more activities in these fields”.

He expressed hope that both sides will reach an agreement on double taxation and the protection of investment, saying that the Israeli Finance Minister is expected to visit Nicosia in the coming months, “to accelerate on these talks”.

TOURISM, REAL ESTATE Lieberman also met Commerce, Industry and Tourism Minister Neoclis Sylikiotis.

The Cypriot Minister said he briefed the Israeli official on the simplification of procedures to attract investment in Cyprus and noted that Israeli companies are already operating on the island.

On tourism, Sylikiotis said on these issues there is coordination with the competent ministries and the Cyprus Tourism Organisation in order to take measures to increase the tourist flow between the two countries Referring to bilateral cooperation, Lieberman said that many projects are currently underway in the fields of tourism, with prospects of Israeli investments in industry and real estate in Cyprus.

Fragile world, fractious leaders Slowing global growth makes for fragile outlook as IMF/G20 meet

GLOBAL ECONOMY WEEKAHEAD Growth in emerging economies is slowing and the recovery in the United States could be losing some momentum, worrisome developments when European leaders have yet to complete the repairs needed to shore up monetary union.

The situation forms a vulnerable backdrop for finance officials from the world’s leading economies, who gather in Washington this week for the Group of 20/ IMF/ World Bank meetings.

The managing director of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, has offered this blunt description: “The risks remain high; the situation fragile.”

Stock markets have rallied the past few months on relief that Europe averted a major financial crisis at the turn of the year. Credit goes to the European Central Bank for pumping money into debt markets, Greece for striking a debt restructuring deal after long and torturous negotiations, and to Italy, Spain and Portugal for embracing tough budgetary reforms.

But these actions have restored only a tentative calm.

The concern is that European Union leaders have imposed too-rapid budget cuts on its deeply indebted members, stifling growth today while doing too little to put the building blocks in place to ensure healthy growth tomorrow. This leaves the euro zone vulnerable to further market attacks.

“It is very important to avoid a vicious cycle of economic contraction

and budget cutting,” said Charles Dallara, managing director of the Institute of International Finance, which represents big global banks.

EU leaders have taken two important steps so far. They have agreed on a new budgetary framework for EU members and set up a $930 bln rescue fund to handle future sovereign crises.

But bankers and the IMF say what is needed next if Europe wants to break the vicious cycle of financial contagion is for leaders to lay out a clear road map toward fiscal integration for the euro zone in the medium term, and the ECB to make clear it will keep interest rates low in the short term.

Germany has resisted those steps, and even plans to take the simpler steps toward fiscal union, such as issuing common euro-zone bonds, are highly unlikely ahead of French elections and an Irish referendum on the EU’s new fiscal treaty this spring.

RIPPLES WIDEN Meanwhile, growth has ground to a halt in France, and damage has spilled into the emerging economies of Eastern Europe, whose export industries are closely tied to euro zone markets. Eastern European banks, many of which are owned by Western European institutions, also are cutting back sharply on credit supply, deepening the region’s woes.

China, the world’s second largest economy, is feeling the pain as well.

Its exports to the European Union, China’s largest market, shrank by over 1% in the first quarter. That contributed to China’s disappointing growth in

IMF revises world growth to 3.5% Global growth is slowly improving as the U.S. recovery gains traction and dangers from Europe recede, but risks remain elevated and the situation is very fragile, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday.

Another flare-up of the euro-zone sovereign debt crisis or sharp escalation in oil prices on geopolitical uncertainty could disrupt the world economy finding its feet now tensions in the euro zone have subsided, the IMF said. “An uneasy calm remains. One has the feeling that at any moment things could well get very bad again,” IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard told reporters as he detailed the Fund’s World Economic Outlook.

“Our baseline forecast is for low growth in advanced countries, especially in Europe, but with downside risks being extremely present,” he said.

The global economy is on track to expand this year by 3.5% and by 4.1% in 2013, up slightly from 3.3% and 3.9% of GDP output, respectively, that the IMF had forecast in January, when market concern was rampant that Greece could default and Italy and Spain were facing budget crises.

Since then, Greece has restructured its debt, Italy and Spain are adopting tough fiscal measures and euro-zone leaders have agreed to enlarge their bailout fund, causing financial market tensions to ease.

But the gains are precarious. Should the euro zone crisis erupt once more, it could trigger a widespread dumping of risky assets and rob 2% from global growth over two years and 3.5% from the euro zone, the Fund warned.

Additionally, a 50% increase in the price of oil would lower global out-

put by 1.25%, it said. To secure the global recovery, the IMF urged central banks in the United States, euro zone and Japan to stand ready to deliver further monetary easing; governments to exercise caution over the pace of budget cutbacks wherever feasible; and Europe to consider using public funds to recapitalize banks.

While European leaders have made “major progress” in building firewalls against financial contagion, the region faces a tricky balance of cutting government debt and restoring competitiveness without excessively stifling growth, it warned.

European banks also are deleveraging, which will reduce their balance sheets by $2.6 trln over the next two years and slice about 1 percentage point from growth this year alone.

The euro zone is likely to endure a mild recession this year, shrinking by 0.3% and then posting 0.9% growth in 2013, the IMF said. That is a minor improvement from the 0.5% 2011 contraction followed by 0.8% growth that it forecast in January.

The United States, meanwhile, is “pulling itself up by its bootstraps” as domestic conditions improve, the IMF said, though the pace of growth remains constrained by an indebted consumer, high unemployment and a weak housing market.

The IMF lifted its forecast for the U.S. to 2.1 percent this year, up from 1.8 percent in January. For 2013, it nudged up the forecast to 2.4 percent from 2.2 percent. It sees unemployment this year holding at its current level of 8.2 percent and inching down in 2013 to 7.9 percent.

gross domestic product in the first quarter of 8.1%, the slowest pace in almost three years and down from 8.9% in the fourth quarter.

Brazil, which had been one of the world’s fastest growing economies, is also is facing a sharp slowdown. Growth tumbled last year to 2.7%, less than half its 2010 pace, and the government has cut taxes, launched fresh attempts to weaken its currency, and the central bank is cutting interest rates aggressively to shore up growth.

The outlook for the United States, the world’s biggest economy, was muddied after jobs creation in March came in at only half the pace seen in the prior month, denting optimism that U.S. growth was poised to accelerate.

The IMF’s verdict on the global economy on Tuesday will be followed by the meeting of the Group of 7 rich nations on Thursday. The G20 finance ministers and central bankers meet on Friday, and Europe is bound to face pressure to show some willingness to move eventually toward fiscal union.

At the same time, a major battle is brewing over bolstering IMF resources. The international lender, concerned that Europe will not act quickly enough to prevent another sovereign debt crisis from erupting on its shores, wants more firepower to help countries fight financial crises.

The IMF is seeking up to $600 bln from its members. But its funding request appears to be getting whittled down in size and swept into a bigger battle by emerging economies demanding greater voting power at the IMF, commensurate with their growing economic clout.

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CYPRUS

FINANCIAL MIRROR, April 18 - 24, 2012

Is the construction decline bottoming out?

The decline in construction output moderated in the fourth quarter of 2011, dropping by 12.6% compared with the same period of the previous year, after a fall of 16.2% in the third quarter.

One reason for the slower decline was doubtless the effect of the Mari blast in July 2011, which knocked out the main power station.

As part of general efforts to conserve limited power supplies, the construction industry downed tools for the whole of August instead of the usual two weeks.

This would have had a negative impact on the figures for the third quarter.

However, after more than two years of deep recession in the sector, which alone has added more than 4,600 to registered unemployment numbers since the beginning of 2009, there might also be some hints of light.

The main reason to be hopeful is that the subsector of building construction declined by “only” 10.9% in the fourth quarter. This is slower than the pace of decline for the whole of 2010 and for all but the first quarter of 2009.

It is also not that much worse than the decline

of 10.3% recorded in the second quarter of 2011— the three month period before the Mari blast.

The relative improvement in building construction helped offset a fall in civil engineering, which fell by 16.2% in the last quarter of 2011. This was even steeper than the 10.6% recorded in the third quarter and presumably reflects the end of the major road improvement programme.

However, it might also reflect the efforts of the former Minister of Communications and Works,

Retail slump moderates in January The slump in retail sales moderated in January, according to provisional data from the Statistical Service.

The volume of retail sales is provisionally estimated to have declined by 1.6% compared with the year earlier, having declined by 6.6% in December (revised down from 6.5%).

There was a turnaround in sales of food, beverages and tobacco in non-specialised stores (mainly kiosks and supermarkets), which saw growth of 3.9% over the year earliy, after a fall of 1.9% in December.

However, specialised stores such as bakeries saw a steeper decline of 7.5%, compared with 2.9% in December. This might point to price competition from the supermarkets.

With the exception of “automotive fuel in specialised stores”, which grew by 5.2% for reasons that cannot easily be explained, all other categories of retail sales declined.

On a slightly positive note, sales of electrical goods and furniture and computer equipment fell by less in January than they did in December. However, this could have been in anticipation of the VAT rise from 15% to 17% from March 1st. www.sapientaeconomics.com

EAC to restore 570MW by end-2012 The Electricity Authority of Cyprus said the repair works at the Vassiliko power station, undertaken by General Electric and contractor J&P Avax, will see the 150MW gas turbine Unit 5 coming on line in July, with a further 70MW added in August.

Unit 4, which is similar to Unit 5, will also come online in July with addition output in the Autumn.

EAC chairman Haris Thrasou, said during a recent inspection of the site, that Unit 3 with an output capacity of 130MW will be operational by the end of the year, while Units 1 and 2, each with a design capacity of 130MW will be added to the network before the peak demand in the summer of 2013.

Erato Kozako-Marcoulli, who pushed through an increase in the implementation rate of public works programmes.

This little ray of optimism has to be tempered, however, by a continued decline in building permits, a leading indicator of economic activity, which declined in the fourth quarter by 18.1% over the year earlier, compared with a drop of 14.3% in the third.

It seems that we still have some way to go before

construction will actually grow again.

Meanwhile, for building construction at least, construction output prices have been declining, falling by 0.9% over the year earlier in the fourth quarter. Construction materials prices rose in the same period by 4.1%, meaning that profit margins would have been squeezed unless the construction sector managed to hire cheaper labour. The rapid rise in construction unemployment suggests that cheaper labour was found from abroad.

Companies lucky enough to be working on civil engineering projects, on the other hand, saw output prices rise by 3% over the year earlier and by 4.5% for the whole year.

One wonders if the government’s desire to keep people employed led it to overpay for all those new roads. Alternatively, it might show that companies who work for the government have higher costs because they abide by all the rules, hiring properly qualified people and paying social insurance on all their labour.

Fiona Mullen Director, Sapienta Economics Ltd

Trade deficit shrinks in Jan-Feb Based on preliminary figures for February, the trade deficit shrank in the first two months of the year by 12.2% over the year earlier to EUR 679.7 mln, compared with EUR 774.5 mln in the first two months of 2011, Financial Mirror analysis shows.

The main reason was the drop in imports, which fell over the year earlier by 10.4% to EUR 879.9 mln. Imports from EU countries fell by 17.0% to EUR 603.6 mln, whereas imports from non-EU countries

FOREIGN TRADE (EUR '000) Total exports Extra EU Intra-EU Total imports Extra-EU Intra-EU Trade balance

Jan 2011 96 133 34 633 61 500 468 516 143 275 325 241 -372 383

Feb 2011 111 583 44 200 67 383 513 677 111 536 402 141 -402 094

Jan-Feb 2011 207 716 78 833 128 883 982 193 254 811 727 382 -774 477

Jan 2012 92 593 34 989 57 604 418 866 140 562 278 304 -326 273

Feb 2012 107 569 44 600 62 969 461 012 135 746 325 266 -353 443

Jan-Feb 2012 200 162 79 589 120 573 879 878 276 308 603 570 -679 716

Jan-Feb/ Jan-Feb -3.6% 1.0% -6.4% -10.4% 8.4% -17.0% -12.2%

February 2012 figures are provisional.

Source: Statistical Service.

actually rose by 8.4% to EUR 276.3 mln.

Total exports also declined,

by 3.6% over the year earlier to EUR 200.2 mln. Exports to EU countries fell by 6.4% to EUR

120.6 mln whereas exports to non-EU countries rose by 1% to EUR 79.6 mln.

City of London officials to visit for talks The Lord Mayor of the City of London David Wootton and the City of London Corporation’s Policy Chairman Stuart Fraser will pay a threeday visit next week (April 22-24) to prepare for the forthcoming rotation of the European Presidency from Denmark.

The two officials are expected to use this visit as an opportunity to speak with a number of high-level Cypriot policy makers, civic leaders, businesses and trade associations.

Lord Mayor David Wootton said that “the City of London fully recognises how vital European cooperation is to our continuing success and to our future prosperity.

We look forward to working together with the Cypriot Presidency to overcome the obstacles that stand in the way of jobs and growth across

the continent”.

Stuart Fraser, Policy Chairman at the City of London Corporation, added that “as Europe’s financial capital, London’s success benefits the rest of the continent and vice versa. Strengthening the single market by promoting open markets and free trade is vital to drive the European economy forward”.

The British High Commission and the Cyprus-UK Business Association are organising a panel discussion on “Going for Growth-The Way Forward” on April 23 in Nicosia where the Lord Mayor will be joined by former President George Vassiliou and Nobel laureate Professor Christophoros Pissarides for a discussion on the future prosperity and economic success of Cyprus.

CIIM seminar on social business The Cyprus International Institute of Management (CIIM) is organising a seminar next Tuesday on opportunities that social media presents to help companies deliver goals in 2012.

CIIM’s guest speaker, Krishna De, a leading authority in digital communications, will share tools and tips to help the participants maximise their return of investment and share guidance on how to effectively integrate their social media communications into their business processes from marketing to customer support, from lead generation to employee

engagement.

This seminar, “Moving Beyond Friends, Followers and Fans – 5 Keys to Becoming A Social Business”, is especially relevant for anyone who has considered using social media but is not sure where to start, or those who have started to explore social media communications but have not been achieving the results they desire.

The seminar, part of CIIM’s Public Lectures Series, is open and free to the public. It will be held on April 24 at 6pm, at the business school’s premises in Nicosia.

UNic conference on regional threats and challnges The Center for European and International Affairs of the University of Nicosia and the Russian Embassy in Nicosia are hosting a conference next Tuesday on “New Threats and Challenges for Regional Security in the Eastern Mediterranean”. The event will start at 10 am at the UNESCO Amphitheater, Europa Building on the university campus with a welcoming address by the Centre’s President, Andreas Theophanous, followed by

remarks by Ambassdor Vyacheslav Shumskiy and Commerce, Industry and Tourism Minister Neoklis Sylikiotis.

The conference will look into the strategic dimensions, security and humanitarian issues, a discussion on “Turkey, Syria and the Broader Unrest”, and will conclude with a look at “Energy Challenges and Implications”. The conference will end with a discussion at about 7pm.

FINANCIAL MIRROR, April 18 - 24, 2012

CYPRUS

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Power generation in the post-Mari era l

Blast saw 2.4% fall in GDP or €500 mln

CONSTANTINOS HADJISTASSOU According to one estimate by the University of Cyprus, the catastrophic explosion at Mari, in July 2011, which knocked down the Vasilikos power station cost the Cyprus economy a staggering 2.4% reduction in GDP (on an annual basis).

Exacerbating the already financially strained economy, the contingency literally compelled the Government to seek alternative sources to refinance the burgeoning national debt. Remarkably, almost one year now, hardly nobody from the political realm mentions the impact the consequent power cuts inflicted on the Cypriot economy.

More frequently, the global financial crisis is blamed as the sole cause of the performance of the economy. From an energy stand-point this is partly true. Indisputably, the energy crisis deteriorated things considerably. We need only mention that the renting cost of the mobile generators currently operated by the EAC, with a collective capacity of 165 MW, is 49 mln euros for one year alone. Inherently less efficient than the larger combined cycle gas turbines (No. 4 and 5) these smaller units run on expensive diesel fuel tied to the price of Brent which currently trades at $125 per barrel. Add to that the 6.96% increase in electricity price that CERA has imposed on consumers and factor in the increase in VAT from 15% to 17% which the government enforced in

Another arms ship to Syria diverted A German ship suspected of transporting Iranian weapons to Syria has been diverted to an unspecified port for inspection as it may be in breach of an arms embargo.

Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou-Markoullis said on state television on Saturday she had given instructions not to grant permission to the ship to approach Cyprus. A previous shipment three months ago made it through and its cargo was probably used in the Syrian government’s efforts to suppress a public revolt, leaving thousands dead and many more fleeing to Turkey.

“The economy ministry has been in contact with the owner of the ship. The ship will now head for a safe port (in a different country). There the goods will be checked,” a German spokeswoman said on Sunday.

Der Spiegel magazine, which broke the story, reported that the Atlantic Cruiser had been chartered to a Ukrainebased company, White Whale Shipping, which had declared the cargo as “pumps and the like”.

The magazine quoted ship broker Torsten Lueddeke of Hamburg-based C.E.G. Bulk Chartering as saying: “We stopped the ship after we received information on the weapons cargo.”

Der Spiegel said the ship had loaded the cargo in Djibouti last week and changed course for Iskenderun in Turkey on Friday when the cargo was at risk of being uncovered.

The ship stopped about 80 km southwest of the Syrian port of Tartus, its initial destination, it said.

On Sunday, Spiegel reported that the ship had turned off its radio transmitter, which allows it to be tracked, thus making its location uncertain.

March this year.

Consider also the rise in renewable energy levy from 44 to 50 cents which was approved by parliament on March 15. Collectively, it comes as no surprise that consumers pay one of the most expensive electricity prices among the EU 27 states at about 0.17?/kWh. Despite liberalisation of the electricity market no independent power producer has yet to enter the market other than the Vasiliko Cement Works. Practically, consumers have no choice but to rely on the power generated by the EAC. Electricity generated from wind farms and photovoltaic parks is sold to the EAC, which under the current legislation, is obliged to absorb it.

There is no doubt that the price of electricity should reflect its true generation cost and environmental footprint. But what happens when power is viewed as a vehicle to improve state finances? Raising the price of electricity triggers the so-called domino effect in the prices of goods and services. In other words, an increase in 7% in the electricity price will not translate into a 7% rise in the selling price of bread or milk, for example, but much more than that. Inflation will immediately increase, the competitiveness of a country will suffer, and economic recovery during a recession will be thrown into jeopardy. Electricity consumption will also drop. It is notable that a 2.4% reduction in the GDP of Cyprus, as a result of the explosion, amounts to approximately 500 mln euros. On the one hand, heavily subsidised power promotes excessive consumption. In contrast, a price increase must also weigh in the per

capita income of the citizens of a country and the standard of living. On what grounds did CERA authorise a 6.96% increase in the electricity price following the Mari explosion given that the incident was manmade and not a natural disaster? At first glance, it casts doubts on CERA’s independence. Neither does it seem the regulator has a firm grasp of energy economics.

In the foreseeable future, Cyprus has no option but to restore its conventional power generation capacity and promote market competition. As green as they sound, renewable energy sources (RES) alone cannot (yet) meet power demand in its entirety. Intermittency, higher costs, and storage issues have to be resolved first before RES make a substantial contribution to power demand. Not accidentally, Germany, Spain and the UK have proceeded to lower feed-in tariffs for RES. In the case of Cyprus natural gas could substantially lower the cost and environmental impact of power generation provided the most cost-effective solution is implemented. In the meantime, a better understanding of energy economics for decision-makers and more dynamic citizen activism will help strike a balance between electricity prices and wellbeing.

Constantinos Hadjistassou, DPhil, is a researcher at the University of Cyprus specialising on hydrocarbons and low-carbon technologies. For info visit Energy Sequel: www.energysequel.com

6

COMMENT

EDITORIAL

Where is MOKAS? It came as no surprise that, according to Greek press reports, former Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos may have used offshore accounts or front companies in Cyprus to siphon off thousands and millions of euros in commissions from arms purchases or other public deals.

It is not the socialist politician’s dubious activity that raised concern here, but the fact that these went unnoticed for at least the past five years, if not decade.

Cyprus has a financial crimes detection unit hidden within the Police Force, but the small number of officers and probably an unclear mandate have never allowed MOKAS to do its work properly.

Our own version of the Serious Fraud Office has been incapable to resolve major investigations such as the “great scandal” of the stock market boom and bust of 1999-2002, when those who manipulated the market are still roaming around freely. Past appeals to dig into the millions and billions stashed away by Serbia’s Slobodan Milosevic and his cronies have also proved futile, while politicians have never taken MOKAS’ mission seriously, resulting in major fraud and financial crime often going undetected. In the best case, the detectives may launch an investigation, but legal obstacles and lack of cooperation often produce few results.

Risk managers have also expressed serious doubt about the effectiveness and transparency of issuing casino licenses in Cyprus for the simple reason that MOKAS is undermanned and has limited powers to be able to investigate money laundering, corruption, white slavery and even connections to drug dealing, all of which are often linked to an unregulated casino environment.

For now, neighbourhood casinos are doing as they like with the state missing up on billions in lost revenues, whereas the operators and those behind the online casinos are well known to society and allowed to get away with it.

If we are to avoid any future embarrassments such as the undetected offshore accounts of the likes of Tsohatzopoulos, Milosevic or Russian oligarchs, MPs should disregard their personal interests as lawyers and those in government should empower MOKAS with the necessary tools to combat financial crime. This is not an outfit that should deal with petty tax evaders, which is the responsibility of tax inspectors anyway. Fraud detection is possible, but with the right team and tools in place.

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FINANCIAL MIRROR, April 18 - 24, 2012

The Financial Crisis is Reshaping European Politics Dr. Jim Leontiades Cyprus International Institute of Management

direct purchases of sovereign debt by the European Central Bank. All measures in direct conflict with present Euro zone policies.

In final analysis, the decisions and strategy of the Euro zone depend on politics and political decisions.

The forthcoming elections in Greece and France will serve to give some insight into the likely direction of voter trends, particularly in the peripheral countries which have suffered most from the economic recession.

Since the beginning of the crisis, the governments of Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Ireland which have been subject to the austerity measures of the Euro zone have all been replaced. Their replacements have not managed to improve the economic situation of these countries. Now, a new round of elections is imminent. The May 6 elections in France and Greece will be key indicators of the new shape of Europe’s political landscape and its economic policies.

GREECE

FRANCE The forthcoming French election has two stages. April 22 is the first stage with a run off between the two winners on May 6. The financial crisis has given rise to splinter parties at the expense of the leaders, notably Marine Le Pen on the right and Mr. Melenchon backed by the Communists. Both of the latter call for policies radically opposed to the present policies of the Euro zone.

The two-stage election process makes the emergence of a coalition of minor parties less likely than in countries with a single stage election.

The final election will almost certainly be a contest between President Sarkozy (centre right) and the Socialist candidate Mr. Hollande. Mr. Sarkozy has been the chief supporter of Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor and chief architect of present Euro zone policies.

Leading the polls and aiming to oust President Sarkozy is Francois Hollande, the Socialist candidate. President Sarkozy’s more flamboyant and somewhat aggressive style has not gone down well with many French voters. Mr. Hollande exhibits a softer approach, hence his nick name, “Mr. Mushroom”.

Mushroom or not, Mr. Hollande aims to tackle some of the Euro zone’s most sacred anti- crisis measures. He has declared that he will “renegotiate the fiscal compact” which underpins the Euro zone’s main strategy for addressing the financial crisis.

He has also come out in favour of lowering the minimum retirement age, raising the minimum wage and most recently, in favour of

The big losers in the forthcoming Greek elections will be the two major parties which have dominated Greek politics for decades. Pasok and New Democracy together accounted for nearly 80% of the vote during the last election. Recent polls indicate they will receive approximately half that on May 6, with New Democracy leading by 3-4 percentage points.

Voters disenchanted with the austerity that has put Greece into its steepest recession of modern times have shifted their allegiance to parties less connected with Euro zone austerity measures. Latest estimates indicate that some 20% of voters will opt for the smaller parties on the left (KKE, Democratic Left, New Left, Coalition of the Left) while those on the right (Independent Greeks, New Dawn, Laos) are estimated to account for another 15%.

The smaller parties, particularly those on the left, have indicated their opposition to austerity policies. A large portion of the electorate (19%) is undecided and 10% do not intend to vote.

Samaras, leader of New Democracy and the most likely leader of the coalition, initially signaled his opposition to the Euro zone’s austerity programme by initially refusing to sign an agreement to continue to support it. Under pressure, he finally agreed to sign such an agreement.

But in recent political rallies of New Democracy he has stated in no uncertain terms that his position is “No to austerity”.

The outlook is for a coalition led by one of the major parties (probably New Democracy). This is not a very promising situation in a near desperate economic environment calling for strong leadership. Already there is speculation that the lifetime of the new Greek government will not be a long one.

AUSTERITY NOT A VOTE WINNER The Euro zone’s austerity programme for dealing with the financial crisis is probably the greatest single influence behind voter trends in both of these elections. It should not be a surprise that austerity has not proved a vote winner.

In both Greece and France there has been a shift in the electorate toward parties and personalities opposing key Euro zone policies. Both situations point toward more volatility and economic uncertainty in the Euro zone.

Triangular Exchange – A Smart Solution for the Real Estate Sector GEORGE MOUSKIDES It is evident that it will take drastic solutions if the real estate sector is to make a rebound bearing in mind the situation as it is today.

It is accepted by all that real estate transactions in Cyprus bear heavy taxes. A study involving EU countries has placed Cyprus in the top three regarding the cost of a real estate transaction.

Let’s take the example of me owning a two-bedroom flat which I need to sell and buy a three-bedroom one as family needs demand. If I go ahead with this transaction the taxes I will need to pay both for the two-bedroom I’m selling as well as the three-bedroom I’m buying will be in the region of over 30%.

In other words, the family will be obliged to pay, on top of the higher cost of the larger property, a sum approaching 30% to the state, (including the capital gains tax, which is 20% on profits from the sale of the smaller flat, as well as VAT and transfer fees for the larger flat being bought).

If the flat to be bought costs €250,000, then the 30% is translated to €75,000 for taxes, something that is outrageously high. This is the main reason why real estate transactions in Cyprus have been kept at low numbers across the years.

Our suggestion, which aims to ‘’cure’’ this over-taxation, is simple. In the case when someone is selling a property with the intention to buy another, they must be entitled to a tax-break, very much like the one in place today for property exchanges.

The above idea is not as innovative as it may appear but if skillfully employed will have an enormously positive effect on both the economy as well as the real estate sector. The tax breaks that are valid today relate to the exchange of properties between two parties only. That is to say between someone with a flat who goes ahead and exchanges it with the

flat of someone else.

When the law on exchanges was being drafted, the issue it was meant to tackle was to help individuals whose changing needs demanded the sale of one property to facilitate the purchase of another.

What in reality it failed to address was that it would be very difficult to match the needs of two persons who would go ahead and exchange their properties. My suggestion is to re-establish the meaning of exchange to include three individuals. To put it simply, for someone to be able to sell property to one party and at the same time to buy a property from another party.

Based on this “triangular exchange” we are suggesting, three individuals will be involved but only one will enjoy the benefits of the tax-break, basically the one selling and buying property almost simultaneously. The technical implementation of this solution is also simple. Where there’s a will there’s a way. If the government would lend us an ear our Association is at their disposal to help.

We are convinced that if our suggestion is adopted it will help revive the real estate sector. A lot of people are bound to rush to exchange their property with another that will better suit their needs. The state will also be putting more cash in its coffers as only one of the three parties involved will be entitled to a tax-break. The other two will have to pay the relevant taxes to the state. The aim is to put the real estate sector back on track, something which is bound to shorten the unemployment lines.

Why is the Cypriot state not willing to resort to new and innovative ideas, especially when it is proven, beyond reasonable doubt, that the regulations now in place have led to a decline and are leading the citizens of this country to a slow economic death?

George Mouskides is president of the Association for the Promotion of Property Development and Manager at FOX Smart Estate Agency.

FINANCIAL MIRROR, April 18 - 24, 2012

COMMENT 7

Reversing Europe’s Renationalisation GEORGE SOROS

NEW YORK – Far from abating, the euro crisis has taken a turn for the worse in recent months.

The European Central Bank managed to relieve an incipient credit crunch through its long-term refinancing operation (LTRO), which lent over a trillion euros to eurozone banks at one percent. This brought considerable relief to financial markets, and the resulting rally obscured underlying deterioration; but that is unlikely to last much longer.

The fundamental problems have not been resolved; indeed, the gap between creditor and debtor

countries continues to widen. The crisis has entered what may be a less volatile but potentially more lethal phase.

At the onset of the crisis, the eurozone’s breakup was inconceivable: the assets and liabilities denominated in the common currency were so intermingled that a breakup would cause an uncontrollable meltdown. But, as the crisis has progressed, the eurozone financial system has been progressively reoriented along national lines.

This trend has gathered momentum in recent months. The LTRO enabled Spanish and Italian banks to engage in very profitable and low-risk arbitrage in their own countries’ bonds. And the preferential treatment received by the ECB on its Greek bonds will discourage other investors from holding sovereign debt.

If this continues for a few more years, a eurozone breakup would become possible without a meltdown – the omelet could be unscrambled – but it would leave the creditor countries’ central banks holding large, difficult-to-enforce claims against the debtor countries’ central banks.

The Bundesbank has become aware of the danger.

Eurozone Chutzpah and the IMF SIMON TILFORD

LONDON – Eurozone policymakers and politicians are in no doubt: they have done their part to support the currency union’s struggling members by increasing the size of its rescue fund, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM).

Now it is time for the rest of the world – that is, the International Monetary Fund – to step up and put additional funds on the table, and European finance ministers are making that case at the IMF/World Bank meetings in Washington European officials, in other words, take for granted that the IMF should support the eurozone, as if the rest of the world had some kind of duty to do so. In reality, even if eurozone governments could agree on a much larger increase in the ESM’s size, there are compelling reasons why the IMF should refrain from offering any further support.

Europe’s leaders cannot decide if the eurozone is a federation akin to the United States or a group of independent states. They frequently compare the eurozone favorably to other developed economies.

Eurozone members as a whole, they argue, have a lower budget deficit than the US and the United Kingdom, and a similar level of public debt. Unlike the US and the UK, the eurozone in aggregate is running a current-account surplus (it is, as policymakers like to say, living “within its means”). And they express considerable pride in the euro’s growing role as an international reserve currency, as well as resolve to do whatever it takes to defend the currency union’s integrity.

And yet the same policymakers believe that the rest of the world should bail out the eurozone. When it suits them, the euro is no longer the currency of a highly successful and integrated economy, but a currency shared by a collection of sovereign creditor and debtor countries, and the IMF thus has a responsibility to support the debtor members.

That is an odd position to take, to say the least.

Imagine that the US federal government decided that it no longer wanted to support Mississippi and demanded support for that poor southern state from the IMF. The rest of the world – led by the eurozone governments – would rightly turn their backs.

Similarly, the IMF is not expected to help India – whose per capita GDP is less than a tenth of eurozone levels – to finance the poverty-stricken states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

The eurozone wants it both ways. Its debtors and creditors are all members of the same, wealthy currency union, whose current-account surplus with the rest of the world means that it is a net exporter of capital (that is, domestic savings exceed domestic invest-

ment). Moreover, the eurozone’s strategy for dealing with the crisis implicitly relies on a rising surplus: member states with current-account deficits are under pressure to close them, but creditor countries face no pressure to reduce their surpluses. So, a region that is essentially pursuing a mercantilist strategy now wants the rest of the world to finance it.

Many European leaders believe that the rest of the world owes the eurozone a bailout because the currency union is just an innocent bystander. Despite being well run and fundamentally more stable than other economies, the markets (or “speculators”) are making it impossible for the eurozone’s struggling members to achieve the necessary adjustments. So the eurozone deserves protection from international forces intent on destroying it.

This rationale highlights the core of the problem: the eurozone is institutionally incomplete, and eurozone policymakers continue to blame investors for pointing this out. In every currency union, there are creditor and debtor regions. Just as it is the responsibility of creditor regions in the world’s other currency unions to support the debtor regions (which they do through a variety of means), it is up to the eurozone’s creditor regions to underpin its debtor regions’ solvency. This requires debt mutualisation, fiscal transfers between member states, and, of course, federal institutions to give all of this legitimacy.

A second reason given by eurozone policymakers to justify their demand for more IMF support is basically a form of blackmail: the global consequences of a further eurozone crisis would be so grave that the IMF has no choice but to do whatever it can to prevent it. Much poorer countries, and those routinely criticized by eurozone policymakers for their indebtedness (such as the US and the UK), should provide support to a wealthy creditor in order to prevent it from inflicting incalculable damage on the global economy. This is akin to making the rest of the world an offer that it can’t refuse.

The rest of the world has no moral responsibility to support the eurozone, and it should resist European leaders’ efforts to extort that support, which would be tantamount to covert support for its creditor countries.

That would be an unjustified use of IMF resources, and would further confirm the suspicion among the world’s emerging economies that the IMF is in thrall to Western interests.

The IMF should stick to supporting countries with temporary external-financing problems; a wealthy creditor region that refuses to address its institutional contradictions is not a deserving case. If eurozone governments are unwilling to build the federal institutions needed to stabilize the eurozone, they should either assemble a big enough rescue fund themselves, or accept that the single currency is unworkable in its current form.

Simon Tilford is Chief Economist at the Center for European Reform. © Project Syndicate, 2012. www.project-syndicate.org

It is now engaged in a campaign against the indefinite expansion of the money supply, and it has started taking measures to limit the losses that it would sustain in case of a breakup. This is creating a self-fulfilling prophecy: once the Bundesbank starts guarding against a breakup, everybody will have to do the same.

Markets are beginning to reflect this.

The Bundesbank is also tightening credit at home.

This would be the right policy if Germany was a freestanding country, but the eurozone’s heavily indebted member countries badly need stronger demand from Germany to avoid recession. Without it, the eurozone’s “fiscal compact,” agreed last December, cannot possibly work. The heavily indebted countries will either fail to implement the necessary measures, or, if they do, they will fail to meet their targets, as collapsing growth drives down budget revenues. Either way, debt ratios will rise, and the competitiveness gap with Germany will widen.

Whether or not the euro endures, Europe faces a long period of economic stagnation or worse. Other countries have gone through similar experiences.

Latin American countries suffered a lost decade after 1982, and Japan has been stagnating for a quarter-century; both have survived. But the European Union is not a country, and it is unlikely to survive. The deflationary debt trap is threatening to destroy a stillincomplete political union.

The only way to escape the trap is to recognize that current policies are counterproductive and change course. I cannot propose a cut-and-dried plan, but three observations stand out. First, the rules governing the eurozone have failed and need to be radically revised.

Defending a status quo that is unworkable only makes matters worse. Second, the current situation is highly anomalous, and some exceptional measures are needed to restore normalcy. Finally, the new rules must allow for financial markets’ inherent instability.

To be realistic, the current fiscal compact governing the eurozone must be taken as the starting point.

Of course, some already-visible defects will need to be modified. Notably, the compact should count commercial as well as financial debts, and government budgets should distinguish between investments that pay and current spending. In order to avoid cheating,

what qualifies as investment should be subject to approval by a European authority. An enlarged European Investment Bank could then co-finance investments.

Most importantly, some extraordinary measures need to be invented to bring conditions back to normal. The EU’s fiscal charter compels member states annually to reduce their public debt by one-twentieth of the amount by which it exceeds 60% of GDP. I propose that member states jointly reward good behavior by taking over that obligation.

The member states have transferred their seignorage rights to the ECB, and the ECB is currently earning about €25 billion ($32.7 billion) annually. The seignorage rights have been estimated by Willem Buiter of Citibank and Huw Pill of Goldman Sachs, working independently, to be worth between €2-3 trillion, because they will yield more as the economy grows and interest rates return to normal. A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) owning the rights could use the ECB to finance the cost of acquiring the bonds without violating Article 123 of the Lisbon Treaty.

Should a country violate the fiscal compact, it would wholly or partly forfeit its reward and be obliged to pay interest on the debt owned by the SPV. That would impose tough fiscal discipline, indeed.

By rewarding good behavior, the fiscal compact would no longer constitute a deflationary debt trap, and the outlook would radically improve. In addition, to narrow the competitiveness gap, all members should be able to refinance their existing debt at the same interest rate. But that would require greater fiscal integration, so it would have to be phased in gradually.

The Bundesbank will never accept these proposals, but the European authorities ought to take them seriously. The future of Europe is a political issue, and thus is beyond the Bundesbank’s competence to decide.

George Soros is Chairman of Soros Fund Management. © Project Syndicate, 2012. www.project-syndicate.org

10 WORLD

Lagarde eyes trimmed $400 bln rise in IMF funds The IMF hopes to gain governments’ agreement this week to raise its funds by more than $400 bln, around two thirds of the amount it said it would need three months ago, fund managing director Christine Lagarde signalled on Tuesday.

Lagarde, who had already signalled the fund would need less than previously thought, said the success of some countries in raising funds on financial markets in the first quarter had eased the pressure on its crisis-fighting resources.

In an interview in Il Sole 24 Ore, she praised reform efforts by Italy’s government and said market confidence had improved since Rome agreed to enhanced surveillance by the IMF. She also saw progress in Spain.

“I really hope this week we’ll reach the critical mass of more than $400 bln. We are determined to do all we can,” she was quoted as telling Italy’s main financial newspaper, though she also said finally sealing the funds might take a bit longer.

Finance chiefs meet in Washington on April 20-21.

“I am ready to leave the matter open for a few weeks: some countries need a little bit more time for parliamentary approval,” she added.

In January, the IMF estimated it would need $600 billion in new resources. Officials from the Group of 20 nations told Reuters last week the world’s major economies were likely to agree to provide the IMF with somewhere between $400 bln and $500 bln.

In the interview, Lagarde said credit crunch risks had receded.

“The overall risk evaluation is unchanged, but it’s April now and some countries have already raised on the markets more than half of what they need for 2012, so our estimate has shrunk,” “In some countries, for small and medium enterprises, for households, credit may be more costly and difficult, but it is not as serious a threat as we feared in December.”

Lagarde said the IMF would keep pressing for the euro zone’s rescue funds to be allowed to lend directly to banks, in order to address the link between lenders and sovereign risk.

“I put the idea forward in July, it was not accepted. We insist.”

Lagarde said Spain must continue on its reform path after improvements achieved so far and praised Italy’s “enormous chapter of changes, with more to come.”

She said budget consolidation measures Rome had announced so far were sufficient. But parliament had to make sure the final version of a labour market reform now being discussed would tackle the dualism between protected and unprotected workers and remove uncertainties on lay-offs.

“We fully agree with what the government is doing,” she said, adding the IMF respected Italy’s “political” choice of relying more on revenues than spending cuts in its budget adjustment.

FINANCIAL MIRROR, April 18 - 24, 2012

World Bank picks health expert Kim as president l

Emerging nations question selection process, US dominance

The World Bank on Monday chose Korean-born American health expert Jim Yong Kim as its new president, maintaining Washington’s grip on the job and leaving developing countries frustrated with the selection process.

Kim, a physician and anthropologist who makes for a somewhat unorthodox choice to head the global anti-poverty lender, won the job over Nigeria’s widely respected finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, with the support of Washington’s allies in Western Europe, Japan and Canada - as well as some emerging economies.

It was the first time in the World Bank’s history that the United States’ hold on the job was challenged.

The decision by the World Bank’s 25-member board was not unanimous, with emerging economies splitting their support. Brazil and South Africa backed OkonjoIweala, while three sources said China and India supported Kim. Kim, 52, who is president of Dartmouth College, will assume his new post on July 1 after Robert Zoellick steps down as head of the World Bank.

“I will seek a new alignment of the World Bank Group with a rapidly changing world,” Kim said in a statement.

He said he would work to ensure that the World Bank “delivers more powerful results to support sustained growth; prioritizes evidencebased solutions over ideology; amplifies the voices of developing countries; and draws on the expertise and experience of the people we serve.”

Okonjo-Iweala congratulated Kim and said the competition had led to “important victories” for developing nations, which have increasingly pushed for more say at both institutions.

Still, she said more effort was needed to end the “unfair tradition” that ensured Washington’s dominance of the global development lender.

“It is clear to me that we need to make it more open, transparent and merit-based,” Okonjo-Iweala said. “We need to make sure that we do not contribute to a democratic deficit in global governance.”

Some development experts criticized U.S. President Barack Obama’s choice as lacking the economic and financial credentials needed to respond to the needs of rising middle-income countries, which are still riddled with poverty but which are increasingly looking for innovative ways to finance their development.

The United States said the process was open and transparent, but a number of emerging nations questioned whether candidates were assessed on their nationalities rather than on their merits, as World Bank members countries had agreed in 2010.

The United States has held the presidency since the World Bank’s founding after World War Two, while a European has always led its sister institution, the IMF.

BREAKING THE MOLD Unlike previous heads of the World Bank, Kim is not a politician, a banker or a career diplomat. He has worked to bring health care to the poor in developing countries, whether fighting tuberculosis in Haiti and Peru or tackling HIV/AIDS in Russian prisons.

His training and experience, including directing the World Health Organization’s HIV/AIDS department and developing treatments for a form of drug resistant tuberculosis, gave him immediate credentials as a campaigner on behalf of the poor.

He is also a founder of Partners In Health, which focuses on community health programs for impoverished nations. He earned both his medical degree and his doctorate in anthropology at Harvard University, where he helped set up the Global Health Delivery Project. South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan welcomed the fact that non-Americans competed for the first time, but also said there were concerns the process was not fully merit-based. “I think we are going to find that the process falls short of that,” he said.

As part of their efforts to gain greater say in global financial institutions, emerging economies are also pushing for greater voting power at the IMF. Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega said his country would not give additional money to the IMF to tackle the effects of the European sovereign debt crisis until the institution showed firm commitment to voting reforms.

Former Colombian finance minister Jose Antonio Ocampo withdrew from the race for the top World Bank post on Friday, saying the process had become highly political.

Nancy Birdsall, president of the Washington-based Center for Global Development, said it would be healthy if countries made public which candidate they supported and why.

“History was made because there were three candidates,” she said. “In the next round it would be good to have more transparency about which board member supported which candidate for what reason.”

Birdsall said it would be important for Kim to show early on that he was committed to change by appointing candidates from developing countries to other top posts.

Investors run scared of Spain’s battered banks Spain’s banks are fast joining the ranks of the most unloved in Europe just as many need to raise capital urgently, deserted by investors who believe the country is on the brink of a recession that many lenders will not survive.

The government has ruled out more state aid for a sector that comprises a motley mix of international lenders and heavily indebted local savings banks. That leaves two options: raising private capital or turning to the EU for bailout funds.

Prospects for a private sector solution are poor. Nothing on the horizon looks likely to persuade foreign fund managers to invest, such is the fear of the banks’ growing bad loans, their holdings of shaky sovereign debt and the worsening economy.

Already battered by a property market crash that began four years ago and continues unabated, few Spanish banks are able to borrow funds on wholesale credit markets and the majority are instead relying on the European Central Bank.

“Most are currently on liquidity life support from the ECB but asset quality continues to deteriorate as house prices keep falling and unemployment is still rising,” said Georg Grodzki, head of credit research at Legal & General Investment Management.

“Their funding remains constrained and competition for deposits intense,” he told Reuters.

Economy Minister Luis De Guindos told Reuters last week that all Spanish banks had met capital requirements set by the European Banking Authority under a 115-bln-euro recapitalisation plan decided by EU leaders in December.

But fund managers remain sceptical due to the slow-burning property crash. They include Mark Glazener, head of global equities at Dutch asset manager Robeco, who sold off his exposure to Spain at the end of last year.

“Given the scale of over-building over all these years, the present provisioning that the banks have made does not appear to be enough,” he said.

Central and commercial bankers admit that more capital may be needed with the banks facing further defaults by businesses and mortgage holders as the economy slips into its second recession in three years and unemployment is forecast to hit 24% this year.

“If the Spanish economy finally recovers, what has been done will be enough,” Bank of Spain Governor Miguel Angel Fernandez Ordonez said, insisting that no talks were underway about any possible bank bailout.

However, he added: “If the economy worsens more than expected, it will be necessary to continue increasing and improving capital as necessary

in order to have solid entities.”

SHOWING THE STRAINS Markets are showing the strains. The cost of buying protection against a default on bonds issued by the two biggest banks, Banco Santander and BBVA, has risen sharply in the past month as Spain takes over from Greece as the euro zone’s biggest headache.

Santander Chief Executive Alfredo Sáenz said the ECB had helped by injecting more than 1 trln euros into the euro zone financial system in recent months, supporting banks as they try to cope with losses inflicted by the sovereign debt crisis.

Nevertheless, Spain still needed to speed up its banking sector restructuring and recapitalisation, push ahead with auctioning two remaining nationalised savings banks and cut the number of institutions operating in the country, he said.

ANALYSIS “Above all what we need is a more stable economic and financial market environment in the euro zone area that would allow the institutions a better access to the wholesale markets,” he said. “The cheap financing provided by the ECB’s three-year liquidity funds has been a positive step. It’s a beginning but that is clearly not enough.”

Market worries extend to Sáenz’s own bank. It cost $418,000 a year to buy $10 mln of protection against a default on Santander debt using a 5year credit default swaps contract on April 10, up 51.7% since March 1, Markit prices show.

Similar protection against a BBVA default has risen faster still, by 53.8% to $429,000 a year over the same period.

By contrast, the cost of default insurance for financial institutions tracked by the Markit iTraxx senior financials index, has risen by just 20.2%.

SHAKING THE MARKETS Spain’s problems have the power to shake global markets. Investor confidence in the euro zone took a hit last week when a Spanish bond auction drew poor support, wrenching high-flying stocks and asset values down.

Spain is already being compared on markets with the three euro zone countries which have been forced to take international bailouts. European money market funds rated by Fitch already added Spanish bonds to a black-

list of unappealing creditors comprising Greek, Irish and Portuguese names in the final quarter of 2011, the ratings agency said last week.

As the conservative government sets about slashing the budget deficit, it has rejected a state-funded rescue. It also insists it will not follow the other troubled euro zone states by turning to the “troika” of the European Commission, ECB and IMF for a bank bailout.

DELEVERAGING Some people believe that while the ECB’s cash injections have offered immediate relief, they have also slowed down much needed deleveraging and reform of Spain’s banks.

A wave of consolidation aimed at weeding out the weakest lenders will cut their number to 10 from 40 but even those expected to survive are struggling to find favour.

“People are asking questions about the way banks are raising capital, through accounting, merging and amortising losses over two years,” said one London-based bank analyst. “It’s a kind of capital-less capital raising.”

Bankia, created by a merger of seven regional banks or “cajas”, has caught the eye of hedge funds which are betting on a dip in its share price in the near-term.

The volume of Bankia shares out on loan, a proxy for short-selling interest, jumped 5.1% in the week to April 9, with more than four-fifths of the total shares that can be borrowed already lent out, figures from Data Explorers show.

Analysts at Citigroup suggest Spanish house prices could fall a further 20-25% before hitting a floor. This will eat further into the value of the 300plus bln euros’ worth of property assets on banks’ balance sheets - 176 bln euros of which is already classed as “troubled” by the Bank of Spain.

Typical loan-to-deposit ratios, a measure of financial strength, show Spanish banks are already lending more cash than they have on deposit and the ratio is set to widen even further as unemployed Spaniards plunder their savings.

“It is still not clear where the resources will be found to close the gap in capital and required top up in provisioning for a number of the weaker banks that form a significant part of the domestic sector,” said Virna Valenti, senior credit research analyst at UniCredit subsidiary Pioneer Investments.

“Only a couple of institutions currently have access to the wholesale funding market and this will continue to be the situation for a while,” Valenti said.

AÚ. 860

EB¢OMA¢IAIA OIKONOMIKH ¶√§π∆π∫∏ EºHMEPI¢A

∆∂∆∞ƒ∆∏, 18 A¶ƒπ§π√À, 2012

∫¿ÓÂÈ ‰Â‡ÙÂÚ˜ ÛΤ„ÂȘ Ô ÃÚÈÛÙfiÊÈ·˜ ÁÈ· √ÚÊ·Ó›‰Ë Λίγεσ µέρεσ προτού εκπνεύσει η θητεία του Αθανάσιου Ορφανίδη στο διοικητικÞ θώκο τησ Κεντρικήσ Τράπεζασ Κύπρου οι εξωτερικέσ πιέσεισ προσ τον ΠρÞεδρο τησ ∆ηµοκρατίασ ∆ηµήτρη ΧριστÞφια για ανανέωση τησ θητείασ του εντείνονται. ΑπÞ τη µια δηµοσιεύµατα απÞ έγκυρεσ εφηµερίδεσ παγκÞσµιασ εµβέλειασ Þπωσ η New York Times και απÞ την άλλη οι υποδείξεισ προσ τον ΠρÞεδρο ΧριστÞφια, απÞ τον Έλληνα ΠρωθυπουργÞ Λουκά Παπαδήµο και τον ΥπουργÞ Εξωτερικών και πρώην υψηλÞβαθµο στέλεχοσ τησ ΠαγκÞσµιασ Τράπεζασ Σταύρο ∆ήµα (Þπωσ είναι σε θέση να γνωρίζει η Financial Mirror) έχουν αλλάξει το κλίµα παραµονήσ του Αθανάσιου Ορφανίδη αφού ο ΠρÞεδροσ ΧριστÞφιασ φέρεται να κάνει δεύτερεσ σκέψεισ. Στα θετικά για το κλίµα παραµονήσ του είναι και το Þτι ο επικρατέστεροσ αντικαταστάτησ του καθηγητήσ χρηµατοοικονοµικών στο Πανεπιστήµιο του Λέστερ Πανίκοσ ∆ηµητριάδησ, φαίνεται να µην τα βρίσκει µε τον ΠρÞεδρο ΧριστÞφια στο κοµµάτι των απολαβών του αφού φέρεται να ζήτησε τισ διπλάσιεσ απολαβέσ απÞ τον κύριο Ορφανίδη. Την ίδια ώρα ο Αθανάσιοσ Ορφανίδησ χωρίσ να γνωρίζει αν θα παραµείνει στη θέση του συνεχίζει να δίνει µάχεσ στο εξωτερικÞ για το καλÞ τησ ευρωζώνησ και τησ κυπριακήσ οικονοµίασ. Ùπωσ είµαστε σε θέση αν γνωρίζουµε την προσεχή ∆ευτέρα συνοδευÞµενοσ απÞ τον ΥπουργÞ Οικονοµικών Βάσο Σιαρλή ο οποίοσ επίσησ ασκεί πιέσεισ προσ τον ΠρÞεδρο ΧριστÞφια για ανανέωση τησ θητείασ του θα παραστεί σε συνεδρία που θα γίνει στην καρδιά τησ Φραγκφούρτησ στο κτίριο τησ Ευρωπαϊκήσ Κεντρικήσ Τράπεζασ Þπου θα γίνει σύνοδοσ των κεντρικών τραπεζιτών των χωρών τησ ευρωζώνησ. Τα θέµατα που θα απασχολήσουν τη σύνοδο είναι η αύξηση του ευρωπαϊκού χρέουσ µετά την αύξηση των επιτοκίων σε Ισπανία και Ιταλία, τα µεγάλα προβλήµατα τησ Πορτογαλίασ και τησ Ιρλανδίασ και οι εξελίξεισ στην Ελλάδα µετά την αναµενÞµενη άνοδο των ποσοστών των αντιµνηµονιακών κοµµάτων τησ Ελλάδασ.

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χου έπειτα απÞ διάφορεσ αλλαγέσ στη νοµοθεσία τη δεκαετία 1995-2005. «Είναι αδιανÞητο για µένα οι ίδιοι οι οίκοι αξιολÞγησησ S&P, Moody’s κ.α , οι οποίοι συνέβαλαν στα µέγιστα στην κατάρρευση του χρηµατοοικονοµικού συστήµατοσ, να συνεχίζουν να αξιολογούν ευρωπαϊκέσ χώρεσ και οι Ευρωπαίοι να τουσ παίρνουν στα σοβαρά αντί µε τισ ντοµάτεσ. Αυτέσ είναι ιδιωτικέσ επιχειρήσεισ που άγονται και φέρονται απÞ τισ µεγάλεσ τράπεζεσ των H.Π.Α. Το 2008 έπρεπε η Ε.Ε. να προχωρήσει στη δηµιουργία των δικών τησ θεσµών µε αντικειµενικά κριτήρια αξιολÞγησησ. Το βασικÞ κριτήριο για τουσ οίκουσ Þπωσ οι S&P και Moody’s . είναι το «it’s our opinion» αφού αυτÞ επικαλέστηκαν Þταν ρωτήθηκαν στο κογκρέσο των Η.Π.Α. για τισ προηγούµενεσ αυθαίρετεσ και ανÞητεσ αξιολογήσεισ», είχε αναφέρει.

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™ÙÔ ÚÔÛ΋ÓÈÔ Î·È ÙÔ fiÓÔÌ· ÙÔ˘ ÕÚË ™·ÓÔ‡ Φραγκφούρτη θα µεταβεί στην Ουάσιγκτον Þπου θα παραστεί σε σύνοδο του ∆ιεθνούσ Νοµισµατικού Ταµείου και παράλληλα θα έχει την ευκαιρία να µιλήσει µε την ΠρÞεδρο του Κριστίν Λαγκάρντ η οποία σέβεται ιδιαίτερα τισ απÞψεισ του. Ο κύριοσ Ορφανίδησ θα συναντηθεί και µε στελέχη τησ Οµοσπονδιακήσ Κεντρικήσ Τράπεζασ των Ηνωµένων Πολιτειών αφού ωσ γνωστÞ ήταν διευθυντικÞ τησ στέλεχοσ, πριν να διοριστεί διοικητήσ τησ Κεντρικήσ Τράπεζάσ. Ο κύριοσ Ορφανίδησ επιστρέφει στην Κύπρο στισ 28 Απριλίου και ακολούθωσ θα δώσει δηµοσιογραφική διάσκεψη Þπου θα παρουσιάσει τα πεπραγµένα τησ Τράπεζασ για το 2011.

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€22,5 ÂÎ. ·¤Û˘Ú·Ó ÔÈ ∫‡ÚÈÔÈ ·fi ÙÔ Ã∞ Μετοχέσ συνολικήσ αξίασ 22,5 εκατοµµυρίων ευρώ απέσυραν απÞ το Χρηµατιστήριο Αθηνών το φετινÞ Μάρτιο οι Κύπριοι επενδυτέσ. Πιο αναλυτικά µε βάση το τελευταίο µηνιαίο στατιστικÞ δελτίο του ελληνικού χρηµατιστηρίου οι Κύπριοι προέβησαν σε πωλήσεισ 64,7 εκατοµµυρίων ευρώ και σε αγορέσ 42,2 εκατοµµυρίων ευρώ. Σύµφωνα µε χρηµατιστέσ ο λÞγοσ αυτών των εκροών ήταν Þτι απÞ τη µία ήταν η µεγάλη αύξηση κεφαλαίου στην Ελλάδα απÞ την Τράπεζα Κύπρου µε αποτέλεσµα οι Κύπριοι να πωλούν τισ µετοχέσ αυτέσ για να πάρουν χρήµατα και να εξασκήσουν τα rights τουσ σε χαµηλÞτερεσ τιµέσ σε συνδυασµÞ µε το PSI στην Ελλάδα Þπου αρκετÞσ κÞσµοσ είχε φοβηθεί µε αποτέλεσµα να προβεί σε ρευστοποιήσεισ τίτλων. Σύµφωνα µε χρηµατιστέσ οι Κύπριοι εµφανίζονται διστακτικοί να επενδύσουν στο ΧΑΚ παρά το Þτι οι τιµέσ είναι σηµαντικά υποτιµηµένεσ σηµειώνοντασ το Þτι Þταν υπάρχουν υψηλά καταθετικά επιτÞκια τησ τάξησ του 4-5% δεν υπάρχει κανένασ λÞγοσ για να επενδύσεισ κάποιοσ στο ΧΑΚ. Τέλοσ οι χρηµατιστέσ εκτιµούν Þτι το 2013 εάν αποκαταστηθεί η επενδυτική εµπιστοσύνη στην Ελλάδα και πετύχουν τουσ στÞχουσ ανακεφαλαιοποίησησ τουσ οι κυπριακέσ τράπεζεσ οι Κύπριοι θα προβούν σε περισσÞτερεσ αγορέσ στο ΧΑΚ.

ο

ΠρÞεδροσ

ΧριστÞφιασ φαίνεται να έχει έτοιµο Plan B για να αντιµετωπίσει τισ ανησυχίεσ Κυπρίων και ξένων απÞ τον προδιαγραφÞµενο διορισµÞ του Πανίκου ∆ηµητριάδη. Οι πληροφορίεσ µασ τον φέρουν να µελετά το ενδεχÞµενο διορισµÞ του καθηγητή οικονοµετρίασ στο Πανεπιστήµιο τησ Virginia στισ ΗΠΑ και πρώην αντιπρύτανη του Πανεπιστηµίου Κύπρου Άρη Σπανού. Ο κύριοσ ΣπανÞσ ο οποίοσ πρÞσκειται στην Ε∆ΕΚ τÞνισε σε πρÞσφατη συνέντευξη του στον κυπριακÞ τύπο Þτι το βασικÞ πρÞβληµα τησ ευρωζώνησ δεν είναι οικονοµικÞ, αλλά πρÞβληµα έλλειψησ ηγεσίασ. Σύµφωνα µε τον ίδιο το 2008 η Ε.Ε. είχε µια χρυσή ευκαιρία να αποστασιοποιηθεί απÞ τουσ χρηµατοοικονοµικούσ θεσµούσ των Η.Π.Α. οι οποίοι είχαν διαβρωθεί λÞγω έλλειψησ ελέγ-

ΑναφερÞµενοσ στο πρÞβληµα χρέουσ τησ Ελλάδασ ο κύριοσ ΣπανÞσ είχε τονίσει πωσ έγινε δέκα φορέσ πιο δύσκολο γιατί η Γερµανία ήθελε να αποποιηθεί των ευθυνών τησ και να πασάρει την µπάλα στο ∆ιεθνέσ ΝοµισµατικÞ Ταµείο, ξεχνώντασ Þτι πρώτα αυτή καταστρατήγησε το 3% και άνοιξε τουσ ασκούσ του ΑιÞλου. «Κανείσ δεν θα επιχειρηµατολογούσε Þτι ο τρÞποσ διαχείρισησ τησ κυπριακήσ οικονοµίασ απÞ τισ κυβερνήσεισ του ΠΑΣΟΚ και τησ Νέασ ∆ηµοκρατίασ ήταν ο ενδεδειγµένοσ, αλλά Þλοι γνώριζαν Þτι κάποιεσ διαρθρωτικέσ αλλαγέσ ήταν αναπÞφευκτεσ. Ùµωσ, το ∆ΝΤ είναι λανθασµένοσ θεσµÞσ για να επιβάλει τον τρÞπο που πρέπει να γίνουν αυτέσ οι αλλαγέσ. ΛÞγω τησ οικονοµικήσ πολιτικήσ που έχει επιβάλει το ∆ΝΤ η οποία περιστρέφεται κυρίωσ στουσ φÞρουσ, η ελληνική οικονοµία θα αργήσει να ορθοποδήσει για 3-4 χρÞνια. Η άποψη µου είναι Þτι η ευρωζώνη θα επιβιώσει µÞνο Þταν οι ηγέτεσ τησ Ε.Ε. αναλάβουν τισ ευθύνεσ τουσ και προχωρήσουν στη δηµιουργία των αναγκαίων θεσµών που θα επιτρέψουν στην άσκηση ενιαίασ νοµισµατικήσ πολιτικήσ», κατέληξε ο κύριοσ ΣπανÞσ. ¶·‡ÏÔ˜ °ÂˆÚÁÈ¿‰Ë˜

¶ˆ˜ ÙÔ Ê˘ÛÈÎfi ·¤ÚÈÔ ÂËÚ¿˙ÂÈ ÙȘ ÙÈ̤˜ ÙˆÓ ·ÎÈÓ‹ÙˆÓ Για το πώσ µπορεί να επηρεαστούν οι τιµέσ των ακινήτων στη Κύπρο απÞ την εκµετάλλευση του υποθαλάσσιου πλούτου στην Αποκλειστική Οικονοµική Ζώνη τησ Κυπριακήσ ∆ηµοκρατίασ, αναφέρθηκε σε δηλώσεισ του ο ΠρÞεδροσ του Συνδέσµου ΕπιστηµÞνων Εκτιµητών Ακινήτων Χαράλαµποσ Πετρίδησ. Σύµφωνα µε τον κύριο Πετρίδη το Þλο σκηνικÞ αναµένεται να ξεκαθαρίσει καλύτερα µετά και την αδειοδÞτηση και άλλων οικοπέδων εντÞσ τησ Κυπριακήσ Αποκλειστικήσ Οικονοµικήσ Ζώνησ, ενισχύοντασ έτσι τισ προοπτικέσ και τισ επενδύσεισ στην Κύπρο. “ΜεσοµακροπρÞθεσµα”, σηµείωσε ο κ. Πετρίδησ “µπορεί να φέρει αρκετέσ επενδύσεισ για την κτηµαταγορά”. “Αν αγοράσει”, πρÞσθεσε “κάποιοσ σήµερα µε ορίζοντα πέντε και δέκα χρÞνια υπάρχουν καλέσ προοπτικέσ”. “Πιστεύω”, συµπλήρωσε “ Þτι η ανάκαµψη θα ξεκινήσει σε ένα µε δύο χρÞνια”. Προχωρώντασ ένα βήµα παραπέρα ο κύριοσ Πετρίδησ υπογράµµισε Þτι εν µέσο οικονοµικήσ ύφεσησ έχει διαφανεί και επιβεβαιωθεί Þτι οι αγοραστέσ θα

πρέπει να προσέχουν τρεισ βασικούσ παραµέτρουσ προτού αγοράσουν ένα ακίνητο. “Τα τρία σηµαντικά κριτήρια”, εξήγησε “είναι τοποθεσία, τοποθεσία, και τοποθεσία. Τα ακίνητα σε κεντρικέσ περιοχέσ είναι αυτά που κρατάνε καλύτερα την εµπορευσιµÞτητα και αξία τουσ εν σχέση µε τα περιφερειακά ακίνητα”. Καταλήγοντασ ο κύριοσ Πετρίδησ σηµείωσε Þτι απÞ το 2008 που ξεκίνησε η οικονοµική κρίση τα ακίνητα στα κέντρα των πÞλεων µειώθηκαν απÞ 5 µέχρι 15% και στα περιφερειακά ακίνητα απÞ 30-45%.

2/12

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∆∂∆∞ƒ∆∏, 18 ∞¶ƒπ§π√À, 2012

«√K» ÁÈ· Û˘ÓÂÎÌÂÙ¿ÏÏ¢ÛË ·ÂÚ›Ô˘ Ì πÛÚ·‹Ï

™ÙÔ 3,5% Ô ÏËıˆÚÈÛÌfi˜ ª·ÚÙ›Ô˘ Αύξηση κατέγραψε ο ετήσιοσ εναρµονισµένοσ πληθωρισµÞσ στην Κύπρο το Μάρτιο, ενώ παρέµεινε αµετάβλητοσ στην Ευρωζώνη και στο σύνολο τησ ΕΕ. Στην Ελλάδα καταγράφηκε το χαµηλÞτερο ποσοστÞ τησ Ευρωζώνησ. Οπωσ προκύπτει απÞ τα στοιχεία που έδωσε στη δηµοσιÞτητα Eurostat, ο ετήσιοσ εναρµονισµένοσ πληθωρισµÞσ ανήλθε το Μάρτιο στην Κύπρο στο 3,5% έναντι 3,1% που ήταν το Φεβρουάριο. Στην ευρωζώνη ο µέσοσ πληθωρισµÞσ κυµάνθηκε στο 2,7% (αµετάβλητοσ),ενώ στο σύνολο τησ ΕΕ στο 2,9% (επίσησ αµετάβλητοσ).Στην Ελλάδα το ποσοστÞ πληθωρισµού υποχώρησε στο 1,4% απÞ 1,7% το Φεβρουάριο. Τισ καλύτερεσ επιδÞσεισ στην ευρωζώνη κατέγραψαν το Μάρτιο η Ελλάδα (1,4%) και η Ισπανία (1,8%), ενώ τα ψηλÞτερο ποσοστά καταγράφηκαν στην Εσθονία (4,7%) και τη Σλοβακία (3,9%). Το ποσοστÞ πληθωρισµού που καταγράφηκε σε κάθε κράτοσ µέλοσ τησ ευρωζώνησ το Μάρτιο ήταν το εξήσ: Εσθονία 4,7%, Σλοβακία 3,9%, Ιταλία 3,8%, Κύπροσ 3,5%,Πορτογαλία 3,1%, Βέλγιο 3,1%, Φινλανδία 2,9%, Ολλανδία 2,9%, Λουξεµβούργο 2,9%, Αυστρία 2,7%, Γαλλία 2,6%, Σλοβενία 2,4%, Μάλτα 2,4%, Γερµανία 2,3%, Ιρλανδία 2,2%, Ισπανία 1,8%, Ελλάδα 1,4%.

Σε προχωρηµένο στάδιο βρίσκονται οι διαπραγµατεύσεισ Κύπρου-Ισραήλ για το θέµα τησ κοινήσ ανάπτυξησ και συνεκµετάλλευσησ των κοιτασµάτων υδρογονανθράκων στη µέση γραµµή των δύο χωρών και σύντοµα αναµένεται η υπογραφή σχετικήσ συµφωνίασ, ανακοίνωσε η ΥπουργÞσ Εξωτερικών Ερατώ Κοζάκου Μαρκουλλή, ύστερα απÞ συνάντηση που είχε χθεσ µε τον ΙσραηλινÞ οµÞλογÞ τησ ΑβιγκντÞρ Λίµπερµαν, ο οποίοσ βρίσκεται στην Κύπρο για επίσηµη επίσκεψη. Η κ. Μαρκουλλή είπε Þτι στη συνάντηση συζητήθηκαν επίσησ και άλλοι τοµείσ συνεργασίασ µεταξύ των δύο χωρών, ειδικÞτερα σε Þ,τι αφορά το χειρισµÞ κρίσεων, η κατάσταση στη Μέση Ανατολή, το ΚυπριακÞ και οι απειλέσ τησ Αγκυρασ καθώσ και η κατάσταση στισ χώρεσ τησ Αραβικήσ Ανοιξησ. Ο ΙσραηλινÞσ ΥΠΕΞ έκανε λÞγο για εποικοδοµητικÞ διάλογο, ο οποίοσ επικεντρώθηκε σε θέµατα που έχουν να κάνουν µε την ενέργεια και το νερÞ, εκφράζοντασ παράλληλα την ελπίδα σύντοµα να επιτευχθεί συµφωνία σε θέµατα διπλήσ φορολογίασ και προστασίασ των επενδύσεων. Ο ΙσραηλινÞσ ΥπουργÞσ συναντήθηκε και µε τον ΥπουργÞ Εµπορίου, Βιοµηχανίασ και Τουρισµού Νεοκλή Συλικιώτη, Þπου και συζήτησαν τισ προοπτικέσ περαιτέρω διεύρυνσησ τησ συνεργασίασ µεταξύ των δύο χωρών στουσ τοµείσ τησ ενέργειασ, του τουρισµού και των επενδύσεων. Ο κ. Συλικιώτησ είπε Þτι ενηµέρωσε τον κ. Λίµπερµαν αναφορικά µε την απλοποίηση των διαδικασιών για προσέλκυση επενδύσεων στην Κύπρο και σηµείωσε Þτι ήδη εταιρείεσ απÞ το Ισραήλ δραστηριοποιούνται στην Κύπρο. Ο κ. Λίµπερµαν που βρίσκεται στην Κύπρο απÞ την ∆ευτέρα είχε συνάντηση και µε τον προκαθήµενο τησ Εκκλησίασ τησ Κύπρου Αρχιεπίσκοπο ΧρυσÞστοµο, Þπου και συζήτησαν το ενδεχÞµενο κατασκευήσ στην Κύπρο, ενÞσ σύγχρονου υπέρ-εργοστασίου παραγωγήσ ηλεκτρικήσ ενέργειασ. Τη συνάντηση ζήτησε ο ίδιοσ ο κοσ Λίµπερµαν, ενδεικτικÞ και τησ σηµασίασ που δίνει το Τελαβίβ στο εγχείρηµα. Σύµφωνα µε πληροφορίεσ οι διαβουλεύσεισ µεταξύ των δύο µερών βρίσκονται σε προχωρηµένο στάδιο. Σύµφωνα δε µε τα Þσα συζητούνται το εργοστάσιο δυναµικÞτητασ πέραν των 2000 µεγαβάτ, θα κατασκευαστεί σε µεγάλη έκταση γησ, η οποία ανήκει στο Τσιµεντοποιείο Βασιλικού, παρά τον ηλεκτροπαραγωγÞ σταθµÞ τησ ΑΗΚ. Ο νέοσ ΗλεκτροπαραγωγικÞσ σταθµÞσ θα έχει την δυνατÞτητα να εξυπηρετεί

AÓÙ·ÁˆÓÈÛÙÈÎfi ÛÙÔ Facebook ϤÔÓ ÙÔ Google+ Σε πολλέσ και µεγάλεσ αλλαγέσ τÞσο στο σχεδιαστικÞ κοµµάτι του Google+ Þσο και στην παραµετροποίηση του προφίλ κάθε χρήστη, προχωρεί η Google. Η Google µε τισ αλλαγέσ αυτέσ θέλει να κάνει το κοινωνικÞ τησ δίκτυο πιο φιλικÞ στουσ χρήστεσ έτσι για να µπορέσει να ανταγωνιστεί το Facebook. Με το νέο σχεδιασµÞ του Google+ ο κάθε χρήστησ µπορεί να προσαρµÞσει το προφίλ του, την Þψη των βίντεο και των φωτογραφιών µέσα στην ροή των δηµοσιεύσεων και τα hangouts έχουν διαφορετικÞ περιβάλλον έχουν έναν ανανεωµένο αέρα. Μία απÞ τισ µεγάλεσ αλλαγέσ που έγιναν στο σχεδιασµÞ είναι η µεταφορά τησ µπάρασ πλοήγησησ απÞ πάνω στο αριστερÞ µέροσ τησ οθÞνησ και η διαµÞρφωσή των κουµπιών τησ ανάλογα µε τισ ανάγκεσ του χρήστη.

™∆√¡ ∆√ª∂∞ ∂¡∂ƒ°∂π∞™ ∂¶∂¡¢À∂π ∏ ∂∫∫§∏™π∞ µε ηλεκτρική ενέργεια Þχι µÞνο τη Κυπριακή αγορά, αλλά και χώρεσ τησ περιοχήσ και συγκεκριµένα σε πρώτο χρÞνο το Ισραήλ. Ο σταθµÞσ θα λειτουργεί αρχικά µε µαζούτ και ακολούθωσ µε φυσικÞ αέριο. Εξ ου και τα σχέδια προβλέπουν την κατασκευή τερµατικού φυσικού αερίου. Ùπωσ φαίνεται ο Αρχιεπίσκοποσ ενηµέρωσε τον κ. Λίµπερµαν για τισ διαβεβαιώσεισ που εξασφάλισε την περασµένη εβδοµάδα απÞ τον πρÞεδρο ΧριστÞφια σε σχέση κυρίωσ µε την αδειοδÞτηση τησ επιχείρησησ. Ùπωσ αποφασίστηκε, οι διαπραγµατεύσεισ µεταξύ Αρχιεπισκοπήσ και τησ κυβέρνησησ του Ισραήλ θα συνεχιστούν σε επίπεδο τεχνοκρατών, ενώ στουσ αµέσωσ επÞµενουσ µήνεσ Αρχιεπίσκοποσ ΧρυσÞστοµοσ και Αβιγκντορ Λίµπερµαν θα τα ξαναπούν επί ισραηλινού εδάφουσ.

™ÂÌÈÓ¿ÚÈÔ Â·ÁÁÂÏÌ·ÙÈ΋˜ ηٿÚÙÈÛ˘ Το Κέντρο Εκπαίδευσησ Ενηλίκων του Ευρωπαϊκού διοργανώνει το σεµινάριο Τεχνικέσ Πανεπιστηµίου Κύπρου Αποτελεσµατικών Παρουσιάσεων το οποίο θα υλοποιηθεί στισ εγκαταστάσεισ του Ευρωπαϊκού Πανεπιστηµίου στην Λευκωσία στισ 28 29 Μαΐου 2012 , µεταξύ των ωρών 8:30 -5:00µµ. Η γλώσσα διδασκαλίασ είναι η Ελληνική. Τα σεµινάριο απευθύνεται σε Þλα τα στελέχη οργανισµών και επιχειρήσεων µε σκοπÞ την ανάπτυξη των ικανοτήτων τουσ ώστε να γίνουν πιο αποτελεσµατικοί Þταν παρουσιάζουν θέµατα σε πελάτεσ, συνεργάτεσ. ΕπιπρÞσθετα απευθύνεται σε στελέχη επιχειρήσεων τα οποία επιθυµούν να αποκτήσουν την κατάλληλη τεχνογνωσία ώστε να αναβαθµίσουν τισ γνώσεισ τουσ στισ τεχνικέσ τησ σύγχρονησ παρουσίασησ. Εισηγήτρια του προγράµµατοσ είναι η κ. Άντρη Πέντα, ∆ιευθύνουσα Σύµβουλοσ, Penta Marketing Art Ltd και Certified Image Maker. Το πρÞγραµµα είναι επιδοτηµένο απÞ την Αρχή Ανάπτυξησ Ανθέωπινου ∆υναµικού. Για περισσÞτερεσ πληροφορίεσ ή δηλώσεισ συµµετοχήσ µπορείτε να αποτείνεστε στο τηλέφωνο 22.713.000 καν. Σοφία Παπαθεοδούλου ή µε email στο training@euc.ac.cy

¶·È‰Â›· ÁÈ· ÙÔÓ ¶ÏÔ‡ÙÔ Î·È ¶ÏÔ‡ÙÔ˜ ÁÈ· ÙËÓ ¶·È‰Â›· TÔ˘ ¢Ú °ÚËÁfiÚË ª·ÎÚ›‰Ë, ª·ıËÌ·ÙÈÎfi˜ ¶Úfi‰ÚÔ˜ ∫˘Úȷ΋˜ ª·ıËÌ·ÙÈ΋˜ ∂Ù·ÈÚ›·˜ (KY.M.E.) ¶Úfi‰ÚÔ˜ π‰Ú‡Ì·ÙÔ˜ £∞§∏™ (THALES Foundation) ¶Úfi‰ÚÔ˜ ∂˘Úˆ·˚ÎÔ‡ ™˘Ó‰¤ÛÌÔ˘ ™˘ÓÙÔÓÈÛÙÒÓ ERASMUS (EAEC)

ΑκÞµη µια χρονιά µέσα απÞ οικονοµική κρίση αλλά ταυτÞχρονα µια κληρονοµιά φυσικού πλούτου που µασ βρίσκει αισιÞδοξουσ για αυτά που µπορούµε να κάνουµε στο µέλλον. Αν αυτή η χώρα θα είναι µεταξύ των πλουσιοτέρων χωρών του κÞσµου λÞγω του φυσικού αερίου και αν αυτÞ θα γίνει σε 10 ή 20 χρÞνια απÞ σήµερα, τÞτε έχουµε ευθύνη να προγραµµατίσουµε απÞ τώρα τησ ανάλογεσ µεταρρυθµίσεισ οι οποίεσ θα αξιοποιήσουν τισ νέεσ ικανÞτητεσ του κράτουσ και τησ κοινωνίασ για να κάνει πράγµατα που δεν µπορεί να κάνει σήµερα. Μια σοφή κίνηση είναι να µελετήσουµε τι κάνουν σήµερα οι χώρεσ που έχουν τον πλούτο και την οικονοµική άνεση για αυτÞ παίρνω ωσ παράδειγµα να σχολιάσω τουσ πιθανούσ παράγοντεσ που προκάλεσαν το εκπαιδευτικÞ θαύµα τησ Φινλανδίασ το οποίο βγήκε στην επιφάνεια εντελώσ τυχαία, λÞγω τησ επίδοσησ τουσ στισ διεθνείσ εξετάσεισ PISA απÞ το 2001. Να σηµειωθεί Þτι η Φινλανδία κατατάχτηκε πρώτη στην ποιÞτητα Ζωήσ το 2011 απÞ το περιοδικÞ NEWSWEEK . Αναφέρω κάποια χαρακτηριστικά σε σχέση

µε το εκπαιδευτικÞ σύστηµα: 1. Τα σχολεία στη Φινλανδία αναθέτουν λιγÞτερη κατοίκων εργασία στουσ µαθητέσ και εµπλέκουν τουσ µαθητέσ σε περισσÞτερη δηµιουργική εργασία και δραστηριÞτητεσ.

2. ΣχεδÞν δεν έχει ιδιωτικά σχολεία και τα λίγα που υπάρχουν χρηµατοδοτούνται απÞ το κράτοσ 100% ώστε κανένασ µαθητήσ να µην πληρώνει δίδακτρα. ∆εν επιτρέπεται σε κανένα να χρεώσει δίδακτρα.

3. ∆εν υπάρχουν τυποποιηµένεσ εξετάσεισ (standardized tests). Υπάρχει µια Εθνική εξέταση στο τέλοσ του Λυκείου.

4. Οι εκπαιδευτικοί εκπαιδεύονται πώσ να χρησιµοποιούν εξατοµικευµένεσ εξετάσεισ για τουσ µαθητέσ τουσ τισ οποίεσ να δηµιουργούν οι ίδιοι. Ùλοι οι µαθητέσ παίρνουν προσωπική έκθεση προÞδου µε ανάλυση απÞ τον εκπαιδευτικÞ στο τέλοσ κάθε τετραµήνου. Αυτέσ οι εκθέσεισ βασίζονται σε προσωπική εξατοµικευµένη αξιολÞγηση του µαθητή και προσωπική βαθµολογία (Þχι ανταγωνιστική) απÞ τον κάθε εκπαιδευτικÞ.

5. Περιοδικά το Υπουργείο Παιδείασ τησ χώρασ εξετάζει το επίπεδο τησ εκπαίδευσησ τησ χώρασ κάνοντασ εξέταση σε µερικά µικρά δείγµατα διαφÞρων σχολείων.

6. Για Þσον αφορά στην αξιολÞγηση των

εκπαιδευτικών δεν υπάρχει αυτή η λέξη στην Φιλανδία. Οι Φιλανδοί δηλώνουν: «Ευθύνη είναι κάτι που περισσεύει Þταν αφαιρέσουµε την υπευθυνÞτητα».

7. ΑυτÞ που είναι σηµαντικÞ είναι το γεγονÞσ Þτι στη Φιλανδία, στουσ εκπαιδευτικούσ και στουσ διοικητικούσ τησ εκπαίδευσησ, έχει δοθεί κύροσ και περηφάνια, καλÞσ µισθÞσ, και πολλή ευθύνη. Για να διορισθεί κανείσ εκπαιδευτικÞσ χρειάζεται να έχει µεταπτυχιακÞ τίτλο σπουδών και τα προγράµµατα επιµÞρφωσησ επιλέγουν τουσ καλύτερουσ εκπαιδευτικούσ µε πάρα πολύ αυστηρά κριτήρια. Αν ένασ εκπαιδευτικÞσ είναι προβληµατικÞσ τÞτε είναι ευθύνη του διευθυντή του σχολείου να το προσέξει και να λύσει το πρÞβληµα.

8. Ùταν δύο σχολεία έχουν διαφορετική επιτυχία σε διαγωνισµούσ οι Φιλανδοί αποφασίζουν να επισκεφτούν το καλύτερο σχολείο, να επικοινωνήσουν, να συζητήσουν για να µάθουν τι καλύτερο κάνουν για να το αντιγράψουν και να τον κάνουν και αυτοί.

9. ∆εν υπάρχουν κατάλογοι κατάταξησ σχολείων στη Φιλανδία, η κύρια κινητήρια δύναµη τησ εκπαιδευτικήσ πολιτικήσ δεν είναι ο ανταγωνισµÞσ µεταξύ εκπαιδευτικών και σχολείων αλλά η συνεργασία.

¶ˆ˜ ı· ÌÔÚÔ‡Û·Ó Ó· ÏÂÈÙÔ˘ÚÁÔ‡Ó Ù· Û¯ÔÏ›· ÙÔ˘ ̤ÏÏÔÓÙÔ˜; M fiÚ·Ì· Î·È ·ÈÛÈÔ‰ÔÍ›· ›Ûˆ˜ ÙÔ Î·Ù·Ê¤ÚÔ˘Ì Û 15-20 ¯ÚfiÓÈ· ·fi Û‹ÌÂÚ·

10. Το να επιλέγεισ σχολείο στη Φιλανδία δεν είναι προτεραιÞτητα. Φυσικά οι γονείσ µπορούν να επιλέξουν σχολείο ΑΛΛΑ οι επιλογέσ είναι Þλεσ οι ίδιεσ.

11. Και αυτÞ που θεωρείται συνταρακτικÞ είναι το γεγονÞσ Þτι Þταν το ΦιλανδικÞ σύστηµα χρειαζÞταν άµεσα µεταρρύθµιση ο στÞχοσ δεν ήταν η υπεροχή αλλά η ισÞτητα. Ùταν Þλα τα σχολεία πετύχουν την αριστεία τÞτε Þλα θα προσπαθούν να συντηρούν την αριστεία και άρα ο στÞχοσ είναι ισÞτητα και το ένα να γίνει καλύτερο απÞ το άλλο , διÞτι απλούστατα δεν θα υπάρχει καλύτερο.

12. Ίσεσ ευκαιρίεσ για Þλουσ σε ποιÞτητα και µάθηση. Για αυτÞ η Φιλανδία προσφέρει σε Þλουσ τουσ µαθητέσ στα ολοήµερα σχολεία τουσ δωρεάν φαγητÞ, πρÞσβαση σε δωρεάν ιατρική περίθαλψη, ψυχολογική υποστήριξη, ασφάλεια , καλÞ περιβάλλον και εξατοµικευµένη καθοδήγηση. Μπορούµε να δηµιουργήσουµε µια γενιά που να σκέφτεται διαφορετικά απÞ αυτÞ που σκεφτÞµαστε εµείσ σήµερα? Για να γίνει αυτÞ χρειάζονται τουλάχιστο 15-20 χρÞνια , για αυτÞ πρέπει να αρχίσουµε σήµερα να εργαζÞµαστε για αυτÞ, ακριβώσ Þσα χρÞνια θα χρειαστούν για να πλουτίσουµε απÞ το φυσικÞ αέριο. ΧρειαζÞµαστε σχεδιασµÞ, πλάνο δράσησ, πλοήγηση, συνεργασία, διάλογο, στÞχουσ και πολιτικέσ αποφάσεισ µε αξιÞπιστη ηγεσία, διορατικÞτητα και Þραµα µε φιλÞσοφουσ τεχνοκράτεσ. Η διαχείριση του πλούτου χρειάζεται παιδεία ώστε Þταν τον έχουµε να µπορούµε να τον αξιοποιήσουµε σωστά.

∂π¢∏™∂π™

∆∂∆∞ƒ∆∏, 18 ∞¶ƒπ§π√À, 2012

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™ÔÚÙ Î·È §ÂÌÂÛfi˜ ∞ÓÙÒÓ˘ §Ô›˙Ô˘ F.R.I.C.S., & ™˘ÓÂÚÁ¿Ù˜ §Ù‰, ∂ÎÙÈÌËÙ¤˜ ∞ÎÈÓ‹ÙˆÓ & ¢È·¯ÂÈÚÈÛÙ¤˜ ŒÚÁˆÓ ∞Ó¿Ù˘Í˘

Dog Shows Έκθεση σκύλων τÞσο τεχνικήσ (show dogs – ίδε Ιρλανδία) Þσο και ράτσασ. Μια προσπάθεια που ίσωσ να εξελιχθεί σε διεθνέσ κέντρο – Βάσεισ/Φασούρι;

Επ’ ευκαιρίασ τησ υπερχείλισησ των φραγµάτων, επισκεφθήκαµε διάφορα φράγµατα και αναρωτηθήκαµε πωσ θα µπορούσε η ΛεµεσÞσ να εξελιχθεί και σε ένα κέντρο αθλοπαιδιών για Þλεσ τισ ηλικίεσ.

Para Cliding/Wind Surfing Στον ΚÞλπο του Πισσουρίου/Αυδήµου – Extreme sports πιστεύουµε Þτι ονοµάζονται. Τρέλα για νέουσ ντÞπιουσ και τουρίστεσ.

ºÚ¿ÁÌ·Ù· – ¶ÔÏÂÌ›‰È· – ∫Ô‡ÚÚË – °ÂÚÌ·ÛfiÁÂÈ· Η ενοικίαση µικρών χώρων σε γήπεδα 3.000-4.000 τ.µ. ανά κλαµπ, µε δέσµευση υπÞ µορφή υπο-ενοικιάσεων (ίσωσ µια εταιρεία ∆ηµÞσιου/ιδιωτικού δικαίου) - Ένα κλαµπ για ιστιοπλοΐα, άλλο για ψάρεµα και άλλο για κωπηλασία (canoeing) ανά φράγµα, έστω σύνολο 4-9 κλαµπ, αρκετÞσ αριθµÞσ για προσέλκυση και οργάνωση µεταξύ τουσ αγώνεσ. Η τελευταία ανταπÞκριση του ΡΙΚ (3/2012) για τουσ αθλητέσ κανÞ στο φράγµα ΓερµασÞγειασ µασ σÞκαρε (δεν έχει πρÞσβαση, απÞτοµα σκαλιά, ούτε ένα w.c., ανυπαρξία χώρων στάθµευσησ κλπ). Τα κλαµπ αυτά µε µια π.χ. κοινή καφετερία, εκτÞσ απÞ την εξυπηρέτηση των αθλητών, θα µπορούσαν να εξυπηρετούν και επισκέπτεσ. Ίσωσ το ενοίκιο απÞ τον «καντινιέρη» να καλύψει τα έξοδα, πλέον του χορηγού ΚΟΑ κλπ. Χρειάζεται κάποια διαβούλευση µε το Τµήµα Γεωργίασ, το οποίο θέτει θέµατα ασφάλειασ.

Racing Mountain Motor-biking Είναι επάναγκεσ το άθληµα προσ αποφυγή τησ ανεξέλεγκτησ χρήσησ δρÞµων και γεωργικών χωραφιών. Το παράδειγµα τησ Αγίασ Βαρβάρασ στην Λευκωσία, Þπου συναθροίζονται εκατοντάδεσ νεαροί και άλλοι κάθε Σαββατοκυρίακο, είναι προσεκτÞ. Άθληµα χαµηλού κÞστουσ, νοουµένου Þτι εξασφαλιστεί η ανάλογη χαλίτικη ή άλλη γη (π.χ. ενοικίαση). Ωσ πρÞταση αναφερÞµεθα σε περιοχέσ βÞρεια τησ Λεµεσού και ακÞµη στο παλιÞ µεταλλείο Μονήσ στην Μονή ίσωσ να µπορούσε να εξελιχθεί σε ανεπίσηµο τοπικÞ πεδίο ανταγωνισµού, αλλά περισσÞτερο προσÞν είναι η ενασχÞληση των νεαρών στο άθληµα αυτÞ.

Grape Picking Στην εποχή του τρύγου εκδροµέσ σε ορισµένα Λεµεσιανά χωριά οργανωµένεσ µε τα γαϊδούρια ωσ εκδροµή και µετά σούγλα κλπ. Με δικαίωµα συµµετοχήσ έστω 20 ευρώ/άτοµο. Φιέστεσ κλπ. (παράδειγµα προσ αποφυγή). Ùταν υπάρχουν αυτά τα γήπεδα επί συνεχούσ βάσησ (π.χ. Ladies Mile, Ζακάκι κλπ) Þχι µÞνο Κύπριοι θα ενδιαφερθούν αλλά και διοργανωτέσ αγώνων µεταξύ θαµώνων στα διάφορα ξενοδοχεία, επιχειρήσεισ κλπ.

¶Ô‰ËÏ·ÙÔ‰ÚfiÌÈÔ Μερική χρήση του χώρου του Τεχνολογικού Πάρκου (υπÞ κατασκευή – εάν γίνει). Ùσο πιο κοντά στην παραλία υπÞ µορφή ποδηλατοδρÞµου, 3 λωρίδεσ τÞσο το καλύτερο, ίσωσ και ακÞµη σε ιδιώτεσ ιδιοκτήτεσ γησ που παραχωρούν την γη τουσ µε αντάλλαγµα µεταφορά Σ. ∆Þµησησ.

∞Ó·ÚÚ›¯ËÛË/™ÎÈ Επιλογή βράχων στην Ερήµη ή/και τεχνητών βράχων (ίδε English School στην Λευκωσία) και στισ Βάσεισ. Παροµοίωσ στισ Πλάτρεσ/Μονιάτη/Λάνια κλπ σε επιλεγµένουσ χώρουσ. ΠρÞσθετα η χρήση artificial ski slopes στην περιοχή ΤροÞδουσ να είναι ένα πλέον άθληµα – ίδε Βάσεισ.

™ÎÔÔ‚ÔÏ‹ Εντάξει του υπάρχοντοσ κλαµπ (περιοχή Λάνιασ) στο γενικÞ πλάνο και αναβάθµιση του µε στήριξη ΚΟΑ, Ε.Ε. κλπ.

Motor Racing Truck Αυτή η πίστα αυτοκινήτων αν και δεν είναι δυνατÞν να είναι διεθνών προδιαγραφών να µπορούσε να κατασκευαστεί ένα circuit είτε για ερασιτέχνεσ είτε/ και για τουσ πιο επίδοξουσ αθλητέσ (και πάλι εδώ υποδεικνύουµε τουσ κινδύνουσ για τουσ νέουσ που µη έχοντασ άλλη διέξοδο χρησιµοποιούν τουσ δηµÞσιουσ δρÞµουσ). Καθορισµένοι χωµατÞδροµοι µε ανάλογο τουρισµÞ για τισ κοινÞτητεσ.

Beach Volley Ο ∆ήµοσ Παραλιµνίου/Πανεπιστήµιο Κύπρου αφού εκτέλεσε το έργο στον Πρωταρά µε κÞστοσ 1 εκ. ευρώ, το εγκατέλειψε

§·˚΋: ªÂ›ˆÛË ÙfiÎˆÓ ˘ÂÚËÌÂÚ›·˜ Σε µείωση των τÞκων υπερηµερίασ προχώρησε και η Λαϊκή Τράπεζα, µετά τισ αντίστοιχεσ µειώσεισ που ανακοίνωσαν η Τράπεζα Κύπρου και Ελληνική Τράπεζα. Οι µειώσεισ τησ Λαϊκήσ Τράπεζασ θα έχουν ισχύ απÞ τισ 23 Απριλίου 2012. Ùπωσ ανακοίνωσε η τράπεζα, αναγνωρίζοντασ τισ δυσµενείσ επιπτώσεισ τησ οικονοµικήσ κρίσησ στουσ πελάτεσ τησ, µειώνεται η χρέωση του ετήσιου επιτοκίου υπερηµερίασ επί των καθυστερηµένων δÞσεων και υπερβάσεων απÞ 10% σε 2,75%, ωσ ακολούθωσ: - Στην καθυστέρηση στην αποπληρωµή δανείων - Στην καθυστέρηση στην αποπληρωµή διευκολύνσεων Stock Finance - Στην υπέρβαση χρεωστικών τρεχούµενων λογαριασµών (µε ή χωρίσ εγκεκριµένο Þριο). ΤαυτÞχρονα, ανακοινώνεται µείωση στη χρέωση του επιτοκίου υπερηµερίασ απÞ 8% σε 3% για καθυστερήσεισ στην αποπληρωµή Συµβολαίου Ενοικιαγοράσ.

Model Cars/Planes Σε συνεργασία µε τισ Βάσεισ να υπάρχει χώροσ και εκδηλώσεισ. Ίσωσ οργάνωση µε διεθνή events; - Ίδε περιοχή Ladies Mile για το άθληµα αυτÞ.

Horse & Donkey Races Σε συνεργασία µε Βάσεισ στα υπάρχοντα γήπεδα τουσ έστω 2 φορέσ τον χρÞνο για οργάνωση fairs - ίδε στο γήπεδο πÞλο. Είµαι σίγουροσ Þτι οι Βάσεισ θα βοηθήσουν εάν τουσ προβάλουµε την πρÞταση σωστά.

Μια πρÞσθετη πρÞταση για την γιορτή του Κρασιού – Ίδε τι γίνεται στην Σάµο απÞ οργανωτέσ εκδροµών απÞ Γερµανούσ και τισ φιέστεσ στην Ισπανία Þπου Þλοι ντύνονται µε παραδοσιακέσ στολέσ – Περιοχή Εναέριοσ. Αυτά και άλλα φτάνει ο ∆ήµοσ και η περιφέρεια να αποδεχθεί το σχέδιο τησ προσπάθειασ. Μασ αποµένει λοιπÞν το κÞστοσ χρηµατοδÞτησησ το οποίο είναι και το πιο σηµαντικÞ.

- Για να επιτευχθεί χρειάζεται ένα master plan για την ΛεµεσÞ (π.χ. Limassol Sporting Tour) µε έκδοση πολύγλωσσου φυλλαδίου και website.

- ΧρηµατοδÞτεσ αυτού του έργου να τύχουν του ωφελήµατοσ Permanent visa + Passport for Cash πρÞσθετα τησ αγοράσ Þχι µÞνιµησ στέγησ. Εάν ένασ ξένοσ χορηγεί στο έργο αυτÞ µε 1.0 εκ. ευρώ να µπορεί να εξασφαλίσει µÞνιµη κατοίκηση και µε 3.0 ευρώ εξασφάλιση Κυπριακού (E.U.) διαβατηρίου αντί του τωρινού 10 εκ. ευρώ.

- Για οποιοδήποτε ιδιοκτήτη επιθυµεί να παραχωρήσει το κτήµα του για τέτοια έργα για περίοδο 20 ετών, να τύχει αύξηση Σ. ∆Þµησησ κατά 20% ανεξάρτητα τησ ζώνησ µετά (παραµένοντασ Þµωσ στην υφιστάµενη).

- ∆ιαφηµίσεισ - Τράπεζεσ, υπεράκτιεσ εταιρείεσ, λογιστικά και νοµικά γραφεία. Ùπωσ είπε και ο ΙρλανδÞσ πρωθυπουργÞσ εν Þψει τησ κρίσησ “θα πρέπει να αναλάβουµε µια επίθεση καλοπιάσµατοσ” στουσ ξένουσ. Εκείνο που χρειάζεται είναι µια καλή µπροσούρα και website, καλή και συνεχήσ διαφήµιση, την συµµετοχή τησ CIPA και την διεκδικιτηκÞτητα τησ Λεµεσού. Τα προσÞντα τησ διοίκησησ εκ µέρουσ του ∆ήµου και ∆ηµάρχου Λεµεσού υπάρχουν και παραµένουν τα υπÞλοιπα.

∂ÈÛ·ÁˆÁ‹ 895,6 ÂÎ. ÌÂÙÔ¯ÒÓ Ù˘ ∆Ú¿Â˙·˜ ∫‡ÚÔ˘ ÛÙÔ Ã∞∫ Το Χρηµατιστήριο Αξιών Κύπρου έχει αποδεχθεί προσ εισαγωγή 895,612,909 κοινέσ ονοµαστικέσ µετοχέσ τησ Τράπεζασ Κύπρου. Συνολικά 319,4 εκ. προέκυψαν απÞ την εξάσκηση των δικαιωµάτων προτίµησησ τησ εταιρείασ που είχαν παραχωρηθεί σε αναλογία παραχώρησησ 1:1 προσ τουσ µετÞχουσ τησ εταιρείασ καθώσ και προσ τουσ κατÞχουσ Μετατρέψιµων Χρεογράφων 2013/2018, Μετατρέψιµων ΑξιÞγραφων Κεφαλαίου και Μετατρέψιµων ΑξιÞγραφων Ενισχυµένου Κεφαλαίου (∆ολάρια και Ευρώ) τησ Τράπεζασ, ωσ αυτά να είχαν µετατραπεί σε µετοχέσ µε βάση τουσ Þρουσ τησ Τράπεζασ. Για κάθε 3 ∆Π που εξασκήθηκαν παραχωρήθηκε 1 νέα µετοχή µε τιµή

Cdbbank: ™¯¤‰ÈÔ Â¤Ó‰˘Û˘ Û ¯Ú˘Ûfi Î·È ÂÙڤϷÈÔ Ένα νέο καταθετικÞ προϊÞν, λανσάρει στην κυπριακή αγορά, η cdbbank. ΠρÞκειται για το καταθετικÞ σχέδιο «ΧρυσÞσ και Μαύροσ ΧρυσÞσ», το οποίο απευθύνεται στουσ καταθέτεσ που αναζητούν καλύτερεσ αποδÞσεισ. To σχέδιο αξιοποιεί την επίδοση δύο διαχρονικά σηµαντικών αξιών, του χρυσού και του πετρελαίου. Η κρίση και η παρατεταµένη ύφεση ευνοεί το χρυσÞ ενώ η ανάπτυξη το πετρέλαιο. Σύµφωνα µε το σχέδιο, η διάρκεια τησ κατάθεσησ είναι 3ετήσ σε ευρώ και το κεφάλαιο τησ κατάθεσησ είναι εξασφαλισµένο στη λήξη του. Η απÞδοση είναι πλήρωσ συνδεδεµένη µε την απÞδοση του δείκτη RBS Aurum+II, ο οποίοσ αποτελεί µια δυναµική στρατηγικήσ επένδυσησ στο χρυσÞ και το πετρέλαιο. ΑπÞ το

Gastronomic exhibition

1999 µέχρι σήµερα ο δείκτησ αυτÞσ είχε µέση ετήσια προσοµοιωµένη απÞδοση 11.4%. Η εισαγωγή του σχεδίου συµπίπτει µε την έναρξη εργασιών του Private Banking τησ cdbbank. «Φιλοδοξία µασ είναι να παρουσιάσουµε στην αγορά µια διαφοροποιηµένη πρÞταση και προσέγγιση στο τοµέα αυτÞ. ∆ηµιουργικά προϊÞντα, αλλά προπάντων, ποιοτική και επαγγελµατική εξυπηρέτηση θα είναι τα συστατικά στοιχεία τησ πρÞτασησ µασ» δήλωσε ο ∆ιευθυντήσ του Private Banking κ. ΄Αδωνισ Γιάγκου. Το σχέδιο διατίθεται απÞ τισ 20 Απριλίου µέχρι τισ 8 Ιουνίου µε ελάχιστο ποσÞ συµµετοχήσ 40,000 ευρώ και είναι χωρίσ καµία επιβάρυνση.

εξάσκησησ 1.00 ευρώ ανά µετοχή. Κάθε µία νέα µετοχή που προέκυψε απÞ την εξάσκηση των 3 ∆Π η εταιρεία παραχώρησε και µία δωρεάν µετοχή. Επίσησ 576,2 εκ. ονοµαστικέσ µετοχέσ τησ εταιρείασ προέκυψαν απÞ την εθελοντική µετατροπή µετατρέψιµων αξιÞγραφων ενισχυµένου κεφαλαίου σε Ευρώ (BCOCO/ΤΚΜΑΕ) και απÞ την εθελοντική µετατροπή µετατρέψιµων αξιÞγραφων ενισχυµένου κεφαλαίου σε ∆ολάρια (BCCOD/ΤΚΜΕ∆), καθώσ και απÞ τισ δωρεάν µετοχέσ που παραχωρήθηκαν. Υπενθυµίζεται Þτι µετά τη λήξη τησ αποδοχήσ τησ πιο πάνω εθελοντικήσ µετατροπήσ η εταιρεία προχώρησε στην παραχώρηση δωρεάν µετοχών µε την αναλογία κάθε 3 νέεσ µετοχέσ, που προ-

έκυψαν απÞ την εθελοντική µετατροπή παραχώρηση 1 νέασ δωρεάν µετοχήσ τησ εταιρείασ. Οι µετοχέσ θα ενσωµατωθούν στο ήδη εισηγµένο µετοχικÞ κεφάλαιο τησ εταιρείασ, το οποίο θα ανέλθει σε 1,795,140,547 µετοχέσ. Σηµειώνεται Þτι λÞγω των µετατροπών, οι εισηγµένοι αριθµοί των αξιÞγραφων κεφαλαίου που διαπραγµατεύονται στο ΧΑΚ µε κωδικούσ BCOCO/ΤΚΜΑΕ θα µειωθούν σε 428,521,983 και µε κωδικούσ BCCOD/ΤΚΜΕ∆ σε 39,711,653. Η διαπραγµάτευση των 895,612,909 µετοχών θα αρχίσει αύριο Πέµπτη 19 Απριλίου 2012, ηµεροµηνία κατά την οποία θα ισχύσουν και οι διαφοροποιήσεισ στουσ εισηγµένουσ αριθµούσ των πιο πάνω τίτλων.

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∆Ô ebay ÚÒÙÔ ÛÙȘ ÚÔÙÈÌ‹ÛÂȘ ÙˆÓ ∫˘Ú›ˆÓ Στο πρώτο τρίµηνο του 2012 ο Μάρτιοσ κατέγραψε την υψηλÞτερη αγοραστική κίνηση του τριµήνου µε 53.2% µέσω ίντερνετ, σε αντίθεση µε το αντίστοιχο τρίµηνο του 2011 Þπου ο Ιανουάριοσ ήταν αυτÞσ που είχε καταγράψει την ψηλÞτερη αγοραστική κίνηση µε 62.5% και ο Μάρτιοσ την χαµηλÞτερη µε 55.9%. Σύµφωνα µε τα αποτελέσµατα του πρώτου τριµήνου του 2012 του συνδροµητικού εργαλείου µέτρησησ και ανάλυσησ online αγορών στην Κύπρο, the ireport, δεύτεροσ σε online αγορέσ ήταν ο µήνασ Φεβρουάριοσ µε 52% και τρίτοσ ο Ιανουάριοσ µε 43.4%. Συνολικά, οι online αγορέσ κατέγραψαν αύξηση απÞ το αντίστοιχο τρίµηνο του 2011 απÞ 30.7% σε 32.1%. Σε σχέση µε το τέταρτο τρίµηνο του 2011 παρατηρήθηκε µείωση τησ τάξησ του 1.5% εφÞσον επήλθε άµεση κάθοδοσ µετά τισ γιορτέσ των Χριστουγέννων. Το i report κατέγραψε συνεχιζÞµενη αύξηση στην χρήση του κινητού τηλεφώνου για online αγορέσ απÞ το 8.9% του προηγούµενου τριµήνου σε 10.9%. Επίσησ αύξηση κατέγραψαν οι αγορέσ που έγιναν µέσω Tablet απÞ 2.2% σε 4%. Το 89.9% των online αγορών έγιναν απÞ το σπίτι και το 19.3% απÞ το γραφείο. Ùσον αφορά τισ κατηγορίεσ και τα είδη προϊÞντων που αγοράστηκαν online, το i report κατέγραψε: Πρώτη την κατηγορία Ειδών Ένδυσησ µε 35.6% µε αύξηση 1.4%, µε τα αθλητικά ρούχα να αυξάνονται στο 45.2% και τα

ρούχα εργασίασ να µειώνονται στο 70.2%. ∆εύτερη την κατηγορία ειδών υπÞδησησ µε 14,4% και αύξη-

∞˘ÍË̤ÓÔ ÂӉȷʤÚÔÓ ÛÙÔ ‚’ Á‡ÚÔ ·‰ÂÈÔ‰fiÙËÛ˘ Πολύ αυξηµένο είναι το ενδιαφέρον απÞ ξένεσ κυβερνήσεισ και εταιρείεσ κολοσσούσ, για συµµετοχή στον δεύτερο γύρο αδειοδοτήσεων για τα οικÞπεδα στην Αποκλειστική Οικονοµική Ζώνη τησ Κυπριακήσ ∆ηµοκρατίασ, µε στÞχο έρευνεσ για υδρογονάνθρακεσ. Ùπωσ δήλωσε ο ∆ιευθυντήσ Ενέργειασ στο Υπουργείο Εµπορίου, ΣÞλων Κασίνησ, γνωστοποιώντασ Þτι τα δεδοµένα έχουν ήδη πωληθεί σε περισσÞτερεσ απÞ 30 εταιρείεσ. Ο ΣÞλων Κασίνησ συζήτησε το ενδεχÞµενο χωροθέτησησ ενεργειακού κέντρου στην Πάφο, το οποίο θα είναι συµπληρωµατικÞ εκείνου που θα δηµιουργηθεί στο ΒασιλικÞ και σχετίζεται µε την εκµετάλλευση των κοιτασµάτων φυσικού αερίου.

™ÙÔÓ ¯ÔÚfi Î·È Ë ¶ÂÙÚÔϛӷ Τη συµµετοχή τησ στο 2ο γύρο αδειοδÞτησησ σε σχέση µε την αναζήτηση, εξερεύνηση και παραγωγή υδρογονανθράκων που βρίσκονται στην αποκλειστική οικονοµική ζώνη τησ Κυπριακήσ ∆ηµοκρατίασ, ανακοίνωσε η εταιρεία Πετρολίνα. Η Πετρολίνα έχει ιδρύσει θυγατρική εταιρεία υπÞ την επωνυµία Petrolina Explorations Limited η οποία έχει συµβληθεί µε τουσ υφιστάµενουσ µετÞχουσ τησ Sigma Explorations Holdings Limited για την υπÞ Þρουσ αγορά συµµετοχήσ ύψουσ 5% στο εκδοθέν µετοχικÞ κεφάλαιο τησ Sigma έναντι 600,000 ευρώ. Η PEL είναι 100% θυγατρική τησ PHL. Η συναλλαγή έγινε σε καθαρά εµπορική βάση. Η Sigma κατέχει το 75% στην οµÞρρυθµη εταιρεία Oak Delta NG Exploration Joint Venture, η οποία θα συµµετάσχει στο 2ο γύρο αδειοδÞτησησ σε σχέση µε την αναζήτηση, εξερεύνηση και παραγωγή υδρογονανθράκων που βρίσκονται στην αποκλειστική οικονοµική ζώνη τησ Κυπριακήσ ∆ηµοκρατίασ. Το υπÞλοιπο 25% κατέχεται απÞ εταιρεία ισραηλινών συµφερÞντων.

™Â ÌÂÙÚËÙ¿ ‰È·ÙËÚ› ÙÔ ¯·ÚÙÔÊ˘Ï¿ÎÈÔ Ù˘ Ë ¢‹ÌËÙÚ· Σε µετρητά διατηρεί το µεγαλύτερο µέροσ του επενδυτικού τησ χαρτοφυλακίου η ∆ήµητρα. Σύµφωνα µε τισ επενδύσεισ τησ εταιρείασ µέχρι το τέλοσ Μαρτίου 2012, η εταιρεία είχε 75,5 εκ. ευρώ επενδυµένα σε τραπεζικέσ καταθέσεισ και µετρητά (48,38% του ενεργητικού τησ ) έναντι 68,6 εκ. ευρώ κατά τον αντίστοιχο µήνα του 2011 (39,75%). Η µεγαλύτερη επενδυτική εταιρεία έχει επίσησ σηµαντική έκθεση στον τοµέα ακινήτων. Στο τέλοσ Μαρτίου είχε τοποθετηµένα 56 εκ. ευρώ ή 35,90% του συνολικού ενεργητικού τησ στον τοµέα ανάπτυξησ γησ και ακινήτων στην Κύπρο, Ρουµανία και Βουλγαρία έναντι 59,6 εκ. ευρώ πέρσι (34,52%). Στην Κύπρο, οι επενδύσεισ τησ εταιρείασ ειδικÞτερα στον κλάδο των ακινήτων, ανέρχονται στα 39,7 εκ. ευρώ, στη Ρουµανία στα 11,1 εκ. ευρώ και στη Βουλγαρία στα 5,2 εκ. ευρώ.

FinancialMirror

ση 2.7%. Τρίτη την κατηγορία των συσκευών τηλεφώνων µε 12.4% και αύξηση 1.3%. Η κατηγορία των Αεροπορικών Εισιτηρίων έπεσε στην τέταρτη θέση µε 11.8% και σηµαντική µείωση τησ τάξεωσ του 7.4%. Ùσον αφορά τισ ιστοσελίδεσ και τα online shops απ’ Þπου έγιναν οι αγορέσ, το i report κατέγραψε το Ebay να παραµένει το πρώτο µε 46.6% και αύξηση 2.4%, δεύτερο ακολουθεί το Amazon µε 14.7% και µικρή αύξηση 0.3%, και τρίτο το Asos µε 9.2% και σηµαντική µείωση 8.3%. Τέταρτη ακολουθεί η Cyprus Airways µε 5.2% και πέµπτη η Aegean που ανέβηκε στο 4.6%. Επίσησ απÞ τα υπÞλοιπα online shops, το i report κατέγραψε ανάµεσα στα Top Ten µεταξύ άλλων - το Booking.com, τo Eshop και το Net-A-Porter µε 3.2%, και το ioffer µε 2.6%. «Το i report κατέγραψε µια πολύ διαφορετική εικÞνα απÞ το αντίστοιχο πρώτο τρίµηνο του 2011 µε σηµαντική µείωση στισ αγορέσ υπηρεσιών αναψυχήσ και άνοδο στισ αγορέσ πρώτησ ανάγκησ µε τον κύριο λÞγο ώθησησ το χαµηλÞτερο κÞστοσ. Ενδιαφέρον είναι και η εµφάνιση αγορών απÞ νέεσ ιστοσελίδεσ που πληρούν κατά κράτοσ αυτά τα κριτήρια. Αξιοσηµείωτο είναι Þτι παρÞλη την αλλαγή σκηνικού οι online αγορέσ συνεχίζουν την αυξητική τουσ τάση», δήλωσε ο ∆ιευθύνων Σύµβουλοσ τησ ImarComms Περικλήσ Έλληνασ.

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∫∞: ¶ÒÏËÛË ·ÂÚÔÛηÊÒÓ ∞319 Την απÞφαση να πωληθούν δύο αεροσκάφη των Κυπριακών Αερογραµµών, ενέκρινε το ∆Σ τησ εταιρείασ. Το διοικητικÞ συµβούλιο τησ εταιρείασ ενέκρινε τη συµφωνία πώλησησ και αγοράσ µεταξύ των ΚΑ και τησ Gecas Asset Management για πώληση των δύο ιδιÞκτητων αεροσκαφών Α319. Στισ 8 Μαρτίου 2012, το ∆ιοικητικÞ Συµβούλιο τησ εταιρείασ ενέκρινε επιστολή πρÞθεσησ (Letter of Intent) µεταξύ τησ εταιρείασ και τησ Gecas για πώληση των δύο ιδιÞκτητων αεροσκαφών Α319 τησ εταιρείασ έναντι συνολικού τιµήµατοσ $30,5 εκ. Οι ΚΑ κατέγραψαν το 2011 ζηµιέσ 19 εκ. ευρώ. Το 2010, η εταιρεία είχε κέρδη 0,2 εκ. ευρώ λÞγω τησ κρατικήσ βοήθειασ 20 εκ. ευρώ που παραχωρήθηκε στον κρατικÞ αεροµεταφορέα έναντι τησ απαγÞρευσησ πτήσεων στον εναέριο χώρο τησ Τουρκίασ.

∫·Ì›· ÓÔÌÈ΋ ˘Ô¯Ú¤ˆÛË ÁÈ· 13Ô ÌÈÛıfi Οι εργοδÞτεσ δεν έχουν νοµική υποχρέωση να καταβάλλουν δέκατο τρίτο µισθÞ σύµφωνα µε την υπουργÞ Εργασίασ, Σωτηρούλα Χαραλάµπουσ, η οποία απάντησε µε επιστολή στον βουλευτή του ∆ηµοκρατικού Συναγερµού, Μάριου Μαυρίδη. Η κ. Χαραλάµπουσ ανέφερε Þτι «η καταβολή 13ου µισθού δεν προνοείται απÞ νοµοθεσία». Σηµειώνει Þτι «πρÞνοια για την καταβολή του 13ου µισθού υπάρχει Þµωσ σχεδÞν σε Þλεσ τισ συλλογικέσ συµβάσεισ».

Louis: ™˘Ó‰ڛ· ÛÙȘ 25/4 H Louis plc ανακοίνωσε Þτι το ∆ιοικητικÞ τησ Συµβούλιο θα συνέλθει στισ 25 Απριλίου 2012 για να εξετάσει µεταξύ άλλων θεµάτων τισ εξελεγµένεσ οικονοµικέσ καταστάσεισ και την ετήσια έκθεση για το έτοσ που έληξε στισ 31 ∆εκεµβρίου 2011, και να καθορίσει την ηµεροµηνία διεξαγωγήσ τησ Ετήσιασ Γενικήσ Συνέλευσησ για το 2012.

Àfi ÙÔÓ ¤ÏÂÁ¯Ô ¢. ∫ÔÓÙÔÌËÓ¿ Prime Î·È Demco Τον έλεγχο τησ Prime Insurance και Demco Insurance, απέκτησε ο ελλαδίτησ οικονοµικÞσ παράγοντασ ∆ηµήτρησ Κοντοµηνάσ. Η εταιρεία Golvenveil Ltd που ελέγχεται απÞ τον κ. Κοντοµηνά γνωστοποίησε στην Επιτροπή Προστασίασ Ανταγωνισµού (ΕΠΑ) την πρÞθεσή τησ για απÞκτηση αποκλειστικού ελέγχου επί τησ εταιρείασ Rodardo Ltd και κατ’ επέκταση των θυγατρικών τησ, Prime Insurance Company Ltd, Prime Assistance Ltd και Demco Insurance Ltd. Η Rodardo Ltd είναι εταιρεία εγγεγραµµένη στην Κυπριακή ∆ηµοκρατία και ελέγχεται απÞ την εταιρεία Golvenveil Ltd και το Μιχαήλ Μιχαηλίδη και δεν δραστηριοποιείται σε οποιοδήποτε τοµέα. Η Prime Insurance Company Ltd ελέγχεται απÞ την εταιρεία Rodardo Ltd και δραστηριοποιείται στον τοµέα παροχήσ ασφαλιστικών υπηρεσιών γενικού κλάδου και κλάδου ζωήσ. Η Prime Assistance Ltd ελέγχεται απÞ την εταιρεία Rodardo Ltd και δραστηριοποιείται στον τοµέα παροχήσ υπηρεσιών οδικήσ βοήθειασ. Η Demco Insurance Ltd ελέγχεται απÞ την εταιρεία Rodardo Ltd και δραστηριοποιείται στον τοµέα παροχήσ ασφαλιστικών υπηρεσιών γενικού κλάδου.

∆Ô Taco Bell ı· «„‹ÓÂÈ» Î·È ÛÙÔ Mall of Cyprus Στον πάνω Þροφο του The Mall of Cyprus θα λειτουργήσει το πρώτο κατάστηµα Taco Bell στη Λευκωσία. Η σχετική συµφωνία µεταξύ τησ διεύθυνσησ του mall και τησ P.H.C. Franchised Restaurants έχει ήδη υπογραφεί ενώ η εταιρεία προχώρησε και σε δηµοσίευση σχετικήσ αγγελίασ για προσλήψεισ προσωπικού. ΠρÞκειται για το τρίτο κατάστηµα τησ αλυσίδασ Taco Bell που θα λειτουργήσει η PHC, µετά το πρώτο στο My Mall (2009) και το δεύτερο στο Athens Metro Mall (2010). Η εταιρεία υπολογίζει πωσ το κατάστηµα θα αρχίσει κανονικά εργασίεσ περί τα τέλη Ιουνίου αρχέσ Ιουλίου.

√ «ÙÔ˘ÚÈÛÌfi˜ ‰È·‚·ÙËÚ›Ô˘ ‰ÂÓ Â›Ó·È Ï‡ÛË» Η Ανεξάρτητη Κίνηση Πολιτών “ΑµµÞχωστοσ Επιστρέφω” διοργανώνει καθιστική εκδήλωση διαµαρτυρίασ για το αδιέξοδο που επικρατεί στο θέµα τησ ΠÞλησ τησ Αµµοχώστου και γενικÞτερα στη λύση του Κυπριακού προβλήµατοσ, την Κυριακή 22 Απριλίου 2012, στο οδÞφραγµα Στροβιλιών. Η εκδήλωση, ‘ΤουρισµÞσ ∆ιαβατηρίου ∆εν Είναι Λύση’, θα διεξαχθεί µπροστά στο οδÞφραγµα Στροβιλιών στισ 22 Απριλίου 2012 µε ώρα έναρξησ τισ 10:00πµ. Ο αρχικÞσ χώροσ συνάντησησ θα είναι το εκκλησάκι του Αγίου Νικολάου, πριν απÞ το οδÞφραγµα, και θα ακολουθήσει µικρή πορεία (300 µέτρα). Στο οδÞφραγµα θα τελεστεί Τρισάγιο και θα ακολουθήσει σιωπηρή καθιστική διαµαρτυρία. ΠερισσÞτερεσ πληροφορίεσ στο www.ammoxostosepistrefo.com

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¢È·¯ÂÈÚ›ÛÈÌ· Ù· ÚÔ‚Ï‹Ì·Ù· Ù˘ ΢Úȷ΋˜ ÔÈÎÔÓÔÌ›·˜ Εξαιρετικά δύσκολεσ χαρακτήρισε τισ συγκυρίεσ που αντιµετωπίζει η οικονοµία ο ∆ιοικητήσ τησ Κεντρικήσ Τράπεζασ τησ Κύπρου, Αθανάσιοσ Ορφανίδησ, καλώντασ την κυβέρνηση να παραµείνει προσηλωµένη στισ δηµοσιονοµικέσ τησ δεσµεύσεισ και να στηρίξει, αν χρειαστεί, τισ τράπεζεσ, για να ανατρέψει τον αρνητικÞ φαύλο κύκλο. Ο κ. Ορφανίδησ σχολιάζοντασ το ΠρÞγραµµα ΣταθερÞτητασ 2011-2015, χαρακτήρισε «εξαιρετικά δύσκολεσ» τισ συγκυρίεσ για την οικονοµία τησ χώρασ. «ΒρισκÞµαστε ενώπιον τεράστιων προκλήσεων οι οποίεσ υπονοµεύουν Þχι µÞνο την περαιτέρω µεγέθυνση του ΑΕΠ αλλά και πολλά απÞ τα επιτεύγµατα του παρελθÞντοσ», τÞνισε. Η διάβρωση τησ ανταγωνιστικÞτητασ τησ χώρασ, η δηµοσιονοµική επιδείνωση των τελευταίων χρÞνων, ο αποκλεισµÞσ για δανεισµÞ απÞ τισ διεθνείσ αγορέσ απÞ τον Μάιο του 2011, η συνεχήσ υποβάθµιση τησ οικονοµίασ, η κρίση στην Ελλάδα και η συνεπακÞλουθη αποµείωση του ελληνικού χρέουσ που επηρεάζει σηµαντικά τισ κυπριακέσ τράπεζεσ, Þλα αυτά, σε συνδυασµÞ µε το βεβαρυµµένο οικονοµικÞ και δηµοσιονοµικÞ κλίµα στην ευρωζώνη, αποτελούν τα κύρια στοιχεία µιασ δυσάρεστησ συγκυρίασ που πιέζει ασφυκτικά την οικονοµική σταθερÞτητα τησ χώρασ και αποτελεί πρÞκληση για τη θέση τησ Κύπρου ωσ χρηµατοοικονοµικÞ κέντρο, αλλά και γενικÞτερα, τισ προοπτικέσ µεγέθυνσησ τησ οικονοµίασ και τησ µείωσησ τησ ανεργίασ, είπε. «Ùσον αφορά τον τραπεζικÞ τοµέα, οι ζηµιέσ που προκλήθηκαν στισ κυπριακέσ τράπεζεσ απÞ το κούρεµα του ελληνικού χρέ-

ουσ κρίνονται ωσ διαχειρίσιµεσ», είπε ο κ. Ορφανίδησ, η θητεία του οποίου λήγει στο τέλοσ Απριλίου. Ο ΥπουργÞσ Οικονοµικών Βάσοσ Σιαρλήσ στα πλαίσια παρουσίασησ του Προγράµµατοσ ΣταθερÞτητασ, εξέφρασε την άποψη πωσ παρά τα πολλά προβλήµατα, «δεν είναι Þλα µαύρα». Υπάρχει, Þπωσ είπε, η πεποίθηση Þτι το µέλλον µπορεί να διαµορφωθεί καλύτερο αν Þλοι µασ το πιστεύουµε και αν Þλοι µασ εργαστούµε προσ την ίδια κατεύθυνση. «Εχει αναφερθεί Þτι η Κυβέρνηση είναι έτοιµη να θέσει νοµοθετική ρύθµιση του ∆ηµοσιονοµικού Πλαισίου, δηλαδή τον ισοσκελισµένο προϋπολογισµÞ. Το νοµοσχέδιο έχει ήδη επεξεργαστεί και πολύ σύντοµα θα φτάσει στη Βουλή για να νοµοθετηθεί», είπε ο ΥπουργÞσ Οικονοµικών, χαρακτηρίζοντασ πολύ σηµαντική την εξέλιξη αυτή καθώσ αυξάνει την αξιοπιστία του κράτουσ γιατί – Þπωσ είπε - µέχρι σήµερα υπήρχε µια αβεβαιÞτητα στο εξωτερικÞ κατά πÞσον µπορούµε να ρυθµίσουµε εµείσ οι ίδιοι τα δηµοσιονοµικά µασ. Ο κ. Σιαρλήσ είπε πωσ µε τα µέτρα που έχουν ληφθεί, η Κυβέρνηση στοχεύει να πετύχει το στÞχο του 2,5% δηµοσιονοµικÞ έλλειµµα για το 2012. Ο ΥπουργÞσ Οικονοµικών ανέφερε πωσ για το 2012 δεν θα υπάρξει πρÞβληµα στη χρηµατοδÞτηση του δηµοσιονοµικού ελλείµµατοσ, λÞγω τησ εξασφάλισησ του δανείου ύψουσ 2,5 δισ ευρώ απÞ τη Ρωσία. Οσον αφορά τα µέτρα για την ανάπτυξη, ο κ. Σιαρλήσ είπε πωσ τα µέτρα αυτά είναι εφικτά και µπορούν να εφαρµοστούν σύντοµα.

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¶ÂÓȯÚfi ÂӉȷʤÚÔÓ ÁÈ· ÙÔÓ Â˘Úˆ·˚Îfi Ô›ÎÔ ·ÍÈÔÏfiÁËÛ˘ Ναυαγούν τα σχέδια για τη δηµιουργία ενÞσ ευρωπαϊκού οίκου πιστοληπτικήσ αξιολÞγησησ. H εταιρεία συµβούλων Roland Berger προβαίνει στην εκτίµηση πωσ δεν θα συγκεντρώσει το απαιτούµενο αρχικÞ κεφάλαιο. Το φιλÞδοξο εγχείρηµα τησ δηµιουργίασ ενÞσ ευρωπαϊκού οίκου πιστοληπτικήσ αξιολÞγησησ, που θα λειτουργούσε ωσ αντίβαρο στουσ τρεισ αµερικανικούσ οίκουσ (Moody`s, Standard &Poor`s και Fitch), φαίνεται πωσ ναυαγεί, καθώσ το ενδιαφέρον των επενδυτών να συµµετάσχουν στο σχέδιο είναι περιορισµένο. Σύµφωνα µε δηµοσίευµα των γερµανικών Financial Times, η εταιρεία συµβούλων επιχειρήσεων Roland Berger που είχε αναλάβει την εκπÞνηση και υλοποίηση του σχεδίου, δεν διακρίνει τη δυνατÞτητα συγκέντρωσησ του αρχικού κεφαλαίου των 300 εκατοµµυρίων δολαρίων, που είχε θέσει ωσ στÞχο. Η Roland Berger

∏ ∂∫∆ Ú¤ÂÈ Ó· Ì›ÓÂÈ ·ÓÂÍ¿ÚÙËÙË Η γερµανική κυβέρνηση διατηρεί την πεποίθηση Þτι η Ευρωπαϊκή Κεντρική Τράπεζα πρέπει να ασκεί το έργο τησ “ανεξάρτητη”, µια άποψη που είναι “γνωστή στο Παρίσι”, δήλωσε ο εκπρÞσωποσ τησ καγκελαρίου Άγκελα Μέρκελ, Στέφεν Ζάιµπερτ. Ο Ζάιµπερτ σηµείωσε Þτι τÞσο ο Σαρκοζί Þσο και η Μέρκελ έχουν κατ’ επανάληψη εκφράσει τη δέσµευσή τουσ στην ανεξαρτησία τησ ΕΚΤ.

Η επικεφαλήσ του ∆ιεθνούσ Νοµισµατικού Ταµείου Κριστίν Λαγκάρντ στοχεύει στην πέραν των 400 δισεκατοµµυρίων δολαρίων αύξηση τησ δύναµησ πυρÞσ του Ταµείου, παρÞλο που οι τελικέσ δεσµεύσεισ θα χρειαστούν αρκετÞ καιρÞ για να γίνουν. ‘’Πραγµατικά ελπίζω αυτή την εβδοµάδα να φτάσουµε στο κρίσιµο µέγεθοσ των πέραν των 400 δισ. Είµαστε αποφασισµένοι να κάνουµε Þ,τι µπορούµε’’, δήλωσε η κ. Λαγκάρντ. Η αρχική εκτίµηση για τα επιπλέον κεφάλαια που χρειάζονται για ενίσχυση τησ δύναµησ πυρÞσ του ∆ΝΤ για να καταπολεµήσει την κρίση χρέουσ στην Ευρώπη, ξεπερνούσε τα 500 δισ δολάρια. ‘’Είµαι έτοιµη να αφήσω το θέµα ανοικτÞ για µερικέσ εβδοµάδεσ: Κάποιεσ χώρεσ χρειάζονται

λίγο ακÞµη χρÞνο για κοινοβουλευτική έγκριση’’, πρÞσθεσε. Η κ. Λαγκάνρτ επανέλαβε την άποψή τησ Þτι η αύξηση που χρειάζεται η δύναµη πυρÞσ του ∆ΝΤ εκτιµάται χαµηλÞτερη σε σύγκριση µε την εκτίµηση που έγινε στα τέλη ∆εκεµβρίου. ‘’Η γενικÞτερη εκτίµηση κινδύνου παραµένει αναλλοίωτη αλλά βρισκÞµαστε στον Απρίλιο και κάποιεσ χώρεσ έχουν ήδη εξασφαλίσει απÞ τισ αγορέσ πέραν απÞ το ήµισυ των αναγκών τουσ για το 2012 και ωσ εκ τούτου η εκτίµηση (για τισ ανάγκεσ αύξησησ τησ δύναµησ πυρÞσ του ∆ΝΤ) έχει σµικρυνθεί’’, κατέληξε. Εν τω µεταξύ, η Ιαπωνία ανακοίνωσε σήµερα Þτι θα συνεισφέρει 60 δισ δολάρια για αύξηση τησ δύναµησ πυρÞσ του ∆ΝΤ, τονίζοντασ Þτι το Ταµείο είναι κρίσιµησ σηµασίασ στην αντιµετώπιση τησ

κρίσησ χρέουσ στην ΕΕ. Ο Ιάπωνασ ΥπουργÞσ Οικονοµικών Γιουν Αζούµι δήλωσε πωσ ελπίζει Þτι η κίνηση αυτή θα ενθαρρύνει άλλα κράτη να ενισχύσουν τουσ πÞρουσ του ταµείου, ‘’οι οποίοι είναι κρίσιµοι Þχι µÞνον για την Ευρωζώνη, αλλά για την Ασία και την Ιαπωνία αν θα βεβαιωθούµε Þτι η κρίση έχει τελειώσει εντελώσ’’. Η ανακοίνωση έγινε µερικέσ ηµέρεσ πριν τη συνάντηση των Υπουργών Οικονοµικών τησ G20 στην Ουάσινγκτον, που αναµένεται να επικεντρωθεί στην κρίση χρέουσ τησ Ευρωζώνησ και ειδικÞτερα στην αύξηση των αναγκών χρηµατοδÞτησησ τησ Ισπανίασ. Η Ιαπωνία είναι η πρώτη χώρα εκτÞσ τησ Ευρωζώνησ που ανακοινώνει Þτι θα συνεισφέρει κονδύλια για το ∆ΝΤ.

H ‡ÊÂÛË ·ÂÈÏ‹ ÁÈ· ÙÔ ‰ÈÂıÓ¤˜ ÂÌfiÚÈÔ Ο ρυθµÞσ ανάπτυξησ του διεθνούσ εµπορίου έπεσε στο 5% το 2011 απÞ 13,8% το 2010, ενώ σύµφωνα µε προκαταρκτικέσ εκτιµήσεισ αναµένεται να διαµορφωθεί στο 5,6% το 2013. «∆εν έχουµε γλιτώσει ακÞµη την κίνδυνο», είπε ο γενικÞσ διευθυντήσ του ΠΟΕ, Πασκάλ Λαµί. «Ο ΠΟΕ έωσ σήµερα εµπÞδισε τον οικονοµικÞ εθνικισµÞ, αλλά η αναιµική ανάκαµψη δηµιουργεί ανησυχίεσ Þτι η σταδιακή αύξηση περιοριστικών µέτρων ενδέχεται να υπονοµεύσουν τα οφέλη του ελεύθερου εµπορίου» σηµείωσε.

Οι σηµαντικÞτερεσ απειλέσ για το εµπÞριο φέτοσ προέρχονται απÞ την βαθιά ύφεση στην οποία έχει βυθιστεί η Ευρωζώνη, την επιδείνωση τησ κρίσησ χρέουσ, την άνοδο των τιµών των εµπορευµάτων και άλλουσ γεωπολιτικούσ κινδύνουσ. Ùπωσ επισήµανε ο κ. Λαµί, οι φετινέσ προοπτικέσ για την ανάπτυξη του εµπορίου εξαρτώνται κυρίωσ απÞ τισ φαινοµενικά αποκλίνουσεσ πορείεσ τησ ευρωπαϊκήσ και τησ αµερικανικήσ οικονοµίασ, των δύο µεγαλύτερων εµπορικών

δυνάµεων του κÞσµου. «Το ποιά απÞ τισ δυο αυτέσ εξελίξεισ θα επιδράσουν περισσÞτερο στην παγκÞσµια ζήτηση φέτοσ θα επηρεάσει σε µεγάλο βαθµÞ την πορεία του εµπορίου το 2012», είπε. Η εκτίµηση του ΠΟΕ για την πορεία του παγκÞσµιου εµπορίου το 2012, που βασίζεται σε εκτιµήσεισ για παγκÞσµια οικονοµική ανάπτυξη 2,1%, προβλέπει µείωση του ρυθµού αύξησησ των εξαγωγών των ανεπτυγµένων χωρών στο 2% απÞ 4,7% το 2011.

H ÙËÏÂÈÎÔÈÓˆÓȷ΋ ·Ó¿Ù˘ÍË ¯ÚÂÈ¿˙ÂÙ·È Ó¤· ÌÔÓ٤Ϸ

ªÂ›ˆÛË 2,3% ÛÙ· Î¤Ú‰Ë Ù˘ Citigroup Μειωµένα κατά 2,3% ήταν τα κέρδη τησ Citigroup το α’ τρίµηνο του 2012 διαµορφούµενα στα 2,93 δισ. δολάρια ή 1 δολάριο ανά µετοχή, έναντι 3 δισ. την αντίστοιχη περσινή περίοδο. Οι συγκλίνουσεσ εκτιµήσεισ των αναλυτών προέβλεπαν Þτι η Citigroup θα καταγράψει κέρδη 1,02 δολάρια ανά µετοχή. Σηµειώνεται Þτι η τράπεζα κατέγραψε έκταvaluation κτεσ επιβαρύνσεισ (credit adjustment) τησ τάξησ των 1,3 δισ. δολαρίων. Τα έσοδα του οµίλου ανήλθαν στα 19,4 δισ. δολάρια το α’ τρίµηνο.

παϊκÞ οίκο πιστοληπτικήσ αξιολÞγησησ διαφέρει απÞ το αντίστοιχο των αµερικανικών οίκων. Αντί να χρηµατοδοτείται ο οίκοσ απÞ τουσ των εκδÞτεσ τίτλων, το βάροσ αυτÞ το επωµίζονται οι επενδυτέσ. Με τον τρÞπο αυτÞ οι οίκοι δεν θα έχουν κανένα κίνητρο να δίνουν υπερβολικά καλή βαθµολογία στα διάφορα χρηµατοπιστωτικά προϊÞντα µÞνο και µÞνο για να διασφαλίζουν αναθέσεισ έργων. Γερµανοί πολιτικοί εξέφρασαν την απογοήτευσή τουσ για αυτή την εξέλιξη. «Άλλο ένα σηµαντικÞ σχέδιο για την ρύθµιση των αγορών και την ενίσχυση τησ ανεξαρτησίασ τησ Ευρώπησ ναυαγεί», δήλωσε στην FTD ο εκπρÞσωποσ των Σοσιαλδηµοκρατών Κάρστεν Σνάιντερ. Ο χριστιανοδηµοκράτησ οµÞλογÞσ του, Μίχαελ Μάιστερ, τάχθηκε υπέρ παρεµβάσεων για την ορθή λειτουργία των υφισταµένων οίκων αξιολÞγησησ.

§·ÁοÚÓÙ: ™Ù· $400 ‰È˜ Ë ·‡ÍËÛË ÙˆÓ fiÚˆÓ ÙÔ˘ ¢¡T

Lloyds: √È Â‡ÔÚÔÈ µÚÂÙ·ÓÔ› ı¤ÏÔ˘Ó Ó· ÌÂÙ·Ó·ÛÙ‡ÛÔ˘Ó Ένασ στουσ πέντε Βρετανούσ µε καταθέσεισ που ξεπερνούν τισ 250.000 λίρεσ εξετάζει το ενδεχÞµενο να µεταναστεύσει στο εξωτερικÞ διÞτι έχει κουραστεί απÞ την εγκληµατικÞτητα, τον άσχηµο καιρÞ και το υψηλÞ κÞστοσ ζωήσ, σύµφωνα µε το τµήµα διαχείρισησ περιουσίασ του Lloyds Banking Group. Πάνω απÞ το 60% ανέφεραν Þτι οι επενδύσεισ σε καλύτερεσ υποδοµέσ θα έκαναν τη Βρετανία πιο ελκυστική, ενώ περίπου το 50% θέλει λιγÞτερη γραφειοκρατία για τισ επιχειρήσεισ και χαµηλÞτερη φορολογία. Ενδιαφέρον είναι Þτι ένα απÞ τα µεγαλύτερα ποσοστά των ανθρώπων που θέλουν να φύγουν είναι πλούσιοι οι οποίοι ζουν στο Λονδίνο, και το µεγαλύτερο ποσοστÞ των πλουσίων που θέλουν να φύγουν είναι απÞ 25 ωσ 34 ετών.

ήλπιζε στην συµβολή γερµανικών και γαλλικών τραπεζών, ωστÞσο το ενδιαφέρον των τελευταίων είναι κατώτερο των προσδοκιών. Σύµφωνα µε την FTD, πολλοί δυνητικοί επενδυτέσ αµφισβητούν την λειτουργικÞτητα του επενδυτικού µοντέλου. Μάλιστα ο πρÞεδροσ τησ Commerzbank Μάρτιν Μπλέσινγκ είχε πρÞσφατα συγκρίνει το σχέδιο του ευρωπαϊκού οίκου αξιολÞγησησ µε το τέρασ του Λοχ Νεσ, το οποίο «κάνει κάθε τÞσο την εµφάνισή του, αλλά κανείσ ποτέ δεν το είδε». Το σχέδιο για τη δηµιουργία ενÞσ ευρωπαϊκού οίκου φέρεται να συναντά και την αντίθεση του Συνδέσµου Γερµανικών Βιοµηχανιών (BDI). Σε επιστολή του προσ τισ Βρυξέλλεσ ο Σύνδεσµοσ χαρακτηρίζει φυσιολογικÞ το «ολιγοπώλιο των οίκων αξιολÞγησησ». Το µοντέλο χρηµατοδÞτησησ τησ Roland Berger για τον ευρω-

Ζητήµατα που σχετίζονται µε τα νέα επιχειρηµατικά µοντέλα, το ύψοσ των κεφαλαιουχικών δαπανών (επενδύσεων) και την ασάφεια του ρυθµιστικού περιβάλλοντοσ αποτελούν τισ σηµαντικÞτερεσ απειλέσ, αλλά και ευκαιρίεσ, για τον κλάδο των τηλεπικοινωνιών σύµφωνα µε παγκÞσµια έρευνα τησ Ernst & Young. Πιο συγκεκριµένα, οι δέκα σηµαντικÞτερεσ προκλήσεισ για τον κλάδο των τηλεπικοινωνιών για το 2012 είναι: 1. Αποτυχία στην µετατÞπιση τησ έµφασησ του επιχειρηµατικού µοντέλου απÞ τα λεπτά στα bytes 2. Αποσύνδεση απÞ τη µεταβαλλÞµενη νοο-

τροπία του πελάτη 3. Έλλειψη εµπιστοσύνησ στην απÞδοση των επενδύσεων 4. Ανεπαρκήσ πληροφÞρηση για τη µετατροπή τησ ζήτησησ σε (προστιθέµενη) αξία 5. Απουσία σαφούσ ρυθµιστικού πλαισίου για τη νέα διάρθρωση τησ αγοράσ 6. Αποτυχία στην αξιοποίηση νέων µορφών συνδεσιµÞτητασ 7. ΚακÞσ σχεδιασµÞσ συγχωνεύσεων και εξαγορών και στρατηγικήσ συµµαχιών 8. Αποτυχία στον προσδιορισµÞ νέων επιχειρηµατικών δεικτών απÞδοσησ

9. Προσωπικά δεδοµένα, ασφάλεια και προσαρµοστικÞτητα 10. Έλλειψη οργανωτικήσ ευελιξίασ Η ετήσια έρευνα τησ Ernst & Young µε τίτλο «Top 10 risks in telecommunications 2012» για το 2012, για πρώτη φορά δεν περιλαµβάνει την αποτυχία στον έλεγχο του κÞστουσ µέσα στουσ δέκα µεγαλύτερουσ κινδύνουσ. Παρά το γεγονÞσ Þτι µια ισχυρή αµυντική τοποθέτηση σε συνδυασµÞ µε θετικέσ ταµειακέσ ροέσ έχουν βοηθήσει τισ εταιρείεσ τηλεπικοινωνιών να αντιµετωπίσουν την οικονοµική αβεβαιÞτητα, χρειάζονται νέα επιχειρηµατικά µοντέλα για να εξασφαλισθεί η ανάπτυξη.

H ·Ó¿Ù˘ÍË… ı¤ÏÂÈ Á˘Ó·›Î˜ «Η βελτίωση τησ ισÞτητασ µεταξύ γυναικών και ανδρών οδηγεί σε οικονοµική ανάπτυξη», αναφέρει έκθεση τησ Ευρωπαϊκήσ Επιτροπήσ για την ισÞτητα των φύλων. Συγκεκριµένα, η έκθεση τησ Επιτροπήσ τονίζει Þτι ένασ απÞ τουσ τρÞπουσ βελτίωσησ τησ ανταγωνιστικÞτητασ τησ Ευρώπησ είναι η επίτευξη καλύτερησ ισορροπίασ µεταξύ γυναικών και ανδρών σε θέσεισ λήψησ αποφάσεων στον οικονοµικÞ τοµέα. Η έκθεση σηµειώνει Þτι Þλο και περισσÞτερα στοιχεία καταδεικνύουν Þτι το να κατέχουν περισσÞτερεσ γυναίκεσ ηγετικέσ θέσεισ απασχÞλησησ µπορεί να συµβάλει στη δηµιουργία ενÞσ πιο παραγωγικού και καινοτÞµου εργασιακού περιβάλλοντοσ και στη συνολική βελτίωση τησ απÞδοσησ των επιχειρήσεων, ενισχύοντασ την ανταγωνιστικÞτητα. Επικαλούµενη σχετικέσ µελέτεσ, η έκθεση τονίζει Þτι οι επιχειρήσεισ µε υψηλÞτερα ποσοστά γυναικών στα διοικητικά τουσ συµβούλια λειτουργούν καλύτερα απÞ εκείνεσ µε διοικητικά συµβούλια αποτελούµενα αποκλειστικά απÞ άνδρεσ. Επιπλέον, η Επιτροπή τονίζει Þτι ενώ το 2011 σηµειώθηκε πρÞοδοσ στην αύξηση του αριθµού των γυναικών σε ηγετικέσ θέσεισ

επιχειρήσεων και στη µείωση των µισθολογικών διαφορών, εξακολουθούν να υπάρχουν σηµαντικέσ προκλήσεισ. Επισηµαίνει, Þτι οι χώρεσ τησ ΕΕ πρέπει να αυξήσουν τον αριθµÞ των γυναικών στην αγορά εργασίασ, εάν θέλουν να επιτύχουν έωσ το 2020 τον συνο-

λικÞ στÞχο τησ ΕΕ για ποσοστÞ απασχÞλησησ 75% Þλων των ενηλίκων. «Το ποσοστÞ των γυναικών µεταξύ των νέων πτυχιούχων πανεπιστηµίων ανέρχεται σε 60%, αλλά λίγεσ κατορθώνουν να ανέλθουν σε ηγετικέσ θέσεισ σε επιχειρήσεισ», αναφέρει η Επιτροπή. Σε Þ,τι αφορά την αγορά εργασίασ, η έκθεση αναφέρει Þτι το ποσοστÞ απασχÞλησησ των γυναικών είναι 62,1%, σε σύγκριση µε το 75,1% των ανδρών. Η Επιτροπή υπογραµµίζει Þτι για να εισέλθουν περισσÞτερεσ γυναίκεσ στην αγορά εργασίασ, θα πρέπει να διευκολυνθεί ο συνδυασµÞσ του επαγγελµατικού βίου µε τον οικογενειακÞ, ιδίωσ µέσω τησ κατάλληλησ µέριµνασ για τα παιδιά, τησ µεγαλύτερησ πρÞσβασησ σε ευέλικτεσ ρυθµίσεισ εργασίασ και εξασφαλίζοντασ Þτι το φορολογικÞ σύστηµα και το σύστηµα παροχών δεν θα επιβαρύνει το δεύτερο επαγγελµατικά ενεργÞ µέλοσ τησ οικογένειασ. Σε Þ,τι αφορά τισ αποδοχέσ, η έκθεση αναφέρει Þτι, κατά µέσο Þρο, οι αποδοχέσ των γυναικών είναι κατά 16,4% χαµηλÞτερεσ απÞ αυτέσ των ανδρών ανά ώρα εργασίασ.

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∆∂∆∞ƒ∆∏, 18 ∞¶ƒπ§π√À, 2012

€510 ÂÎ. ·fi ∂ÏÏ¿‰· ‹Á·Ó ∞Ï‚·Ó›· Επιστροφή στην Αλβανία. Κατ’ αυτÞν τον τρÞπο «µεταφράζεται» για την πλειοψηφία των 600.000 και πλέον Αλβανών µεταναστών στην Ελλάδα η οικονοµική κρίση. Τραπεζικέσ πηγέσ αναφέρουν ακÞµη Þτι τουσ τρεισ πρώτουσ µήνεσ εκταµιεύτηκαν απÞ τισ τράπεζεσ στην Ελλάδα και µεταφέρθηκαν στισ αλβανικέσ 510 εκατοµµύρια ευρώ. Το 2011, οι Αλβανοί µετανάστεσ στην Ελλάδα µετέφεραν στισ αλβανικέσ τράπεζεσ 717 εκατοµµύρια ευρώ. ΠρÞκειται για χρήµατα τα οποία δεν έχουν προορισµÞ την καθηµερινή κατανάλωση, δηλαδή δεν αφορούν την κλασική µορφή εµβασµάτων, αλλά κλειστούσ τραπεζικούσ λογαριασµούσ. Ένα άλλο στοιχείο που επιβεβαιώνει την διεύρυνση τησ επιστροφήσ είναι η αύξηση του αριθµού µαθητών στα σχολεία. ΠρÞκειται για παιδιά µεταναστών, που γεννήθηκαν και πήγαιναν σε σχολεία στην Ελλάδα.

ªÈÛıÔ› µÔ˘ÏÁ·Ú›·˜ ÛÙËÓ ∂ÏÏ¿‰· Σε 15.000 υπολογίζονται οι εργαζÞµενοι στην Ελλάδα που µέσα σε ένα δίµηνο αναγκάστηκαν να στραφούν απÞ την πλήρη απασχÞληση στη µερική ή εκ περιτροπήσ εργασίασ. ΑυτÞ συνεπάγεται ευέλικτο ωράριο και κατ’ επέκταση ελαστικούσ µισθούσ. Για παράδειγµα, εργαζÞµενοσ µε πλήρη απασχÞληση έχει µισθÞ 1.000 ευρώ τον µήνα. Σε περίπτωση που µειωθούν οι µέρεσ εργασίασ µε την εκ περιτροπήσ απασχÞληση θα περιοριστεί και ο µισθÞσ. Ετσι, αν απασχολείται τέσσερισ ηµέρεσ την εβδοµάδα θα δει τον µισθÞ του να περιορίζεται στα 800 ευρώ τον µήνα. ΑπÞ τα στοιχεία του Σώµατοσ Επιθεώρησησ Εργασίασ προκύπτει πωσ: Ενασ στουσ δύο εργαζÞµενουσ που στράφηκε απÞ την πλήρη στη µερική απασχÞληση είδε το ωράριÞ του να περιορίζεται στισ 4 ώρεσ την ηµέρα. Παράλληλα, το 41% δουλεύει πλέον έξι ή επτά ώρεσ, ενώ αξίζει να σηµειωθεί πωσ το 2% απασχολείται µÞλισ ένα τρίωρο κάθε µέρα. Το 54,44% των εργαζοµένων που στράφηκαν στην εκ περιτροπήσ εργασία σε συµφωνία µε τον εργοδÞτη απασχολείται τέσσερισ αντί για πέντε ηµέρεσ την εβδοµάδα. ΩστÞσο το 31,85% δουλεύει µÞνο τρεισ ηµέρεσ. Αξίζει να σηµειωθεί πωσ σε σχέση µε το 2010 η αύξηση είναι 6.940% για την εκ περιτροπήσ απασχÞληση µε µονοµερή απÞφαση του εργοδÞτη.

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™ÙËÓ Ê˘Ï·Î‹ Ô ∞. ∆ÛÔ¯·Ù˙fiÔ˘ÏÔ˜ Στισ φυλακέσ Κορυδαλλού βρίσκεται απÞ χθεσ ο πρώην Έλληνασ ΥπουργÞσ Άµυνασ Άκησ ΤσοχατζÞπουλοσ, έπειτα απÞ το ένταλµα που εξέδωσαν ανακριτήσ και εισαγγελέασ, κρίνοντάσ τον ύποπτο φυγήσ και τέλεσησ αδικηµάτων. Προφυλακιστέα κρίθηκε η γραµµατέασ του Ευφροσύνη Λαµπροπούλου, καθώσ και ο εξάδελφÞσ του, Νίκοσ Ζήγρασ. Ο Ακησ ΤσοχατζÞπουλοσ, κατειγορείται για νοµιµοποίηση εσÞδων απÞ παράνοµεσ αµοιβέσ, που φέρεται να έλαβε για τισ προµήθειεσ των συστηµάτων TOR-M1 και υποβρυχίων. Ο Ακησ ΤσοχατζÞπουλοσ σύµφωνα µε πληροφορίεσ, αρνείται την κατηγορία επικαλούµενοσ απÞφαση του ΚΥΣΕΑ για τισ προµήθειεσ των Þπλων, ενώ φέρεται να δηλώνει επιφύλαξη ωσ προσ την υπερασπιστική του γραµµή για τουσ TOR-M1, υπÞθεση τησ οποίασ η δικογραφία είναι ογκωδέσταση. Σε σύµπτωση απέδωσε ο Άκησ ΤσοχατζÞπουλοσ, ενώπιον του ανακριτή, την εµπλοκή είτε συγγενικού του προσώ-

που είτε τησ λογίστριάσ του στισ υπεράκτιεσ εταιρίεσ που φέρονται να χρησιµοποιήθηκαν ωσ Þχηµα για την µεταφορά στην Ελλάδα µεγάλων χρηµατικών ποσών. Ο πρώην υπουργÞσ φέρεται να αρνήθηκε στην απολογία του, Þτι είναι ο πραγµατικÞσ ιδιοκτήτησ των επίµαχων εταιριών Þπωσ θεωρούν οι Εισαγγελείσ στο πÞρισµα που συνέταξαν για την υπÞθεση. ΤÞσο ο ανακριτήσ Γαβρ. Μαλλήσ Þσο και ο εισαγγελέασ Ν. Βούλγαρησ, που ήταν παρών στην απολογία, δεν φαίνεται να πείστηκαν απÞ τισ απαντήσεισ του κατηγορούµενου πρώην υπουργού τισ οποίεσ θεώρησαν «µη ικανοποιητικέσ». ΟµÞφωνα έκριναν Þτι και οι τρεισ προϋποθέσεισ που θέτει ο νÞµοσ για την προφυλάκιση κατηγορουµένου, πληρούνται στην περίπτωση του κ. ΤσοχατζÞπουλου. Έτσι το ένταλµα προσωρινήσ κράτησησ που εκδÞθηκε για τον πρώην υπουργÞ, επικαλείται την βαρύτητα των πράξεων και τον κρίνει ύποπτο φυγήσ αλλά και

UBS: ∏ ∂ÏÏ¿‰· ı· ¯ÚÂÈ·ÛÙ› ÎÈ ¿ÏÏ· ¯Ú‹Ì·Ù· «Η Ελλάδα θα χρειαστεί κι άλλα χρήµατα» τονίζει ο επικεφαλήσ οικονοµολÞγοσ τησ ελβετικήσ τράπεζασ UBS Αντρέασ Χέφερτ, ο οποίοσ δεν αποκλείει έξοδο τησ χώρασ απÞ την Ευρωζώνη, γεγονÞσ το οποίο εκτιµά Þτι θα δηµιουργούσε ιστορικÞ προηγούµενο και θα οδηγούσε, πιθανÞτατα, στην έξοδο και άλλεσ χώρεσ.

Tο στέλεχοσ τησ ελβετικήσ τράπεζασ θεωρεί βέβαιο Þτι µετά το 2014 θα χρειαστεί νέο σχέδιο διάσωσησ για την Ελλάδα, ενώ σε Þ,τι αφορά την πιθανÞτητα επιστροφήσ στην δραχµή, εξηγεί Þτι θα υπήρχε τεράστιο πρÞβληµα, καθώσ το νÞµισµα δεν θα είχε καµία αξία. Η έξοδοσ Þµωσ τησ χώρασ απÞ το ευρώ, επισηµαίνει, θα δηµιουργούσε ιστορικÞ προηγούµενο και τÞτε θα ετίθετο το ερώτηµα «ποιοσ είναι ο επÞµενοσ;», γεγονÞσ το οποίο θα προκαλούσε τραπεζική κρίση στην Πορτογαλία. «Η Πορτογαλία θα αναγκαζÞταν να εγκαταλείψει το ευρώ. Κι Þσο το κάνουν αυτÞ οι µικρέσ χώρεσ, εντάξει. Το πρÞβληµα είναι εάν χρειαστεί να αποχωρήσει η Ιταλία», τονίζει ο κ. Χέφερτ. Ο κ. Χέφερτ προειδοποιεί Þτι η κρίση δεν έχει περάσει, αλλά θα επιστρέψει σε έξι έωσ δεκαοκτώ µήνεσ, λÞγω τÞσο τησ µεγάλησ διαφοράσ στην ανταγωνιστικÞτητα µεταξύ Βορρά και ΝÞτου Þσο και τησ απουσίασ κοινήσ δηµοσιονοµικήσ πολιτικήσ.

τέλεσησ νέων αδικηµάτων. Ο υπουργÞσ εµπλέκεται και στισ αγορέσ τριών ακινήτων µεγάλησ επιφανείασ επί τησ Κηφισίασ και ενÞσ κτιρίου στην Κυψέλη στη µονή Βατοπεδίου, για το ποσÞ των 4 εκ. ευρώ.

¢ÒÚÔ €5 50 Û fiÔÈÔÓ Î¿ÓÂÈ ÎÚ¿ÙËÛË ÁÈ· ∂ÏÏ¿‰· Σε µία πρωτÞτυπη πρωτοβουλία προχώρησε η αεροπορική εταιρεία Condor προκειµένου να αναστρέψει την τάση µείωσησ των κρατήσεων απÞ τη Γερµανία προσ την Ελλάδα. Με επίσηµη ανακοίνωσή τησ, η εταιρεία προσφέρει δωροεπιταγή 50 ευρώ σε κάθε πελάτη που κάνει κράτηση για τη χώρα, ενώ συνολικά θα προσφέρει 10.000 δωροεπιταγέσ. Η προσφορά θα ισχύσει µέχρι τέλοσ Απριλίου. Σύµφωνα µε τη µητρική εταιρεία τησ Condor, την Thomas Cook, φέτοσ παρατηρείται µείωση των κρατήσεων προσ την Ελλάδα, λÞγω του αρνητικού κλίµατοσ που έχει διαµορφωθεί στην Ελλάδα απέναντι στη Γερµανία µετά τη σκληρή στάση τησ τελευταίασ στο θέµα τησ διάσωσησ τησ Ελλάδασ. Η Condor πετάει προσ Χανιά, Ηράκλειο, Κάρπαθο, Κέρκυρα, Κω, Μύκονο, Πρέβεζα/Λευκάδα, ΡÞδο και Σαντορίνη απÞ πολλά γερµανικά αεροδρÞµια.

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∆∂∆∞ƒ∆∏, 18 ∞¶ƒπ§π√À, 2012

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ç ∆π ¶∞π∑∂π... ™∆∏¡ ∞°√ƒ∞ ™Â ƒÒÛÔ˘˜ Î·È ™Î·Ó‰ÈÓ·‚Ô‡˜ ÙÔ Leptos Apollo Beach Villas ¡¤Â˜ ˘ËÚÂۛ˜ ·fi ÙËÓ Cyta

Και οι 100 πολυτελείσ παραθαλάσσιεσ κατοικίεσ τησ Leptos Estates στο Leptos Apollo Beach Villas στην παραλία τησ Χλώρακασ έχουν πωληθεί εν µέσω κρίσησ σε αγοραστέσ κυρίωσ απÞ Ρωσσία, Σκανδιναβία ακÞµα και Κύπριουσ ντÞπιουσ αλλά και διαµένοντεσ στο εξωτερικÞ. Οι κατοικίεσ είναι Þλεσ σχεδιασµένεσ και κτισµένεσ µε καθαρÞ νησιώτικο χαρακτήρα, και έχουν γίνει πÞλοσ έλξησ απÞ αγοραστέσ και επενδυτέσ οι οποίοι πιστεύουν Þτι οι κατοικίεσ πάνω στο κύµα είναι η απάντηση στην κρίση στον τοµέα κατασκευών και ανάπτυξησ γησ και περιουσιών. Τα µαγευτικά ηλιοβασιλέµατα, οι ξανθέσ αµµώδεισ παραλίεσ ακÞµα και οι απÞκρυµνοι βράχοι συνθέτουν ένα κράµα σπάνιασ οµορφιάσ γεγονÞσ που ελκύει τον κάθε επισκέπτη ώστε να ονειρεύεται Þτι το δικÞ του σπίτι πρέπει να είναι εδώ.

To Bushmills Û·˜ ¿ÂÈ πÚÏ·Ó‰›· Το Ιρλανδέζικο ουίσκι BUSHMILLSΣ πραγµατοποιεί το πρώτο µουσικÞ φεστιβάλ που έγινε ποτέ σε αποστακτήριο στην Ιρλανδία. Το φεστιβάλ θα πραγµατοποιηθεί στισ 21 Ιουνίου και σε αυτÞ θα εµφανιστούν οι Snow Patrol, ο Foy Vance, ο οποίοσ µαζί µε τον David Holmes έχουν συνθέσει την µουσική για το ‘The Shore’, το οποίο έχει κερδίσει βραβείο Ùσκαρ, καθώσ και ο Ιain Archer. Η είσοδοσ στο ‘Bushmills Live’ είναι µια εµπειρία η οποία δεν µπορεί να αγοραστεί µε χρήµατα αφού τα εισιτήρια για το φεστιβάλ δεν διατίθενται προσ πώληση. ΩστÞσο οι καταναλωτέσ του Bushmills στην Κύπρο θα έχουν την ευκαιρία να λάβουν µέροσ σε κλήρωση για ένα εισιτήριο στο φεστιβάλ, µέσα απÞ διαγωνισµÞ που διοργανώνει το ουίσκι Bushmills. Ο διαγωνισµÞσ θα διαρκέσει απÞ τισ 5 Απριλίου µέχρι τισ 5 Μαΐου. Ο µοναδικÞσ τυχερÞσ θα έχει την ευκαιρία να ταξιδέψει µε ένα φίλο του στο ‘Old Bushmills Distillery’ στην Ιρλανδία για να παραστεί στο φεστιβάλ, ενώ επιπρÞσθετα θα έχει την ευκαιρία να ξεναγηθεί στο παλιÞτερο αποστακτήριο τησ Ιρλανδίασ.

¶·Û¯·ÏÈÓfi ¿ÚÙÈ ·fi ÙË ÛÔÎÔÏ¿Ù· Lindt Το ΠασχαλινÞ σοκολατένιο πάρτι τησ Ελβετικήσ σοκολάτασ Lindt έγινε πια θεσµÞσ και το Σάββατο 7 Απριλίου οργανώθηκε το δεύτερÞ τησ πάρτι στο Mall of Cyprus. Η σκηνή στήθηκε απÞ τισ 10:00 το πρωί µέχρι και τισ 18:00 το απÞγευµα κι οι µικροί τησ φίλοι διασκέδασαν µε τον ταχυδακτυλουργÞ, έκαναν face painting, φωτογραφήθηκαν µε το Λαγουδάκι τησ Lindt, απÞλαυσαν µια διαδραστική ανάγνωση παραµυθιού, ζωγράφισαν, έπαιξαν στον τροχÞ τησ τύχησ και κέρδισαν πάνω απÞ 60 καταπληκτικά αναµνηστικά δώρα, ενώ το µεγάλο δώρο κέρδισε η κ. Καίτη Ερωτοκρίτου. Η Lindt κέρασε Þλο τον κÞσµο πασχαλινά σοκολατένια λαγουδάκια ενώ το Λαγουδάκι τησ ήταν πανταχού παρÞν. Το σοκολατένιο πάρτι διοργάνωσε ο Ùµιλοσ Εταιριών Άλκησ Χ. Χατζηκυριάκοσ (ΜπισκÞτα Φρου Φρου) ∆ηµÞσια Λτδ, που εισάγει και διανέµει στην Κύπρο τισ σοκολάτεσ Lindt.

Η Cyta, εισήγαγε την υπηρεσία διαχείρισησ σχέσεων µε πελάτεσ Hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM, διευρύνοντασ το φάσµα των υπηρεσιών που προσφέρει στην κυπριακή αγορά. Σε συνεργασία µε τισ εταιρείεσ Microsoft και Dot.Cy, προσφέρουν, απÞ τον Μάρτιο 2012, την υπηρεσία Hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM απÞ τη Cyta. Η υπηρεσία προσφέρει λογισµικÞ διαχείρισησ σχέσεων µε πελάτεσ (Customer Relationship Management), το οποίο παρέχεται µε τη µορφή συνδροµητικήσ υπηρεσίασ (Software as a Service) και µπορεί να βοηθήσει άµεσα εταιρείεσ απÞ Þλουσ τουσ τοµείσ τησ οικονοµίασ, - να προσελκύσουν υποψήφιουσ πελάτεσ µε πρωτοποριακέσ και αποτελεσµατικέσ προωθητικέσ ενέργειεσ, - να αυξήσουν τισ πωλήσεισ τουσ εστιάζοντασ στισ σωστέσ ευκαιρίεσ που θα τουσ βοηθήσουν να κλείσουν συµφωνίεσ γρηγορÞτερα, ώστε να ξεπεράσουν τουσ στÞχουσ τουσ και - να ικανοποιήσουν απÞλυτα τουσ πελάτεσ τουσ, προσφέροντασ έγκαιρη και εξατοµικευµένη εξυπηρέτηση, µέσα απÞ Þλα τουσ τα κανάλια. Η πρÞσβαση στην υπηρεσία Hosted Microsoft Dynamics απÞ τη Cyta και την Dot.Cy γίνεται µέσω του διαδικτύου στην ιστοσελίδα www.cyta.com.cy/sol και παρέχεται µε µηνιαία συνδροµή, αποφεύγοντασ το κÞστοσ αγοράσ λογισµικού, εγκατάστασησ εξοπλισµού, λειτουργίασ, συντήρησησ και αναβάθµισησ στο χώρο τησ εταιρείασ. Για περισσÞτερεσ πληροφορίεσ, οι ενδιαφερÞµενοι µπορούν να αποτείνονται στην ιστοσελίδα www.cyta.com.cy/sol, στον ΕπιχειρηµατικÞ τουσ Σύµβουλο ή στην εταιρεία Dot.Cy στο τηλέφωνο 22444080.

¢È·ÁˆÓÈÛÌfi˜ ™˘ÓÂÚÁ·ÙÈÎÔ‡ ∆·Ì. §ÂÌÂÛÔ‡ ̤ۈ Facebook Το ΣυνεργατικÞ Ταµιευτήριο Λεµεσού στα πλαίσια τησ καινούριασ διαφηµιστικήσ εκστρατείασ του, διοργάνωσε διαγωνισµÞ στο Facebook ο Þποιοσ είχε διάρκεια απÞ τισ 23 Μαρτίου µέχρι τισ 8 Απριλίου 2012. Η ερώτηση του διαγωνισµού αφορούσε την τηλεοπτική διαφήµιση τησ νέασ διαφηµιστικήσ εκστρατείασ και ήταν: «ΠÞσα χρήµατα χρησιµοποιεί ο πρωταγωνιστήσ στισ συναλλαγέσ του κατά τη διάρκεια τησ διαφήµισησ;» Οι νικητέσ του διαγωνισµού ήταν τρείσ και το έπαθλο των νικητών ήταν χρηµατική κατάθεση (110 ευρώ) σε λογαριασµÞ στο ΣυνεργατικÞ Ταµιευτήριο Λεµεσού, ίση µε τη σωστή απάντηση του διαγωνισµού.

Louis: ™·Ï¿ÚÂÈ ·fi §ÂÌÂÛfi Ì ÙÔ Orient Queen Η Louis Cruises, συνεπήσ στο ετήσιο ραντεβού τησ µε το κυπριακÞ επιβατικÞ κοινÞ, βάζει πλώρη για τισ φετινέσ τησ κρουαζιέρεσ µε το επιβλητικÞ Orient Queen που σαλπάρει απÞ τη ΛεµεσÞ για την πρώτη του κρουαζιέρα στισ 27 Μαΐου. Με 355 καµπίνεσ και δυνατÞτητα φιλοξενίασ 912 επιβατών, το Orient Queen διαθέτει εντυπωσιακούσ κοινÞχρηστουσ χώρουσ µε περισσή πολυτέλεια καθώσ και ευρύχωρεσ και καλαίσθητεσ καµπίνεσ υψηλού επιπέδου. Η Κωνσταντινούπολη, η Σµύρνη, η Έφεσοσ, αλλά και οι κοσµοπολίτικεσ Μύκονοσ και Σαντορίνη καθώσ και τα ασπροβαµµένα σπιτάκια και οι εκκλησιέσ τησ Σύµησ, τησ Κω, τησ Άνδρου, τησ Σάµου, τησ Σύρου, τησ Πάρου, τησ Νάξου και τησ Καλύµνου, η ΡÞδοσ και ο Άγιοσ ΝικÞλαοσ Κρήτησ είναι µέσα στου πρÞγραµµα κρουαζιέρων για το 2012. Η ροµαντική Βενετία, το πανέµορφο ΝτουµπρÞβνικ και το υπέροχο Σπλίτ στην Κροατία αποτελούν τρία ακÞµα λιµάνια-διαµάντια στουσ φετινούσ προορισµούσ τησ Louis Cruises” αναφέρει σχετική ανακοίνωση του οµίλου Louis.

∏ USB BANK ÛÙËÚ›˙ÂÈ ÙÔÓ ¶∞™À∫∞º Μέσα στα πλαίσια τησ Εταιρικήσ Κοινωνικήσ Ευθύνησ τησ και µε την ευκαιρία του Πάσχα, η USB Bank προσέφερε σε Þλο το προσωπικÞ τησ, πασχαλινέσ λαµπάδεσ του Παγκύπριου Συνδέσµου Καρκινοπαθών και Φίλων (ΠΑΣΥΚΑΦ). Κάθε χρÞνο, η USB Bank συνδράµει στην εκστρατεία διαφώτισησ και Οικονοµικήσ Ενίσχυσησ του Παγκύπριου Συνδέσµου Καρκινοπαθών και Φίλων. Με αυτέσ τισ λαµπάδεσ ενισχύει το δύσκολο και σηµαντικÞ έργο του ΠΑΣΥΚΑΦ, στέλλοντασ ταυτÞχρονα µήνυµα αγάπησ και αλληλεγγύησ στουσ πάσχοντεσ συνανθρώπουσ µασ, αλλά και ελπίδασ για τη θεραπεία του καρκίνου. Ελπίδασ για µια καλύτερη ζωή.

FINANCIAL MIRROR, April 18 - 24, 2012

ECO NEWS 19

EU push for ocean energy set to fall short l

Industrials, utilities ramp up l Funding, grid connection investments, boost sector issues could threaten progress ANALYSIS

Europe’s wave and tidal power technology is likely to disappoint EU expectations for 2020 and take over a decade to contribute to energy supply in a significant way, even though it is chalking up rapid growth and drawing in big industrial investors.

The nascent industry has attracted a flurry of investor activity over the past year, securing an estimated few hundred million euros from companies such as Siemens and Vattenfall.

It is making fast progress from prototype devices toward full-scale sea trials and promises to be more reliable than many types of renewable power that depend on the weather.

But those numbers are far less than European Union expectations for 8.5 bln euros of investment and generation capacity of 3.6 gigawatts installed by 2020.

The technology, like other renewables, needs government financing help to reach commercial scale and then subsidies after that as it grows to more cost efficient.

Its timing as a latecomer behind more established renewables such as solar and wind is unfortunate.

Government financing is hard to come by while the euro zone faces a sovereign debt crisis and governments are cutting spending, including on renewable energy.

Furthermore, its development costs are still far higher than for other renewables, including offshore wind power.

“Any talk of gigawatts by 2020 is optimistic. We are more on course for hundreds of megawatts,” said Charlie Blair, technology acceleration manager for marine at the Carbon Trust.

FUNDS Siemens, which increased its stake in UK developer Marine Current Turbines last month, sees double-digit annual growth rates for marine current renewables to 2020 from virtually zero now and expects it ultimately to meet 3 to 4% of global energy demand.

“The big industrial players getting involved is what is needed to move this sector forward. Utilities are looking at these kind of projects, which will be on a similar scale to wind energy or conventional power plants,” said Frank Wright, renewables manager at UK consultancy Douglas Westwood.

Most experts expect the first large-scale commercial projects of 1 MW or more to emerge by 2016 or 2017 and ocean energy to start contributing to the EU power mix between 2025 and 2030.

A big tidal device probably has a 1 MW capacity, but the next challenge is to get to five-to-10 MW arrays and then move to hundreds of megawatts by 2020 or beyond.

“We still need to prove a 10 MW array can function on a commercial basis and pay for itself by selling electricity,” Blair said.

Not only are there technical challenges in installing multiple devices and in developing the grid infrastructure and control systems, but developers also must reduce the huge costs of arrays.

Current estimates for the levelised cost, or the constant price per unit of energy for an investment to break even, are 0.38-0.48 pounds/KWh for wave energy and 0.29-0.33 pounds/KWh for tidal, compared with 0.090.10 pounds/KWh for nuclear and offshore wind, according to the UK’s Carbon Trust.

Funding constraints threaten to impede the push towards commercial deployment. Although government funding is available for research, there is less available for large-scale demonstration projects.

Renewable UK estimates that at least 120 mln pounds ($190.4 mln) is needed for the UK industry alone to reach full-scale deployment.

The UK and Scottish governments have pledged funding of 38 million pounds. Scotland added to that last week by launching a 103 mln pound fund for renewables from money set aside from a fossil fuel levy, and some of that money will be used to develop tidal and wave projects.

According to RenewableUK, every pound of public funding in the UK has unlocked 6 pounds of private investment, but more is needed.

“There is no reason why the sector cannot deploy in excess of 1 gigawatt by 2020, but it is vital that we reduce costs to maintain investor interest,” said David Krohn, wave and tidal development manager at the UK renewables association.

Figures on government financing for wave and tidal projects in Spain and Portugal, where the sector also has major potential, were not available.

Cash-strapped Portugal would need to drum up 4-6 bln euros of investment, public and private, to reach its potential to generate 3 GW by 2020, according to industry estimates.

Spain, which aims to install 100 MW of ocean energy by 2020, has temporarily halted subsidies on new renewable plants for budgetary reasons.

GRID There is also a concern that the EU power grid will not be able to keep up with the added capacity as more projects near full-scale sea trials and supply electricity to the grid.

Grid-connected capacity from wave and tidal in the UK, though still modest at 5.6 MW, has risen 90% since March last year. RenewableUK expects this to rise to 11 MW this year with the connection of at least seven new devices.

Some utilities depend on significant investment in expansion of grid capacity before they will increase their marine plans. Vattenfall has said it plans to buy a UK wave power device later this year on the expectation that an interconnector is laid between the Shetland islands and the Scottish mainland.

“Offshore wave projects need to be connected to the grid onshore and then transported,” said Alina Bakhareva, research manager of renewable energy at Frost and Sullivan.

“Unless you have government subsidies for building super grids or high-voltage grids, it is not feasible for (marine) developers to take this additional cost on their balance sheets.”

Honda to recycle rare earth metals Honda Motor Co said it would start the world’s first mass-production process to extract rare earth metals from used car parts and recycle the expensive materi-

als mainly controlled by China.

Honda has partnered Japan Metals & Chemicals Co to begin extracting rare earth metals this month from nickel-metal hydride

batteries collected from used hybrid vehicles at its dealers around the world, the Japanese automaker said.

China produces about 95% of global rare earth supplies and has ratcheted up export controls, sending prices soaring.

Honda said the newly developed process enables the extraction of more than 80% of rare earth metals in nickel-metal hydride batteries. It plans to also use the process for other parts, feeding the extracted metals back to its products.

Japanese automakers and other heavy users are researching ways to reduce rare earth usage or replace the metals, including with the help of government subsidies.

Carbon dioxide helped end last ice age Planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions - similar to those caused by burning fossil fuels and other human activities now helped heat the planet and end the last ice age some 11,700 years ago.

In a finding that offers a response to those skeptical about human-caused global warming, researchers from Harvard University, Oregon State University and other institutions reported in the journal Nature that rising temperatures followed increases in carbon dioxide.

Climate scientists had long suspected this was the case, but the geologic record was murky. Earlier studies looked at air bubbles trapped in ancient ice in Antarctica that revealed carbon dioxide levels in the late Pleistocene Epoch, some 20,000 to 10,000 years ago, the period when the ice age tapered off.

In these previous studies, it appeared that carbon dioxide levels rose after temperatures did, leading climate change skeptics to question whether carbon dioxide was a driver of global warming, then or now.

This latest study managed to look at ice cores and samples of undersea sediments - the deeper the dig, the older the sediment, with biochemical information that indicates temperature variation through time - at 80 sites around the globe.

In Antarctica alone, the earlier studies were confirmed: temperatures there increased before carbon dioxide rose. But globally, a rising amount of carbon dioxide in the air preceded temperature change, according to this new report.

The rise in carbon dioxide over the end of the ice age was significant, from about 180 carbon dioxide molecules for every million in the atmosphere to 260, a measurement called parts per million or ppm, according to study author Jeremy Shakun.

THE BIG MELT This increase took place over about 7,000 years, Shakun told a telephone news briefing. By contrast, the current level of atmospheric carbon dioxide is 392 ppm, a rise of about 100 ppm in the last century or two, he said.

“In this century, we’re probably going to be going up about 100 (ppm) more,” Shakun said, but added that Earth probably won’t feel the total impact from this carbon dioxide rise for centuries.

“The system has a lot of inertia to it,” he said. “To warm up the oceans takes quite a while, and we’ve also got ice sheets and you can’t melt an ice sheet in 100 years.”

But while carbon dioxide pushed temperatures up to accelerate the ice age’s end, that was not the initial cause. Instead, the big melt was first prompted by a periodic wobble in the Earth’s axis, the scientists said.

At some points in the wobble, the Northern Hemisphere leans slightly closer to the sun and this occurred at the beginning of the end of the Pleistocene, when ice sheets covered much of what is now North America and Europe.

That slight sun-ward tilt melted those northern ice sheets within a few hundred years, pushing global sea levels up by about 10 metres, or by more than the total melting of the ice covering Greenland now would do, said co-author Peter Clark of Oregon State University.

Greenland’s ice sheet covers most of the island, over 1.7 mln sq. kilometres, three times the size of Texas. Summer melt of this ice sheet increased by 30% from 1979 through 2006, and reached a new record in 2007, according to the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado.

Because ice sheets are made of compacted snow, they produce fresh water when they melt, and the gush of fresh water into the salty North Atlantic altered ocean chemistry enough to shut down the Atlantic Merdional Overturning Circulation, sometimes called the conveyor belt, which typically sends heat from the tropics northward, moderating northern Europe’s climate.

When the conveyor belt slowed or stopped, cool temperatures stayed in the north and warmth stayed in the south, letting the Antarctic get warmer. That warming trend may also have shifted the winds and melted sea ice, drawing carbon dioxide out of the deep ocean, where quantities of it are stored, Shakun said.

20 FOREX

FINANCIAL MIRROR, April 18 - 24, 2012

Gold edges down with euro Gold edged down on Tuesday, tracking the euro’s weakness as investors watched the Spanish debt market with renewed worries about the debt crisis in Europe, but safe-haven demand may lend support to bullion prices.

Analysts said gold’s safe-haven appeal may attract investors again if the situation in Europe worsens.

“We expect that if European credit conditions continue to deteriorate, gold (along with the dollar) could start to better reflect the growing tensions by moving higher on its steam,” said Ed Meir, an analyst at INTL FCStone in a research note.

Spot gold edged down 0.1% to $1,649.70 an ounce, extending the price decline to a third straight session. U.S. gold was little changed at $1,650.80.

Technical analysis suggested that spot gold could fall to $1,630 an ounce during the day, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao.

A stronger dollar may cap gains in gold and keep prices in a range, especially as the U.S. economic recovery seems to be on track, said Lynette Tan, an analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore.

“People may buy into the dollar as a safe haven, which causes some kind of neutral trade in gold,” Tan said, “We are looking at gold trade between $1,600 to $1,660.”

The dollar index rose to a one-month high in the previous session, weighing on dollar-priced commodities as they become more expensive for buyers holding other currencies.

Silver stockpiles in COMEX-monitored warehouses rose to their highest level in at least 10 years, showing near-term supply of the metal is plentiful as mine output holds at record levels and the global economic recovery struggles for traction.

Spot silver traded flat at $31.43, off a one-week low of $31.16 hit in the previous session.

Brent slips to $118 on eurozone worries Brent crude slipped to $118 on Tuesday, continuing its steep decline from the previous session, as Spain’s debt woes reignited demand growth concerns and threatened to derail the global economic outlook.

Investors remained cautious as Spanish government bond yields broke through the 6% mark on Monday for the first time since December, stoking fears that the euro zone’s fourth largest economy may need an international bailout.

Brent crude for June delivery fell 43 cents to $118.25 a barrel, after sliding 2.59% in the previous session, the biggest one-day percentage loss since December.

U.S. crude for May delivery which expires on Friday, slipped 10 cents to $102.83 a barrel, after trading at a high of $103.23 earlier in the day.

U.S. crude futures were stable on stronger-thanexpected spending by Americans in March, suggesting economic growth in the first quarter in the country was probably not as weak as many had feared.

Retail sales increased 0.8%, beating economists’ expectations of a 0.3% rise, after rising 1.0% in February, the Commerce Department said on Monday.

U.S. crude prices were also supported by news that a major pipeline reversal that will alleviate a large U.S. bottleneck may start ahead of schedule.

Pipeline owners Enterprise Product Partners and Enbridge plan to advance the reversal of the flow of the Seaway pipeline by mid-May. The reversal would help ease the glut in U.S. crude

stockpiles in the Midwest as the pipeline will bring Canadian oil and North Dakota crude directly to the U.S. Gulf Coast. U.S. commercial crude stockpiles were forecast to have risen last week after data showed the largest three-week build in more than three years due to higher imports.

Brent’s premium to U.S. crude benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI), narrowed by 29 cents to $15.02 a barrel, after crashing to its lowest level since February in the previous session.

By: Eurivex

The euro lost some ground on Tuesday, a day after short-covering helped it pull away from two-month lows against the dollar, and remained vulnerable ahead of a Spanish bond auction as euro zone debt jitters showed no signs of abating.

Spain is set to see its borrowing costs leap when it sells short-term bonds after concerns over its deficit and banking sector pushed longer term risk premiums above 6 percent and drove the cost of insuring its debt to a record high.

The developments fuelled concerns Madrid might fail to meet deficit targets as the country acknowledged it has probably tipped into its second recession since 2009. That would raise the risk of it being pushed into seeking an international bailout. The common currency shed 0.2 percent to $1.3100, having aggressively pulled away from a nadir at $1.2995. Apart from short-covering, traders cited euro buying by European firms and repatriation of funds by euro zone banks as factors helping the pull back.

Traders said there were stop-loss sell orders below $1.2970 and were eyeing an strong support at $1.2954, at the 61.8 percent retracement of the euro’s climb from its January low to a peak in February.

IRAN CONCERNS LINGER Concerns on the Iran situation lingered in the oil market after U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said on Monday that sanctions and other pressures will be maintained on Tehran.

Iran’s foreign minister was quoted earlier as saying his country was ready to resolve all nuclear issues in the next round of talks with world powers if the West starts lifting sanctions.

Signs of continued talks between western powers and Iran could reduce demand for precautionary inventory building and may take some of the incremental pressure away from the spot oil market, JP Morgan analysts wrote in a note late on Monday.

But oil prices may be pressured as Iraq’s crude exports are surging this month to record rates that are expected to be sustained for the rest of the year, as Baghdad’s multi-billion dollar oil development ramps up a notch.

China at “rare” moment for reforms China is at a promising moment for speeding up interest rate and exchange rate reforms, the central bank’s statistics department said in a report published Tuesday, following the latest move to make the Chinese currency more flexible.

China widened the daily band in which its currency may trade and allowed banks to short sell a limited amount of U.S. dollars.

“The current time represents a rare strategic moment to speed up capital account opening,” said the report, published in the China Securities Journal.

It said this was because ample foreign exchange reserves and progress in internationalising the yuan are helping Chinese companies invest overseas as they look to escape over-capacity at home. They have space to do so because of the contraction in global investment by Western companies and funds, it added.

The report dismissed the idea that introducing more flexibility to the Chinese currency would attract

FOREX COMMENTARY / TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

inflows of hot money that the government would find difficult to control. “As a big country, our interest rate and exchange rate are not decided by international capital flows. Interest rates are decided by domestic economic and financial conditions, the exchange rate is primarily determined by trade conditions with other countries,” the report said.

China’s banks have rolled out wealth management products that pose a challenge to Beijing’s grip on interest rates. Such wealth products yield returns that are well above the benchmark interest rates. For example, some banks in Beijing offer 4.7-4.8% annual return for 100-day products compared to the one-year deposit rate of 3.5%. Many reformers in China and overseas economists have argued that China’s future economic growth depends on politically unpalatable reforms, including liberalizing the currency and the state-set interest rates that guarantee profits for state-run banks and distort the lending market.

Spain holds auctions of two-year and 10-year bonds on Thursday. Any sign that 10-year yields are heading closer to 7 percent - a level regarded as unsustainable - could prompt further euro weakness.

Compounding Spain’s fiscal woes, its banks borrowed a record 316.3 billion euros from the ECB in March, almost double the previous month’s total, as they remained virtually excluded from wholesale credit markets.

Adding to uncertainty, South Korean Vice Finance Minister Shin Je-yoon said the Group of 20 nations will struggle to reach a deal on boosting the International Monetary Fund’s resources at a finance ministers’ meeting this week.

Against the yen, the euro was 0.2 percent down at 105.43 yen, having hit the trough of 104.63 yen on Monday, a level not seen since mid-February.

Weekly Economic Calendar Date Country Detail APR 11 EUR Current Account due 11.00am in EUR APR 11 GBP Claimont Count Change due 11.30am APR 11 GBP Unemployment Rate due 11.30am APR 11 GBP BoE's MPC meeting minutes due 11.30am APR 11 CAD Bank of Canada Monetary Policy report due 5.30pm APR 12 JPY Japan Trade Balance due 2.50am APR 12 EUR Spanish 10-year Bond Auction APR 12 US Weekly Unemployment Claims due 3.30pm APR 12 US Existing Home Sales due 5.00pm APR 12 US Phily Fed Manufacturing Index due 5.00pm APR 12 All G20- Meetings Day 1 APR 13 EUR German PPI M/M due 9.00am APR 13 EUR German Ifo Business Climate due 11.00am APR 13 GBP Retail Sales M/M due 11.30am APR 13 All IMF Meetings Day 1 APR 13 All G20- Meetings Day 2 Indicated times are Cyprus time

Forecast Previous 4.3B 4.5B 6.6k 7.2k 8.40% 8.40% 0-0-9 0-0-9 -0.43Tr -0.31Tr 5.34-3.0 370k 380k 4.62M 4.59M 12.1 12.5 0.50% 0.40% 109.6 109.8 0.40% -0.80% Source: Eurivex

Commodity currencies were slightly lower after Reserve Bank of Australia policy meeting minutes showed it would consider cutting rates in May if data due next week confirmed a benign inflation outlook.

The Australian dollar fetched $1.0320, down 0.4 percent on the day, with support seen around 1.0310, while the New Zealand dollar was down 0.5 percent at $0.8157.

Figures on inflation for the first quarter are due on April 24 and are expected to show annual underlying inflation remained in the middle of the RBA’s 2 to 3 percent target band. This is why the markets are now pricing in a 90 percent chance of a 25 basis point easing at the May 1 meeting.

With risk aversion back in force, market players bought back the yen, driving the dollar down to a sevenweek low of 80.29, before it recovered slightly to last stand at 80.40 yen.

Disclaimer The commentary appearing on this page is for indication purposes only and Eurivex does not take any responsibility for investment action taken. Nothing in this report should be considered to constitute investment advice. It is not intended, and should not be considered, as an offer, invitation, solicitation or recommendation to buy or sell any of the financial instruments described herein. Trading on leverage is very risky and may lead to losses.

WORLD MARKETS

FINANCIAL MIRROR, April 18 - 24, 2012

Five world markets themes in the coming week Following are five big themes likely to dominate the thinking of investors and traders.

Investors are finding the second quarter a trickier environment than the first. Stocks are ceding ground, concern about the euro zone’s highly indebted economies (especially Spain) has resurfaced, safe haven Bunds offer little more than capital preservation at best, and the FX options market is signalling a greater degree of uncertainty about the outlook for major exchange rates. Part of the problem is that this is the first time in a while that investors are having to figure out the appropriate price for assets without any prospect of either Fed or ECB liquidity injections.

Those who think one can’t have too much of a good thing are already wondering whether Spain’s plight will deteriorate enough to force the ECB to consider a third LTRO, though there is no sign the central bank is inclined to take this route. But some are fretting about the unintended consequences of the central bank action already taken.

Nomura’s Bob Janjuah, who terms the current policy-setting environment “monetary anarchy”, points out the long-term risks to financial markets and the financial sector of central bank incentives to misallocate capital and therefore misprice assets.

And even in the short term, any Spanish or Italian banks that have used cheap ECB loans to stock up on their government’s debt risk nursing losses that will only exacerbate concern about these countries.

Fed parses job numbers for clues on economy

Interest in auctions is not confined to the euro zone’s weaker sovereign issuers. Germany’s two-year bond auction on Wednesday will come under close scrutiny given two-year yields hit record lows in the secondary market and even briefly broke below those of Japanese counterparts in the past week. Appetite for safe haven German 10-year bonds showed signs of flagging at an auction in the past week. With the secondary market yield barely above 0.1%, this two-year offering will show just how little investors are willing to get for holding core euro zone debt right.

France will also tap the primary market in the coming week, just before the first round of presidential elections on April 22. Markets are homing in on how French candidates are positioned on fiscal reforms and French bonds’ relative underperformance against Bunds risks becoming more marked if the pre-election rhetoric turns more strident.

Two top Federal Reserve officials pointed on Monday to last month’s surprisingly weak jobs report as all the more reason to take a wait-and-see approach to a U.S. economy that, in general, is improving. Although the unemployment rate slipped to a still high 8.2% in March, jobs growth slowed sharply, raising fears the labor market could start to sputter as it did a year ago. Nonfarm payroll employment rose by only 120,000 last month, roughly half the gains in each of the previous two months.

Cleveland Fed President Sandra Pianalto, a voter this year on the central bank’s policy-setting panel, called the March job gains “meager” and illustrative of “the uneven pattern” of economic activity.

“Monthly ups and downs like these make it hard to confirm the underlying pace of job creation,” she said at a bankers’ event in Lexington, Kentucky, citing the robust jobs reports in January and February. “So it seems as though the labor market is still improving, albeit at a modest pace.”

St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, who does not have a vote on policy this year, called the report “mediocre,” but added: “It’s just one piece of the puzzle. Certainly viewed in a broader context, the jobs reports have been strong.”

The stubbornly high jobless rate has frustrated the Fed, which in late 2008 slashed interest rates to near zero and has since bought $2.3 trillion in long-term securities in an unprecedented drive to spur growth and revive the economy after the worst recession in decades.

4/ DEJA VU

BULLARD SEES INFLATION RISK

about Spain. Its yields are back near levels that prevailed before the ECB’s first LTRO and this week it sold fewer bonds at an auction than it had originally intended because it didn’t want to lock in its borrowing costs at current rates.

With no signs that the ECB is about to throw another lifeline anytime soon, the focus will turn to whether finance officials will agree to beef up resources at the IMF/World Bank Spring meeting.

1/ PLUS CA CHANGE

21

3/ A LA MODE

European stock markets are underperforming world stocks. The FTSEurofirst has ceded nearly all the ground it gained in the first three months of the year and some national peripheral euro zone indices are actually lower in the year to date. As has been the case so many times before, the catalyst for the most recent decline has been concern about the outlook for global growth and the euro zone debt crisis. And there seems to be a slimmer chance that the earnings season which has just kicked off can generate enough positive news to offset that.

Results from Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, BoA and Morgan Stanley will be in particular focus this week for what they show about the health of banks’ post-LTRO trading books and for what investors might be able to extrapolate about the health of European banks.

The Fed meets next week on Tuesday and Wednesday, when it is not expected to adopt any fresh policy measures beyond its ultra-easy monetary stance, but rather use the meeting to discuss the latest economic developments and further refinements to its communications strategy.

Central bank officials have suggested the economy would need to deteriorate, and inflation would need to remain below a 2% target, for them to consider more stimulus in the form of bond purchases - a controversial move that would increase the Fed’s balance sheet from almost $3 trillion. “I still think the economy is on track for right now, and the best thing to do is gather more information and see if the improvement in the economy in 2012 can sustain itself,” Bullard told reporters after addressing students at the Utah State University Jon M. Huntsman School of Business.

The Fed is taking on a lot of inflation risk with its bond buys, added Bullard, a policy centrist.

Still, a Reuters poll conducted after the release of the disappointing March employment figures found most Wall Street primary dealers think a third round of Fed bond-buying will eventually take place.

At its last two meetings, the central bank said it expected to keep rates “exceptionally low” at least through late 2014. Fed policymakers, however, give individual forecasts, and Bullard said on Monday that he still expects the Fed to raise rates late in 2013.

5/ FX CONTRETEMPS Investors seem inclined to turn to the Swiss franc, the yen and even the British pound rather than the euro as the euro zone debt crisis shows signs of flaring up again and global growth loses a bit of momentum.

The near-elimination of the premium that investors get to hold two-year German debt rather than Japanese paper could bring particular pressure to bear on the euro/yen exchange rate, especially if the crossover between the two becomes more than a brief phenomenon. The preference for options that give investors the right to sell euros has become somewhat more pronounced.

The options market is also flagging the risk of another test of the Swiss National Bank’s (SNB) resolve to defend the floor it has set for the franc’s exchange rate against the euro. Rhetoric has already been backed up by action but, given that has not pushed the franc too far away from the SNB’s 1.20 floor, the central bank may have to up the ante if it wants to preserve its credibility.

2/ WHERE’S THE CORDON SANITAIRE? Spain’s debt auctions in the week will ensure that the borrowing costs of the euro zone periphery stay at the forefront of investor focus.

Spain’s 10-year bond yields are not too far from 6%, and it won’t take much to push financing costs into territory that is deemed unsustainable if they break decisively above that level.

While Spain has frontloaded its issuance this year, persistently weak demand at subsequent auctions could erode sentiment towards its markets even further and show that the tonic effect of the ECB’s LTROs is over. What’s more, Italy has been caught in the backwash of concern

Interest Rates ALPHA BANK LIBOR rates

CCY USD GBP EUR JPY CHF

0-0,25% 0.50% 1.00% 0-0,1% 0-0,25%

Swap Rates

CCY/Period

1mth

2mth

3mth

6mth

1yr

CCY/Period

2yr

3yr

4yr

5yr

7yr

10yr

USD GBP EUR JPY CHF

0.24 0.69 0.36 0.14 0.07

0.35 0.82 0.48 0.16 0.09

0.47 1.02 0.66 0.20 0.11

0.73 1.33 0.99 0.34 0.19

1.05 1.86 1.35 0.55 0.39

USD GBP EUR JPY CHF

0.56 1.23 1.02 0.32 0.08

0.69 1.29 1.13 0.33 0.15

0.90 1.40 1.30 0.37 0.26

1.14 1.55 1.49 0.42 0.40

1.61 1.88 1.85 0.60 0.70

2.11 2.35 2.22 0.94 1.05

Exchange Rates Major Cross Rates CCY1\CCY2 USD EUR GBP CHF JPY

Opening Rates

1 USD 1 EUR 1 GBP 1 CHF 1.3135 0.7613

100 JPY

1.5946 1.0928 1.2350 1.2140 0.8320 0.9403

0.6271 0.8237

0.6853 0.7745

0.9151 1.2020

1.4592

80.97

129.11

106.35

1.1302 88.48

CURRENCY

20.03

27.03

03.04

10.04

12.04

CCY

Today

USD GBP JPY CHF

1.3193

1.3313

1.3298

1.3095

1.3097

0.8315

0.8340

0.8293

0.8222

0.8224

109.97

110.18

108.85

106.44

105.86

1.2018

1.2015

1.1992

1.1971

1.1984

GBP EUR JPY CHF

1.5946 1.3135 80.97 0.9151

Last Week %Change 1.5921 1.3112 81.35 0.9164

RATE

Belarussian Ruble British Pound * Bulgarian Lev Czech Koruna Danish Krone Estonian Kroon Euro * Georgian Coupon Hungarian Forint Latvian Lats Lithuanian Litas Maltese Pound * Moldavan Leu Norwegian Krone Polish Zloty Romanian Leu Russian Rouble Swedish Krona Swiss Franc Ukrainian Hryvnia

BYR GBP BGN CZK DKK EEK EUR GEK HUF LVL LTL MTL MDL NOK PLN RON RUB SEK CHF UAH

8100 1.5932 1.4874 18.878 5.6559 11.6971 1.3144 24236.000 226.14 0.5315 2.6259 3.4077 11.6600 5.7892 3.1777 3.324 29.561 6.7754 0.9147 8.0210

AUD CAD HKD INR JPY KRW NZD SGD

1.0387 1.0012 7.7633 51.4150 80.94 1140.10 0.8207 1.2541

BHD EGP IRR ILS JOD KWD LBP OMR QAR SAR ZAR AED

0.3770 6.0370 12259 3.7467 0.7080 0.2780 1501 0.3850 3.6407 3.7501 7.9315 3.6729

AZM KZT TRL

4588 147.69 1345000

AMERICAS & PACIFIC

MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA Bahrain Dinar Egyptian Pound Iranian Rial Israeli Shekel Jordanian Dinar Kuwait Dinar Lebanese Pound Omani Rial Qatar Rial Saudi Arabian Riyal South African Rand U.A.E. Dirham ASIA

Weekly movement of USD

CCY\Date

CODE

EUROPEAN

Australian Dollar * Canadian Dollar Hong Kong Dollar Indian Rupee Japanese Yen Korean Won New Zeland Dollar * Singapore Dollar

The Financial Markets Base Rates

World Currencies Per Us Dollar

-0.16 -0.18 -0.47 -0.14

Azerbaijanian Manat Kazakhstan Tenge Turkish Lira

Note:

* USD per National Currency

22 WORLD MARKETS

FINANCIAL MIRROR, April 18 - 24, 2012

Citigroup buoyed by capital markets, economy

Returns fall at Duke of Westminster’s property empire Grosvenor Group, the Duke of Westminster’s property firm that owns most of London’s upmarket Belgravia and Mayfair districts, saw its returns fall to 9% last year on the back of weak retail values in Europe.

The firm is owned by the Grosvenor family, which holds the Duke of Westminster title. The current patriarch is Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, listed as Britain’s fourth richest person on The Sunday Times Rich List 2011.

Government austerity measures which hit consumer spending in Europe saw Grosvenor’s returns, based on rental income and property prices, fall from 10.9% in 2010.

“The outlook is far from certain and we expect the coming decade in the global property market to be tough,” Grosvenor chief executive Mark Preston said on Tuesday.

“I do not see it (European retail) picking up or deteriorating in particular this year.”

Despite falling returns, the company added 6.7% to its value in 2011 as property values extended a recovery after the credit crisis.

Net assets were 2.9 bln pounds, versus 2.78 bln in 2010.

Like other developers, Grosvenor will increase the amount of high-end residential schemes it does versus offices and shops, Preston said.

Values for the most expensive London homes have risen 44% in the past three years on the back of strong overseas demand from buyers looking to shield assets from global economic volatility, consultancy Knight Frank said.

Outside Grosvenor’s historic London estate, which it has owned for over 300 years, the company has investments in Brazil, China and North America as well as an international fund management business.

Marks & Spencer sales miss forecasts Bellwether British retailer Marks & Spencer missed forecasts for underlying fourth quarter sales after it failed to buy enough best selling womenswear lines to satisfy demand.

The UK’s biggest clothing retailer, which also sells homewares and upmarket foods, said it would, however, meet expectations for 2011/12 profit thanks to cost savings.

Shares in M&S fell nearly 3% after it said sales at stores open over a year fell 0.7% in the 13 weeks to March 31, its fiscal fourth quarter.

That compared with analyst forecasts of a rise of 0.4-1.6%, with a consensus of 0.8%, according to a company poll of ten, and a third quarter rise of 0.5% excluding VAT sales tax.

The fourth quarter outcome included a 2.8% fall in general merchandise, mainly clothing, like-for-like sales and a 1.0% rise in food sales, against consensus forecasts of increases of 0.2% and 1.6%, respectively.

“In clothing, menswear, lingerie and kidswear performed strongly,” the firm said.

“In womenswear our performance was mixed, with some key areas trading well. However, we performed less well in other areas where we were short of stock in a number of best-selling lines.”

Chief Executive Marc Bolland told reporters the firm sold 100,000 items of knitwear during the quarter but could have sold 300,000.

He said M&S was taking steps to address the problem by strengthening its merchandising capabilities and had had a good start to the new spring/summer launch.

Total group sales rose 0.8% in the quarter.

Many UK retailers are still struggling as consumers grapple with inflation, muted wage growth and government austerity measures, and worry about job security and a stagnant housing market.

M&S has, however, performed better than most as its older and more affluent customers have been less impacted by the economic downturn.

Giving guidance for the 2012/13 year it said it expected gross margin to be in a range of flat to up 25 basis points, operating costs to increase 3-5% and capital expenditure of about 825 mln pounds.

Shares in the 128-year-old group, which prior to Tuesday’s update had increased by 17% over the last three months, were down 10.2 pence at 357.5 pence, valuing the business at 5.76 bln pounds.

Citigroup Inc’s quarterly profit beat Wall Street estimates as the thirdlargest U.S. bank cut expenses and benefited from an improved economy and more active capital markets after a dismal end to 2011.

Profit was boosted by loan growth in the lender’s core Citicorp division, strong fixed income performance, and continued improvement in credit quality that allowed Citigroup to release reserves set aside for bad loans.

Shares of the New York-based lender, which received multiple bailouts during the financial crisis, were up 91 cents, or 2.7%, at $34.32 in Monday morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

“They continue to progress. They have headwinds that maybe only Bank of America has, but they seem to be managing those headwinds,” said Gary Townsend, CEO of Hill-Townsend Capital. “It’s a good quarter without being as superlative as JPMorgan’s was.”

JPMorgan Chase & Co topped Wall Street profit expectations on Friday, helped by some of the same macro trends - a better economy and more active capital markets.

The results support investor expectations for a recovery in the first quarter after the European debt crisis roiled markets late last year, and they augur well for other major U.S. banks such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Corp, all due to report results this week.

But the KBW index of bank stocks is already up more than 20% this year, and investors are now turning their attention to determining the strength and extent of the recovery, which still lags the optimism of early last year.

Citigroup Chief Financial Officer John Gerspach said demand for loans remains soft in the United States and Europe but continues strong in emerging markets.

Loan growth in the first quarter was particularly strong for trade finance, he added in a conference call with reporters.

Chief Executive Vikram Pandit said in a statement, “While the operating environment improved in the first quarter, there is still much macro uncertainty and we will continue to manage risk carefully.”

NET INCOME FALLS Citigroup’s first-quarter net income fell 2% to $2.93 bln, or 95 cents

a share, from $2.99 bln, or 99 cents a share, a year earlier.

Revenue from the company’s ongoing securities trading and investment banking business declined 12% from the strong quarter a year earlier but rose 65% from the weak 2011 fourth quarter.

Revenue for the whole company, excluding the accounting adjustments, was up 1% from a year earlier and 17% from the fourth quarter, to $20.2 bln.

Expenses were down 7% from the previous quarter and were flat with a year earlier, reflecting seasonal factors and the company’s commitment to bring costs down for the year, Gerspach said in the conference call.

Citigroup’s 2011 fourth-quarter earnings missed analysts’ estimates and executives were grilled over the company’s control of its expenses, which rose 4% in the fourth quarter from the third quarter. Expense control has become an increasingly important issue for banks because their profits are being squeezed by low interest rates and tighter regulation.

Stock analyst Glenn Schorr of Nomura said Citigroup’s new cost numbers showed “good expense control.”

The banks results were boosted by a $1.2 bln release of bad-loan reserves. Delinquency rates for the company’s North American credit card and retail banking customers declined 31% from a year earlier.

International consumer credit costs fell 3%.

Last month, Citigroup was one of only a handful of large financial institutions that failed to win approval from regulators for a dividend increase or share buyback. Analysts have wondered if Citigroup asked to distribute too much capital or somehow erred in its calculations of the losses it would incur under stress tests conducted by the regulators.

In the weeks leading up to the setback for the capital plan, Pandit convinced analysts that Citigroup had rebuilt its balance sheet to the point that it had so much more capital than needed in an economic downturn that it would to be allowed to raise its quarterly dividend from a nominal penny a share to as much as 10 cents.

Pandit was expected to take questions from analysts on the matter during a conference call later in the morning.

In the first quarter, a set of assets the company has been selling off or running down since the financial crisis declined 29% from a year earlier to $209 bln, or 11% of total Citigroup assets.

JPMorgan gets boost from better economy, trading An uptick in trading and dealmaking lifted JPMorgan Chase & Co’s first-quarter profits out of the funk of late 2011, but the recovery fell short of the good times the largest U.S. bank enjoyed a year ago.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. Investment banking revenue rebounded from the 2011 fourth quarter as fears about the European debt crisis eased, prompting more companies and investors to return to fixed-income and equity markets.

JPMorgan also got a boost from improvements in credit quality and loan demand - a trend seen in the performance of Wells Fargo & Co as well. The No. 4 U.S. bank separately reported higher first-quarter profit as mortgage banking improved and it set aside less money for bad loans.

“The revenue is what really impressed me,” said Joe Terril, founder of Terril & Co, a money manager in St. Louis, Missouri, referring to a 24% jump in JPMorgan’s total revenue from the fourth quarter.

“It tells me there’s more economic activity, maybe, than what we were previously thinking - more demand for credit, more demand for banking services, more business out there,” he said.

The results from two of the largest U.S. banks confirm investor optimism that has fed a market rally this year. The KBW index of bank stocks is up more than 20% this year, and JPMorgan shares are up 32%.

But on Friday, investors appeared no longer satisfied with just tentative signs that the economy is on a path to recovery; they now want to gauge its strength, and JPMorgan’s numbers gave them reasons to take a breather.

The bank’s net interest margins - a core measure of profitability of banks - fell, and JMP Securities analyst David Trone said traditional banking revenue other than mortgage banking remained sluggish.

Investors have been keen to hear bank executives say whether they see convincing evidence that business demand for loans will continue to increase, and JPMorgan CFO Doug Braunstein offered them some hope.

Braunstein said a rise in the bank’s business loan balances reflected, in part, new strength in the economy. JPMorgan also took market share from rivals. Business borrowing is considered a sign of confidence that will lead to more hiring and, in turn, more borrowing from banks by households.

The bank’s business loan balances at the end of the first quarter were up 3% from the end of December and up 16% from a year earlier.

Business loan balances at U.S. banks as of March 28 were up 14% from a year earlier, according to Federal Reserve data, which uses slightly different measurements.

JPMorgan said first-quarter net income fell 3% to $5.4 bln from $5.6 bln a year earlier.

Revenue was $27.4 bln, up 24% from the 2011 fourth quarter and up 6% from the first quarter of 2011.

Investment banking posted net revenue of $7.3 bln, down 11% from a year earlier but up 68% from the 2011 fourth quarter.

JPMorgan’s retail financial services booked a profit of $1.75 bln, compared with a loss of $399 mln a year earlier, when the division was the bank’s worst performing unit. Revenue in the division, which houses the bank’s expanding branch banking system, climbed 40% to $7.65 bln.

A surge in litigation expenses, primarily to add to reserves for lawsuits over mortgage matters left over from the financial crisis, drove companywide expenses up 15% from a year earlier. Litigation expenses rose to $2.7 bln from $1.1 bln.

Facebook to buy Instagram for $1 bln Facebook will pay $1 bln in cash and stock for photo-sharing application Instagram, making its largest-ever acquisition in the months before a mega-IPO. The deal is expected to close later this quarter. The popular Instagram application, which allows users to add filters and effects to pictures taken on their smartphones, has gained about 30 mln users since it first launched in January 2011.

The acquisition comes as a surprise as the world’s largest social network nears an initial public offering. Facebook will acquire Instagram’s entire team as part of the deal.

“This is an important milestone for Facebook because it’s the first time we’ve ever acquired a product and company with so many users,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a blog post. “We don’t plan on doing many more of these, if any at all.”

FINANCIAL MIRROR, April 18 - 24, 2012

WORLD ª∞RKETS 23

24 WORLD MARKETS

FINANCIAL MIRROR, April 18 - 24, 2012

Ageing Piech maintains iron grip on Volkswagen For those who don’t know him well, Ferdinand Piech’s recent retreat from the limelight might be seen as a sign the Volkswagen chairman was preparing to step back from leading the car-maker that aspires to be the world’s biggest.

Piech didn’t show up at the Detroit motor show in January and shunned the media last month at the VW group night in Geneva, an annual fixture in his calendar where Europe’s largest carmaker traditionally boasts about its new products.

But even after 18 years at the helm of VW, nine of which as chief executive officer, it’s wrong to assume the mastermind of VW’s global expansion is tired of his work, in poor health, or on his way out, officials at the company said, although they chose not to explain his absences.

Instead, the canny strategist is expected to receive shareholder backing for a third term as chairman at the annual general meeting on Thursday, two days after he turns 75. If Piech serves out the five-year period, the balding Austrian will become the oldest-ever chairman of a listed German company.

“Piech is still the undisputed leader of VW,” Helmut Becker, a former chief economist at Bayerische Motoren Werke who now runs a consulting business in Munich, told Reuters. “He has his finger in every pie that VW management bakes.”

It was Piech who spearheaded VW’s expansion to an elevenbrand entity that makes everything from fuel-efficient city cars to 40-tonne trucks. When he was CEO, VW bought ultra-luxury nameplates Bugatti, Bentley and Lamborghini and integrated the mass-market Seat and Skoda brands.

And the buying spree isn’t over yet. VW’s luxury division Audi is expected to announce the purchase of motorcycle company Ducati ahead of the AGM. P i ech, himself a Ducati owner, has long coveted the Italian company for its expertise in design and light engines.

Buying Ducati raises the VW brand portfolio to twelve, a number that Piech - who has a dozen children from four relationships - said in 2009 would be the perfect size for the VW group.

But for some analysts, the Ducati deal is a risky sideshow that reinforces the view of Piech as a stubborn leader who is sometimes driven by whims that defy industrial logic and which even his fellow managers don’t understand.

One of his most disputed decisions was the development of a flagship sedan called the Phaeton at a cost of more than 1 bln euros to take the VW brand upscale.

The Phaeton’s lavish plant in Dresden, Germany, operated below capacity for years and the model was withdrawn from the United States in 2006 after the car failed to meet sales targets.

“If I want to achieve something, I face up to the problem and pull things through, without paying attention to what happens around me,” Piech wrote in his book “Auto.Biographie” published in 2002.

FROM LOSS TO PROFIT A grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, the founder of the sports-car maker who developed the Beetle under a 1934 contract with the Nazis, Piech took the reins at Audi in 1988 before he joined the parent company.

He developed the brand’s pioneering Quattro all-wheel drive technology which helped Audi overcome its image as a maker of bland vehicles like

the Fox coupe and 100 sedan, paving the way for the Ingolstadt-based manufacturer to rival BMW and Mercedes-Benz for the world’s luxury-market crown.

When he became CEO of VW in 1993, the company was losing money, prompting Piech to cut pay and working hours at German plants, and streamline production by sharing parts among models and brands. The steps helped turn a loss of about 1 bln euros into a 2.6 bln-euro profit in 2002 when Piech was elected chairman.

“Piech’s strategic foresight, his persistence and technical talent have proved absolutely invaluable for VW’s success,” said Arndt Ellinghorst, an analyst at Credit Suisse in London. “He knows better than anyone else how VW ticks.”

One of Piech’s biggest victories may have been turning the tables on Porsche in the sports-car maker’s botched takeover of VW in 2009. Piech initially backed the plan, though changed sides as Porsche’s financing unraveled, opening the door for VW to acquire 49.9% of the Stuttgart-based company.

Porsche’s holding company, controlled by the Porsche and Piech families, holds a majority of VW common stock. VW, in turn, is now aiming to buy the remaining 50.1% of Porsche’s automaking business after abandoning a planned merger.

The takeover battle exposed Piech as a ruthless figure.

He publicly damaged the reputation of Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking, whom he had hired in 1993 against the will of the families, and chief financial officer Holger Haerter.

The two executives, who opposed selling Porsche’s automotive unit to VW, quit after being accused of racking up debt at the sports-car maker by using share options to pile up VW stock.

Another executive ousted by Piech was his handpicked successor as VW CEO, Bernd Pischetsrieder, who pulled the Phaeton from the United States and disagreed with Piech over the use of a holding in truck maker Scania.

“It’s not possible to take a company to the top by focusing on the highest level of harmony,” Piech wrote in his autobiography. “My desire for harmony is limited.”

Piech, who as a student preferred to sit in the back of the classroom and avoid attracting attention, said in his book that in the three decades he spent at VW the company doctor was the only person he allowed to call him by his first name.

WINTERKORN Pischetsrieder’s departure in December 2006 opened the way at VW for Martin Winterkorn, who worked closely with Piech at Audi in the 1980s.

Under Winterkorn’s leadership, VW pushed ahead with global expansion, took controlling stakes in Scania and fellow truck maker MAN and is now combining with Porsche. Group profit surged by more than half last year to 11.3 bln euros as vehicle sales rose 14.3% to a record 8.16 mln units.

VW surpassed Toyota Motor Corp as the world’s second biggest car maker and wants to clinch the top spot, currently held

by General Motors, no later than 2018.

“Piech and Winterkorn complement each other perfectly and are an ideal leadership pair for VW, particularly in increasingly difficult times,” Joerg Bode, VW board member and economy minister of Lower Saxony, the company’s second biggest shareholder, told Reuters.

Ellinghorst of Credit Suisse said focusing power around Piech and Winterkorn has for years been a formula for success at VW, though the car maker’s next generation of leaders should push for more openness in management once the two patriarchs resign. Filling their shoes won’t be easy, he said.

VW increased its workforce by a quarter to more than 500,000 people last year and its rapidly growing size requires changes in decisionmaking structures, said Ellinghorst. It’s important to develop potential heirs to avoid a vacuum.

Possible candidates to replace Winterkorn, who could take over from Piech as chairman after his contract ends in December 2016, include KarlThomas Neumann, head of VW’s China operations and a former CEO of parts-supplier Continental, and Winfried Vahland, the chief of Skoda, according to Ellinghorst.

Despite his more immediate ambitions, there are however signs that Piech is preparing for a time when he will no longer be so active.

He placed his holdings in two trusts in 2010 to prevent his heirs from disbanding the auto empire. VW shareholders will also be asked this week to elect Piech’s younger wife Ursula, already deputy head of the trusts, to the supervisory board.

The former BMW chief economist Becker believes Piech could wait until 2017, when he is 80, before ceding the chairmanship.

“VW should then be the world’s biggest car maker,” Becker said.

“Piech’s vision of an all-embracing automotive group has de facto come true. I couldn’t think of a better moment for him to go.”

No “I” in team: End of an era for Europe’s rainmakers?

A series of high-profile departures from major investment banks in Europe is raising the question: are these “rock star” bankers the last of a dying breed?

As financial watchdogs get tougher, rules on banks’ capital requirements become stricter and the public turns against fat-cat bonuses, the so-called rainmakers seem to be out of step with the current mood even if they can bring in the big deals.

Yoel Zaoui is quitting Goldman Sachs after 24 years because he feels he has nothing more to prove at the firm and Ian Hannam has resigned from JPMorgan to contest a fine for market abuse.

Andrea Orcel is leaving Bank of America Merrill Lynch for a top job at UBS, a bank which sought him out for his client-pulling abilities but whose more egalitarian culture may come as a shock.

Such men, with their big reputations and their loyal clients, are hard to replace, but it may well be that banks are happy enough not to do so.

The next generation is likely to be far more low key, people in the industry say, reflecting the more austere climate that has followed the global financial crisis.

“I think that the whole question of the star culture in investment banking is dying out,” said Brian Scott-Quinn, director of banking programmes at the ICMA centre, part of Henley Business School at the University of Reading.

“I don’t know if what he was doing was illegal or not. But the Financial Services Authority is right to clamp down. It is firms and brands that matter, not individual stars,” Scott-Quinn said, referring to Hannam, JPMorgan’s “mining king”.

Orcel is a suave linguist once dubbed the “The last of the Mohicans” for his powers of survival. The keen water-skier was described by an acquaintance as a “force of nature” who thinks nothing of ringing people before dawn.

But it remains to be seen how such a challenging figure will fit in the with the more collegiate culture at UBS, bankers who have worked with the 48-year-old Italian say.

Hannam, another prolific dealmaker who has earned millions,

resigned after Britain’s regulator fined him 450,000 pounds for passing on market-sensitive information.

The colourful special forces veteran who has done deals in wild places on the frontiers of capitalism such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Africa, brought to banking the discipline, aggression and appetite for risk of the soldier.

But JPMorgan seems to have plugged the Hannam-sized hole in its mining coverage, according to bankers, who say two lieutenants are well-placed to step in the dealmaker’s shoes: Adam Brett and Barry Weir.

“Hannam was the the big banker, but there are enough not quite as big people below him,” said one banker familiar with the mining industry, asking not to be named.

Goldman Sachs has generally been able to withstand high-level departures, with the strength of its brand helping to maintain its position as the world’s most active adviser on corporate mergers and acqusitions.

When Simon Dingemans - the man behind Vodafone’s 180-blneuro acquisition of Mannesmann in 2000 - left for GlaxoSmithKline two years ago, Goldman went on to secure regular business from the mobile phone company.

MARADONA Goldman’s approach is similar to that of its arch-rival Morgan Stanley.

“Instead of having a Maradona and ten weak players, he (Morgan Stanley’s global co-head of investment banking Franck Petitgas) thought that it was a better bet in the long term to have a team of 11 equally good players,” said a Morgan Stanley banker, who asked not to be named.

The banker said he feared that the 2008 departure of Michael Zaoui, brother to Yoel, could have been disastrous for the firm.

“Instead nothing happened,” he said.

Michael Zaoui ended his time at Morgan Stanley as head of

institutional securities and was a top M&A banker responsible for several mega-mergers that created European giants like GDF-Suez.

Speculation that the two brothers would form a boutique banking business together following Yoel’s departure from Goldman may be wide of the mark.

“It is telling that Michael has been on his own for the last four years since leaving Morgan Stanley,” said a person who had worked with them both.

Yoel, a Moroccan-born Frenchman, developed a very public business rivalry with his brother.

In one of their most celebrated clashes in 2006, Yoel advised Mittal Steel in its hostile takeover of rival Arcelor, a deal that pitched him against Michael, who was advising Arcelor while at Morgan Stanley.

If it is not always clear what awaits a prominent rainmaker once he quits his job, employers may also be left scrambling to fill the gap if they have not prepared for a handover.

Bank of America had precious little time to ready itself for Orcel’s defection, people close to the matter said, because he only told his employer he was jumping ship after the bank had informed London regulators he was to be their top man in Europe.

Christopher Kummer, affiliate professor at Grenoble Ecole de Management, said it was extremely difficult to transfer key relationships even with plenty of warning, however.

“High-calibre people are often of a very unique personality and not capable of actively contributing to their replacement,” he said.

While some argue that the tide is turning against the rainmakers, the breed is not extinct just yet.

Currently, Simon Robey is seen as one of the biggest losses Morgan Stanley could face. Robey advised on Cadbury’s defence against Kraft and helped UK-listed miner Rio Tinto see off a $66 bln hostile bid from rival BHP Billiton.

“There are only a handful of people who have the power to change clients’ mind over a meeting. Robey is one of them,” the Morgan Stanley banker said.

FINANCIAL MIRROR, April 18 - 24, 2012

GREECE

25

European railway companies eye Greek network sale l

Russian, French and Romanian interest

Three European railway companies are interested in buying all or part of Greece’s railway business, as the debt-laden country sells assets to satisfy its lenders, people familiar with the discussions told Reuters.

Russia is considering buying the entire Greek railway network and its operator Trainose, while Romania’s largest private railway company, Grup Feroviar Roman (GFR), has expressed interest in the cargo business, two high-level Greek officials said.

A Russian Railways official said it had discussed buying all or part of the network, while its head Vladimir Yakunin told Reuters, “We’re keeping in contact with the Greeks ... They haven’t decided on the model yet, so it’s too early to talk about our participation.”

French railway company SNCF wants passenger and freight routes and has gone through a due diligence process, said one of the Greek officials, who attended associated meetings. Talks were held in Athens and Paris in 2010 and late 2011, when they reached the level of the transport ministry.

An SNCF spokesman in Paris said the French rail operator “is not in the running for the purchase of Trainose, nor is it in the running for the purchase of a railway company or a railway line in Greece”.

No one was immediately available for comment at GFR, which owns freight operations in Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Serbia, among other countries.

One of the Greek officials said he had met several times with a delegation from GFR, most recently in February.

Trainose, which officials hope will raise 200 mln euros, and the Railway Organization of Greece (OSE), which owns the physical railway infrastructure, were one company before being split in 2008.

Greece took over 10.7 bln euros of their debts in late 2010, about 700 mln euros of it from Trainose.

The success of a deal with the European railway companies hinges largely on the Greek state’s ability to receive European Union approval for the state intervention. At hens is pushing for the green light prior to going ahead with the privatisation.

Trainose is among dozens of state-owned businesses put on the auction block under Greece’s 130 bln euro bailout programme with the socalled troika of the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund.

Under an EU timetable, the tender process for Trainose will open in the fourth quarter of 2012, and its assets will be transferred to the Greek privatisation fund. The proceeds from a sale, slated to close in the spring of 2013, will contribute to the 19 bln euro target Greece aims to raise to cut debt.

SNIFFING AROUND TRAINOSE With nearly 900 employees, Trainose operates all cargo and passenger routes on 2,500 km of railways on 500 routes, according to the company’s website.

It narrowed its losses to 33 mln euros in 2011 and swung to a profit in the final month of that year. In the first two months of 2012 it made a profit of nearly 142,000 euros, compared with a loss of 12.6 mln euros a year earlier.

Since the Greek crisis, it has been restructured with 1.4 bln euros in government funding, which has been used to close loss-making routes and cut nearly half the staff.

One of the two Greek officials said a Russian delegation of around 20 people visited Athens late in 2011 and reviewed Trainose’s books to assess its value and profitability.

It was unclear if OSE, which according to filings employs 4,000 people and has 10.3 bln euros in assets, was part of the negotiations.

The Greek officials said SNCF, which has assisted in the Trainose restructuring since 2010, had “extensive discussions” about an acquisition in September 2011.

During a period of due diligence, the French “asked very detailed questions about the finances” and about buying specific railway assets, one of the officials said.

Trainose operates all passenger and freight lines in Greece. The country’s ports are strategically positioned to transport goods to rising markets across the Balkans and Eastern Europe.

China has already seized on opportunities presented by Greece’s debt crisis, with China-based COSCO Pacific last year taking control of Greece’s largest container terminal, Piraeus, negotiating a 35year lease for almost $5 bln.

SELLING CHEAP Two Greek government officials in Brussels said they have been pressured by European Commission officials to sell off the railways sooner than a previously agreed timetable, which they argue will hurt the price.

The key hurdle to a sale is securing approval from the European Competition Commission (ECC) for the aid to Trainose and OSE, which is required under EU competition laws.

It is in the interest of Greek officials to sell at the highest price, while the European Commission is eager to send a signal that it wants to recover the billions in European taxpayers’ money used to bail Greece out as swiftly as possible.

If the Commission finds the aid violated EU rules and constituted an illegal government subsidy, the debt would then become the responsibility of a prospective new owner.

“No serious investor would acquire the company without that having been cleared up,” one of the Greek officials involved in the sale talks told Reuters. “They need to clear up the status of the aid first.”

In the case of Trainose, the 700 mln euro debt would dwarf its estimated 120 mln euros’ worth of fixed assets.

Concerns the Commission is pressuring Athens into a fast sale prompted Marilenna Koppa, a European Parliament member for the Greek Democrat Socialist Party, to seek clarification from EU Commissioner Olli Rehn in February.

“The privatisation of Trainose before authorization is granted reduces its value and in practical terms will lead to the purchase of the company at a low price,” she wrote in Brussels.

In a two paragraph answer last week, Rehn said the assertions were “not correct”.

Under a timetable agreed by Greece and the troika of foreign lenders, Athens will first sell off highly profitable gambling and lottery companies, principally OPAP, Europe’s biggest betting company.

Greece should look to Internet for recovery, says study The Greek government should take a leaf out of South Korea’s book and invest in better networks and getting more people online, a study which measures how the Web raises GDP levels has found.

While many European countries make noticeable gains in their economic output as the Internet makes shopping cheaper and helps new businesses grow quickly, Greece’s heavily indebted economy is far behind, research by Boston Consulting Group found.

South Korea is number one in the world for online retail, high Internet penetration and network coverage combined, an index compiled by the consultancy shows.

In 2010 Greece raised just 1.2% of GDP from the Internet, compared to 7.3% in South Korea.

Just under half of all households in Greece have fixed broadband access and 67% of Greeks use their mobiles to access the Internet. But only 12% of Greeks shop online, compared to a 40 percent European average, Boston Consulting said.

Its study, sponsored by Web search giant Google, said the Greek government should move quickly to get its businesses online by making company websites and online tax forms compulsory, getting consumers to buy online and giving incentives to network

providers to expand their services.

Though 80% of Greek businesses have broadband access, a far lower number actually use the Web to sell their products to a wider audience. And for consumers, a majority will spend time discovering products online, but go to a shop to buy them.

Even Greek entrepreneurs who would like to tap foreign consumers online can find that red tape can prevent them from getting such businesses up and running.

The Greek Ekathimerini newspaper cited the case of Fotis Antonopoulos, who spent 10 months haggling with tax officials, the municipal service, doctors, health inspectors, the fire service and banks before he could sell olive oil online.

Antonopoulos eventually decided to let PayPal, the U.S.-based online payments company, handle the transactions, after local banks refused to handle payments if the website was not in Greek, the newspaper reported.

Boston Consulting cited Britain as an example of a country that had felt the benefits of boosting the role of the Web in its economy, saying high credit card usage there helped lift the Internet’s total contribution to GDP to 8.3% in 2010.

Tsohatzopoulos held on money laundering charges A Greek prosecutor decided on Monday to jail a former defence minister pending trial on money laundering charges in the most high-profile case against a politician in decades of corruption scandals.

Corruption and cronyism are endemic in Greece, but no politician has been tried or convicted in recent years, something that has fuelled popular frustration with established parties ahead of a general election on May 6.

“The prosecutor and the judge both decided (on) a pre-trial detention for ex-defence minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos,” a court official said. He has been detained at police headquarters since his April 11 arrest and was expected to be sent to jail on Tuesday.

Tsohatzopoulos, who has held various portfolios including defence since the 1980s, faces felony charges in relation to property deals and possible tax violations.

“He denied any wrongdoing to the judge,” a source close to Tsohatzopoulos told Reuters.

Greek authorities have stepped up arrests of tax dodgers and offenders lately in an attempt to win popular backing for painful austerity measures that form the backbone of the debt-crippled country’s EU/IMF bailout.

The 72-year-old Tsohatzopoulos, who last served as minister in 2004, is the only prominent politician to be arrested so far.

Tsohatzopoulos nearly became prime minister in 1996 only to be narrowly defeated in an internal party vote to become chairman of the then ruling Socialist PASOK party.

Since quitting politics in 2009, he has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in a string of affairs investigated by court prosecutors, including the use of offshore companies in Cyprus to buy a luxurious mansion in Athens and the sale of German submarines to Greece.

In 2011, PASOK expelled Tsohatzopoulos after MPs asked that he be indicted in connection with the submarine procurement deal with German firm Ferrostaal.

Jumbo raises profit forecast Jumbo, Greece’s largest toyseller, raised its profit forecast, citing a favourable euro-dollar exchange rate and lower than expected transport costs.

Most Greek retailers are struggling with a deep recession but Jumbo, which runs 56 stores in Greece, Bulgaria and Cyprus, has improved its performance thanks to the launch of four new outlets since July last year.

The retailer now expects its net profit for the 12 months to end June to reach 95 mln euros, at the same level as the year before and ahead of its previous forecast of about 83 mln euros.

The firm also announced a 2% rise sales in the first nine months of the year to 380 mln euros but slightly cut its sales forecast for the full year to growth of 0-1% instead of 0-2% previously. The firm plans to open two more stores in Bulgaria and Greece by July.

Five bidders for Piraeus Bank Egypt The Egyptian arm of Greece’s Piraeus Bank, valued at over $200 mln, has attracted five suitors from the Middle East and North Africa region.

Talks are actively ongoing but a sale was not regarded as imminent, a source said.

“There is interest from several MENA-based entities for the stake. The Greek owners have been interested in selling this for a while but the process was held up due to the unrest (in Egypt) last year,” the source said.

Four of the parties have made a bid for the unit, with one more financial institution said to be mulling an offer. The interested parties come from the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey.

Turkish lender Isbank confirmed last month it was contemplating a bid for the business as it sought to expand its presence in Egypt.

Piraeus Bank, Greece’s fourth-largest lender, appointed Barclays Capital in December to arrange the sale of the Egypt unit.

Talks to sell the business to Standard Chartered failed in November after the London-listed lender withdrew its interest, citing a worsening economic climate in crisis-hit Egypt.

26

CSE NEWS

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Index performance CSE General Index FTSE/CySE 20 FTSE/XA & XAK Banking MAIN MARKET MAIN MARKET INDEX BOCY ΤΡΚΥ BANK OF CYPRUS CPB ΛΑΙΚ CYPRUS POPULAR BANK HELLENIC BANK HB ΕΛΗΤ LOGICOM LOG ΛΟΤΖ LUI ΛΟΥΗ LOUIS LTD TSH ΤΣΟΚ A. TSOKKOS HOTELS ORPHANIDES ORF ΟΡΦΑ SECTOR TOTAL / OΛIKO PARALLEL MARKET PARALLEL MARKET INDEX WOOLWORTH (CYPRUS) PROP FWW ΓΟΥΛ VCW ΤΣΙΒ VASSILIKO CEMENT ERMES DEPARTMENT STORES ERME ΕΡΜΕ A&P (ANDREOU&PARASKEV.) APE ΑΝΠΑ LI ΛΕΠΕ MARFIN CLR PUBLIC CO ZRP ΖΟΡΠ A. ZORBAS & SONS K. ATHIENITIS CONTR. - DEV. ACD ΑΘΗΕ G.A.P VASSILOPOULOS GAP ΒΑΣΙ KAN ΚΑΝΙ KANIKA HOTELS MIT ΜΙΤΣ MITSIDES LIBERTY LIFE INSURANCE LIB ΛΙΠΕ PHIL. ANDREOU PHIL ΦΙΛΑ LHH ΛΟΞΕ LORDOS HOTELS HOLDINGS LPL ΛΟΡ∆ LORDOS UNITED PLASTIC SECTOR TOTAL / OΛIKO ALTERNATIVE MARKET ALTERNATIVE INDEX APC ΑΠΑΝ A. PANAYIDES CONTRACTING AD SHOPPING GALLERIES AD ΑΘΩΣ ALKIS HADJ. (FROU-FROU) FBI ΦΡΟΥ A.L. PROCHOICE FIN. SERV. PROP ΠΡΟΠ AMATHUS PUBLIC LTD ANC ΑΜΑΘ ASTARTI DEVELOPMENT AST ΑΣΤΑ ATL ΑΤΑΣ ATLANTIC INSURANCE AVACOM PUBLIC CO. LTD. ACS ΑΒΑΚ BLUE ISLAND FISH FARMING BLUE ΜΠΛΕ CCC HOLDINGS & INV. CCCH ΣΙΧΟ CCCT ΣΙΤΟ CCC TOURIST ENT. CHARILAOS APOSTOLIDES CHAP ΧΑΡΙ CHRIS JOANNOU LTD CJ ΙΟΑΝ CLA ΚΛΑΡ CLARIDGE INVESTMENTS CLL ΣΛΕΠ CLR INVESTMENT FUND CONSTANTINOU BROS. CBH ΚΩΝΣ CPI ENTER. DEVELOPMENT CPIH ΚΕΑΕ CTO ΣΤΟ C.T.O. PUBLIC CO CYPRINT LTD. CYP ΣΑΙΠ CCC ΚΕΤΣ CYPRUS CEMENT CYPRUS FOREST IND. CFI ∆ΒΚ∆ CYPRUS TRADING CORP. CTC ΣΤΣ∆ CYVENTURE CAPITAL EXE ΒΕΝΤ DES ΝΤΙΜ DIMCO PLC DISPLAY ART LTD DISP ΝΤΙΑ ELLINAS FINANCE ELF ΕΛΛΗ ELMA HOLDINGS ELMA ΕΛΕΠ EMPIRE CAPITAL INV. EMP ΕΜ EUROPROFIT CAPITAL ERP ΓΙΟΥ EXELIXIS INVESTMENT EXIN ΕΞΕΠ FILOKTIMATIKI PES ΦΙΛΟ K & G COMPLEX KG ΚΚΟΜ KARA KARAOLIS GROUP KARKOTIS MANUFACTURING KARK ΚΑΡΚ KEO LTD KEO ΚΕΟ KOSMOS INSURANCE COS ΚΟΣΑ KRONOS PRESS DIST. KRO ΚΡΟΝ JUPITER PORTFOLIO INV. ARI ΤΖΕΠ L.P. TRANSBETON TRB ΤΡΑΝ LEPTOS CALYPSO HOTELS LCH ΛΕΠΤ MALLOUPAS & PAPACOSTAS MPT ΜΑΠΑ MINERVA INSURANCE MINE ΜΙΝΕ MODESTOU SOUND & VISION MSV ΜΟ∆Ε NEMESIS CONSTRUCTIONS NEM ΝΕΜΕ O.C. OPTIONS CHOICE OPT ΟΚΑΣ PANDORA INVESTMENTS PND ΠΑΝ∆ PIPIS FARM PIPF ΠΙΠΗ PETROLINA HOLDINGS PHL ΛΙΝΑ PIERIDES HOLDINGS PGE ΠΙΕΡ PRIMETEL PLC PTL ΠΤΕΛ PROODOS AGROS AGRO ΑΓΡΟ RENOS HADJIOANNOU FARMS FRH ΡΕΝΟ ROYAL HIGHGATE LTD ROY ΡΟΧΑ SALAMIS TOURS SAL ΣΑΛΑ SFS GROUP PUBLIC CO. SFS ΕΣΕΦ STADEMOS HOTELS SHL ΣΤΑ∆ STARIO INVESTMENTS STAR ΣΤΕΠ TOP KINISIS TRAVEL TOP ΤΟΚΙ TOXOTIS INVESTMENTS COV ΤΟΕΠ UNIFAST FIN. & INV. UFI ΦΑΣΤ VISION INTL PEOPLE GROUP VIP ΒΙΖΝ SECTOR TOTAL / OΛIKO APPROVED INVESTMENTS / EΠEN∆YTIKOI OPΓAN. INVESTMENT INDEX ACTIBOND GROWTH FUND ACT ΑΚΕΠ APOLLO INVESTMENT FUND APOL ΑΠΕΠ FINIKAS AMMOCHOSTOU CONF ΚΟΕΠ CYTRUSTEES INV. PUBLIC CO CYTR ΣΑΕΠ DEMETRA INV. PUBLIC CO. DEM ∆ΗΕΠ DODONI PORTFOLIO DOD ∆ΩΕΠ HARVEST CAPITAL HCM ΧΑΕΠ

Number

Nominal

Market

Shares ('000) Aριθµός µετοχών

Value euro Aξία EUR

Cap. ('000) Kεφαλ.

EUR

1 795 141 1 611 111 308 004 74 080 460 547 246 214 80 966

114 252 71 936 175 000 182 725 285 713 15 296 13 416 38 750 60 250 8 200 90 804 45 000 35 000 48 006

36 572 128 936 98 861 158 660 107 226 99 925 39 109 72 562 15 438 44 000 141 692 50 000 10 070 108 163 288 141 160 714 24 379 208 700 5 140 137 611 3 059 92 079 14 973 80 999 13 506 16 000 348 333 47 853 31 344 34 000 4 805 100 000 22 343 7 967 30 978 17 985 20 400 62 446 8 571 101 683 43 211 78 415 14 900 61 056 46 355 424 435 9 660 87 500 22 100 300 194 3 590 272 915 33 000 36 529 66 520 32 500 38 581 12 212 20 700 9 988 75 000

58 430 56 582 49 385 44 494 200 000 282 483 14 000

1.00 0.85 0.43 0.35 0.17 0.35 0.35

0.34 0.43 0.34 0.17 0.27 0.34 0.35 0.17 0.35 1.03 0.10 0.17 0.35 0.35

0.35 0.17 0.26 0.09 0.35 0.35 0.35 0.34 0.17 0.43 0.43 0.35 0.35 0.35 0.15 0.35 0.17 0.87 0.43 0.43 1.73 0.85 0.43 0.09 0.35 0.62 0.09 0.87 0.09 0.29 0.87 0.17 0.34 0.35 0.43 0.31 0.43 0.43 0.35 0.35 0.35 0.17 0.14 0.17 0.17 0.17 0.35 0.35 0.34 0.17 1.73 0.03 0.17 0.43 1.00 0.69 0.17 0.34 0.03 0.05 $ 0.10

0.17 0.34 0.10 0.30 0.87 0.02 0.17

Book Value Price to Per Share euro Λογιστική αξία

Profit/(Loss)

Book Value 2010 Times EUR ('000) Tιµή προς Κέρδη µετά λογιστ. αξ. φορολ.

892 185 368 944 73 305 22 446 13 356 12 557 6 639 1 389 433

3.01 2.34 1.50 0.75 0.50 0.56 1.86 1.50

0.17 0.10 0.16 0.41 0.06 0.09 0.04 0.15

114 320 37 479 28 175 34 900 15 143 11 900 10 867 6 278 6 628 5 125 3 360 4 365 3 850 3 120 285 509

1.78 3.01 0.49 0.26 0.28 2.40 4.39 0.33 0.68 3.50 0.09 0.12 1.69 0.56 1.40

0.17 0.17 0.33 0.74 0.19 0.32 0.18 0.49 0.16 0.18 0.42 0.80 0.06 0.12 0.31

6 217 11 604 15 818 3 173 9 650 4 996 29 332 10 159 2 933 11 880 8 502 3 000 201 5 408 2 881 14 464 7 314 8 348 1 028 24 770 9 789 34 990 2 096 8 100 810 6 400 6 967 40 675 940 4 760 2 306 11 000 447 956 26 641 2 158 13 260 4 996 1 971 7 118 8 210 2 352 149 15 875 464 42 444 773 47 250 1 547 18 012 5 816 2 729 2 310 3 288 6 652 6 825 386 3 175 414 200 75 000 611 929

0.90 0.06 0.51 0.04 0.52 0.26 0.73 0.29 0.77 2.25 0.51 0.25 0.46 0.44 0.09 0.75 0.65 0.12 0.36 1.66 7.84 1.81 0.49 0.23 0.35 0.76 0.06 0.05 0.20 0.79 2.47 0.62 0.07 0.12 3.71 0.48 0.74 0.3920 0.41 0.94 0.62 0.14 0.02 0.57 0.22 0.24 0.36 1.29 0.42 0.04 3.43 0.04 0.16 0.52 1.89 2.34 0.05 0.41 0.05 0.12 0.15 0.77 NAV

0.19 1.50 0.31 0.57 0.17 0.19 1.03 0.48 0.25 0.12 0.12 0.24 0.04 0.11 0.11 0.12 0.46 0.35 0.56 0.11 0.41 0.21 0.29 0.44 0.17 0.53 0.33 17.00 0.15 0.18 0.19 0.18 0.27 1.04 0.23 0.25 0.88 0.56 0.07 0.30 0.22 0.43 0.45 0.04 0.41 0.22 0.42 0.17 1.67 0.47 0.25 0.45 0.17 0.05 0.09 0.64 0.43 0.17 6.61 0.72 Disc/Prem

1 169 6 224 988 6 674 46 000 2 825 1 260

0.0434 0.2826 0.0157 0.3314 0.7474 0.0174 0.0634

-53.92 -61.08 27.39 -54.74 -69.23 -42.53 41.96

9M 2010 EUR ('000) Kέρδη 2010

9M 2011 EUR ('000) Kέρδη 2011

Profit/(Loss)

2011 EUR ('000) Κέρδη µετά φορολ.

2010

9M '10

9M '11

2011

306 000 87 100 8 889 3 274 -10 243 -17 397 3 328 380 951

247 801

-801 167

82 700

-291 493

12 007

-73 081

-1 011 000 -3 334 900 -100 658 3 585 -60 932 -6 754 -3 653 -4 514 312

2 181

3 024

7 742

-4 830

-8 043

-1 527

3 101

19

347 489

-1 169 055

2010

9M '10

9M '11

2011

8 848 1 310 6 309 4 108 -47 1 846 25 987 -1 903 -703 2 574 -8 419 -1 453 456 71 38 984

7 384

3 780

2 379

-2 992

1 730

287

793

67

12 286

1 142

6 674 -1 174 245 4 122 -1 732 989 2 133 -1 600 -77 -947 -2 667 -1 333 759 -1 302 4 090

2010

1H '10

1H '11

2011

1 767 -3 960 4 363 -5 724 -1 339 -11 422 4 108 -2 203 257 -3 542 -6 512 1 542 -622 -3 641 -7 007 440 -157 1 211 -1 031 -6 432 568 13 270 1 157 2 183 -380 575 -5 602 -504 -980 1 048 614 -1 668 -844 -738 -3 358 -760 969 -2 094 -501 -3 469 -1 746 -4 952 -594 5 981 -9 573 -9 238 313 8 617 11 -5 231 362 14 344 131 -9 983 1 165 -1 062 -181 -25 -43 -330 -66 438

758

840

373 -12 265 2 334 -2 594 -2 121 -6 400 2 306 -2 754 570 2 416 -3 519 -1 966 -375 -3 942 -7 654 -4 006 -65 -3 921 -513 -4 630 -4 127 5 693 1 104 1 604 -526 -257

-33

-10 698

1 920

1 121

-454

-373

-2 181

-2 978

2 139

2 240

-162

-134

185

417

-1 834

1 969

-5 098

-3 664

521

773

-99

-189

-2 445

-2 493

-2 625

-2 739

-1 512

-4 852

-62

-6

1 486

805

-214

-234

-4 077

-3 125

372

-463

5 986

1 756

160

1 239

1 291

940

35

215

-6 494

-2 943

-261

-221

-72

-111

-18

-22

-1 030

1 991

-43 777

-40 934

-551 -212 -15 562 1 608 5 130 -2 198 -110 -3 948 -804 100 -1 392 -438 -6 299 1 345 -3 185 -281 2 076 -2 192 -16 880 -1 314 10 753 -868 -6 352 73 151 546 964 -19 100 1 577 -1 737 -689 11 -37 2 753 -102 297

2010

1H '10

1H '11

2011

-760 -3 213 -2 533 -10 875 -15 581 -5 227 -6

-699

-59

-3 697

-1 207

-737 -4 301 -1 465 -10 771 -14 687 -6 357 -255

659

-162

-121

1 027

-752

3 679

-779

-940

-508

-89

-3 274

-6 279

80

323

542

274

-2 975

-1 396

-272

-173

-7 715

-4 233

-1 569

36

-3 761

-761

-125

-191

3 594

1 121

-8 461

-8 696

-196

-426

4 584

4 281

147

-631

-2 182

-2 464

-187

-191

81

-347

815

234

-3 309

1 093

-2 630

-3 875

-1 107

-787

-345

-255

-138

-151

-55

-16

-325

-314

-10 070

-3 086

-5 866

-826

-4 966

-2 488

6

-12

P/E ratio 2011

Dividend Per

Dividend Yield

Dividend Per

Results

Share 2010 Cents

% on 2010

Share 2011 Cents

n/a n/a n/a 6.26 n/a n/a n/a 0.10

5.24 n/a 115.00 8.47 n/a 12.03 5.09 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 5.07 n/a 13.18

2012 High Low EUR EUR Aνώτατο Kατώτατο

Last Close EUR Kλείσιµο

Price 31/12/2011 EUR Tιµή 31/12/2011

31/12/2011 Ποσ. Μετ.

31/12/2011

% Change

since

385.85 134.85 365.45

234.90 84.82 173.85

253.76 90.98 230.63

295.94 104.60 196.84

-14.25 -13.02 17.17

377.70 0.76 0.39 0.36 0.31 0.04 0.05 0.12

224.33 0.44 0.22 0.24 0.26 0.03 0.05 0.08

243.34 0.50 0.23 0.24 0.30 0.03 0.05 0.08

286.83 0.61 0.30 0.36 0.27 0.04 0.05 0.12

-15.16 -18.52 -22.90 -34.07 12.64 -21.62 0.00 -32.23

Cents 9.00 10.00

% 18.11 43.67

Cents

2.00

6.60

2.50

Cents 1.80 1.50 1.30 2.24

% 5.88 2.88 8.07 11.73

Cents 5.80

3.86 8.64

4.00

6.40

1.00

9.09

647.60 0.30 0.35 0.15 0.16 0.05 0.46 0.66 0.16 0.10 0.62 0.03 0.10 0.08 0.06

704.24 0.31 0.52 0.16 0.19 0.05 0.78 0.81 0.16 0.11 0.63 0.04 0.10 0.11 0.07

656.6

3.00 7.00

704.24 0.34 0.57 0.17 0.20 0.07 0.80 1.10 0.18 0.12 0.65 0.05 0.10 0.12 0.07

0.32 0.35 0.167 0.18 0.06 0.65 1.00 0.18 0.11 0.63 0.05 0.10 0.08 0.06

7.26 -4.08 51.01 -3.59 6.70 -15.87 20.06 -19.00 -10.00 0.00 -0.79 -21.28 -1.02 32.53 8.33

Cents

%

Cents

740.44

722.24

0.89

% 5.56

0.91

9.00

12.00

7.00

1.00

5.26

0.50

12.50

3.00

0.94

4.00

10.00

7.00

26.92

5.10

9.44

3.00

1.85

2.00

22.22

722.24 0.17 0.09 0.16 0.02 0.09 0.05 0.75 0.14 0.19 0.27 0.06 0.06 0.02 0.05 0.01 0.09 0.30 0.04 0.20 0.18 3.20 0.38 0.14 0.10 0.06 0.40 0.02 0.85 0.03 0.14 0.48 0.11 0.02 0.12 0.86 0.12 0.65 0.08 0.23 0.07 0.19 0.03 0.01 0.26 0.01 0.10 0.08 0.54 0.07 0.06 1.62 0.01 0.07 0.09 0.10 0.21 0.01 0.26 0.02 0.02 1.00

738.87 0.17 0.11 0.16 0.02 0.10 0.05 0.83 0.16 0.21 0.26 0.07 0.06 0.02 0.05 0.01 0.09 0.31 0.05 0.32 0.18 3.20 0.32 0.17 0.09 0.06 0.38 0.02 0.62 0.03 0.15 0.48 0.12 0.03 0.14 0.70 0.09 0.65 0.09 0.23 0.08 0.19 0.04 0.01 0.21 0.01 0.11 0.08 0.52 0.06 0.06 1.62 0.01 0.08 0.09 0.10 0.23 0.01 0.26 0.02 0.02 1.00

-2.25 0.00 -18.18 0.00 0.00 -10.00 0.00 -9.64 -12.50 -9.52 3.85 -14.29 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 -3.23 -20.00 -37.50 0.00 0.00 18.75 -17.65 11.11 0.00 5.26 0.00 37.10 0.00 -6.67 0.00 -8.33 -33.33 -14.29 22.86 33.33 0.00 -11.11 0.00 -12.50 0.00 -25.00 0.00 23.81 0.00 -9.09 0.00 3.85 16.67 0.00 0.00 0.00 -12.50 0.00 0.00 -8.70 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

Cents

%

529.63

441.63

525.37 0.02 0.11 0.02 0.15 0.23 0.01 0.09

454.51 0.02 0.09 0.03 0.14 0.19 0.01 0.10

15.59 0.00 22.22 -33.33 7.14 21.05 0.00 -10.00

6.80

Cents

FINANCIAL MIRROR, April 18 - 24, 2012 CSE CODE OASIS

ΟΑΣΗΣ

Kωδ.

APPROVED INVESTMENTS / EΠEN∆YTIKOI OPΓAN. INF ΙΝΕΠ INTERFUND INVESTMENTS ISCHIS INVESTMENT ISXI ΙΣΕΠ REGALLIA HOLD. & INV. REG ΡΕΕΠ TRIENA INV. INCOME TINC ΤΕΕΠ TRIENA INV. CAPITAL TCAP ΤΚΕΠ TRIENA INTERNATIONAL TINT Τ∆ΕΠ UNIGROWTH INVESTMENTS UNI ΓΙΕΠ SECTOR TOTAL / OΛIKO SHIPPING COMPANIES SECTOR SPECIAL CATEGORY / AIANTAS INVESTMENTS M.S. BLAST SYSTEMS CEILFLOOR CYPRUS AIRWAYS D.H. CYPROTELS D&M TELEMARKETING DOME INVESTMENTS EFREMICO HOLDINGS G&K EXCLUSIVE FASHIONS KARYES INVESTMENTS KNOSSOS INV. K. KYTHREOTIS HOLDINGS LASER INVESTMENT GROUP LIBRA GROUP OCEAN TANKERS ROLANDOS ENTERPRISES SAFS HOLDINGS SEA STAR CAPITAL SUPHIRE HOLDINGS USB BANK WOODLAND DESIGNS PLC SECTOR TOTAL / OΛIKO

CSE NEWS

Number

Nominal

Market

Book Value

Shares ('000) Aριθµός µετοχών

Value euro Aξία EUR

Cap. ('000) Kεφαλ.

EUR

Per Share euro Λογιστική αξία

56 545 11 000 20 247 2 729 2 729 1 364 13 468

0.51 0.51 0.09 0.85 0.85 0.85 0.17

4 524 440 405 2 183 5 458 818 3 367 82 334

NAV 0.1819 0.0673 0.0344 1.0430 2.1427 0.6125 0.2719

Price to

Profit/(Loss)

2010 Book Value Times EUR ('000) Tιµή προς Κέρδη µετά λογιστ. αξ. φορολ.

Disc/Prem -56.02 -40.56 -41.86 -23.30 -6.66 -2.04 -8.05

-12 850 -112 -195 389 -446 -7 -127 -51 543

9M 2010 EUR ('000) Kέρδη 2010

9M 2011 EUR ('000) Kέρδη 2011

-11 689

-3 619

-118

-72

-113

-75

122

122

-356

-2

Profit/(Loss)

2011 EUR ('000) Κέρδη µετά φορολ.

3

-1

-75

-43

-37 843

-11 682

-43

28

-27

-74

-70

-25 382

-29 288

2010 AIAS ANS CFL CAIR DHH TLM DOME EFR EXF KAR KNO KYTH LAS LHG OCT ROL SAFS SEAS SUP USB WOOD

ΑΙΕΠ ΑΒΝΕ ΣΙΦΛ ΚΑΕΡ ∆ΡΟΥ ΤΕΛΕ ΝΤΟ∆ ΕΦΡΕ ΕΞΦΑ ΚΑΕΠ ΚΝΕΠ ΚΥΘΡ ΛΕΕΠ ΛΙΠΡ ΤΑΝΚ ΡΟΛΑ ΣΑΦΣ ΣΕΑΣ ΣΑΠΦ ΤΡΑΓ ΓΟΥΤ

81 202 150 000 5 055 391 155 157 138 7 700 25 000 11 385 6 698 2 000 21 827 42 450 61 739 189 377 296 665 54 166 70 220 629 785 124 009 60 674 13 000

0.21 0.17 0.03 0.086 0.17 0.12 0.43 0.43 0.68 0.43 0.17 0.17 0.06 0.01 $0.20 0.17 0.17 0.04 0.09 0.57 0.17

MARKET TOTAL / OΛIKO AΓOPAΣ

812 1 500 202 23 469 1 571 385 16 250 228 469 540 218 5 519 8 643 1 894 5 933 5 417 702 6 298 1 240 36 404 83 330 201 025

0.1767 0.293 -0.61 -0.06 -0.11 -0.01 1.35 0.086 0.33 0.2491 0.11 0.45 0.06 -0.34 -0.27 0.29 0.000 -0.04 -0.1180 0.53 0.13

-94.34 0.03 -0.07 -1.05 -0.09 -5.00 0.48 0.23 0.21 1.08 0.09 0.29 2.47 -0.03 -0.07 0.35 33.33 -0.26 -0.08 1.14 50.55

2 570 230

-9 493 -165 -150 331 -136 -36 -303 -48 525

P/E ratio 2011

Dividend Per

Dividend Yield

Dividend Per

Results

Share 2010 Cents

% on 2010

Share 2011 Cents

2012 High Low EUR EUR Aνώτατο Kατώτατο

27

Last Close EUR Kλείσιµο

Price 31/12/2011 EUR Tιµή 31/12/2011

31/12/2011 Ποσ. Μετ.

31/12/2011

0.08 0.04 0.02 0.80 2.00 0.60 0.25

0.10 0.04 0.02 0.80 2.00 0.60 0.25

-20.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

0.01 0.01 0.04 0.06 0.01 0.05 0.65 0.02 0.07 0.27 0.01 0.13 0.14 0.01 0.02 0.10 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.60 6.41

0.01 0.01 0.04 0.06 0.01 0.05 0.65 0.02 0.07 0.27 0.01 0.13 0.14 0.01 0.02 0.10 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.60 6.41

0.00 -

% Change

since

0.00

2011

-214 -1 353 232 -31 800 -335 -1 938 221 -3 507 -180 774 999 -2 378 -7 100 -50 257 93 -173 -50 598 -764 -6 534 -916 -155 728 146 226

642

-1 534

-66 855

-67 471

-1 856 -18 954 -9 100 -245 -701 35 -260 -180 87 612 -2 656 -11 700 -32 272 -328 -320 -16 501 -60 -6 248 -4 062 -104 736

211 300

-1 288 000

-4 765 780

-53

-79

-1 480

-449

-66

44

-160

-75

-103

36

313

369

-1 198

-706

-10 748

-19 576

-3

64

-205

-40

-27 072

-12 257

-234

-137

-989

-3 801

0.06

0.03

source: Eurivex Ltd. NAV: Net Asset Value

PAT:Profit After Tax

Bold: Final results

EPS: Earnings per Share based on existing number of shares.

P/E: Price to Earnings ratio. Weighted P/E ratio: Calculated based on market cap weighting of profit reporting companies, Book Value: According to our estimates. N/A Indicates Not Applicable, Price 31/12/2009 is the closing price or in case of New Listings the opening price.

EMERGING MARKET (N.E.A.) FOCUS FINANCIAL SERVICES CONSTANTINOU BROS PROPERTIES CYPRUS LIMNI RESORTS & GOLF PHONE MARKETING S.A. ITTL TRADE TOURIST & LEISURE INT'L LIFE GENERAL INSURANCE SA ORCA INVESTMENT PLC P.C. SPLASH WATER PUBLIC CO. WARGAMING PUBLIC CO. ECHMI S.A. INVESTMENT CONSULTANTS TOTAL

CSE Code EXTE/EXTE ΚΩΑΜ/CBAM ΛΙΜΝΗ/LIMNI PHONE/PHONE ΙΤΤΛ/ITTL INLE ΟΡΚΑ/ORCA ΠΚΣΓ/PCSW ΓΚ/WG EXMI/ΕΗΜΙ

No. of Shares (000) 1 690 1 950 300 000 1 575 100 000 8 057 1 200 35 052 3 400 297

Market Cap EUR (000) 11 830 36 855 300 000 5 513 75 000 21 834 14 280 42 062 3 400 1 402 512 176

Latest price EUR 7.00 18.90 1.00 3.50 0.75 2.71 11.9 1.20 1.00 4.72

Nominal Value EUR 0.30 0.01 0.10 0.30 0.50 1.00 0.01 0.25 0.10 4.72

Listing Date 29/3/10 29/3/10 29/3/10 29/3/10 06/8/10 21/7/11 10/9/10 10/10/11 2/11/11 10/04/12

WARRANTS EUROPROFIT (WAR. 2005/2012) ALKIS HADJ. FROU-FROU (WAR. 2015) AMATHUS NAVIGATION (WAR.07-2013) UNIGROWTH INVESTMENTS (WAR.10/12) TOTAL

EMERGING MARKET

Ignores weighted number of shares in circulation Forecasted profits are liable to change without notice and responsibility

No. of warrants (000) 893 24831 17606 2218

Mkt Cap (000) 9 497 176 319 1 000

CSE Code No. of Bonds

(N.E.A.) GreenTea SA Kappasquare Ltd Nugreat Ltd Zetadynamic Ltd

GRTEA KPSQ NGRT ZETA

1 040 17 000 23 000 9 000

Exercise Period

Exercise Price euro cents

Expiry Date

41212 20-30 Jun 2001-2015 1-15 May & 1-15 Nov 07-13 1-15 Nov 2010 and 2012

8.67 173 20c or EUR 35c 29

30-10-2012 30-06-15 15-11-2013 15/11/2012

Latest Close 0.01 0.02 0.01 0.01

Market Cap EUR

Latest price EUR

Listing Date

Latest NAV

104 000 000 1 700 000 2 300 000 900 000

100 000 100 100 100

8 Nov 2011 30 Mar 2012 30 Mar 2012 30 Mar 2012

N/A 100 100 100

DISCLAIMER: The information, comments, analyses and financial data published in this newspaper were obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but their accuracy or completeness cannot be guaranteed and may change without notice.

Any of the information or opinions published herein should not be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell investments. No liability is accepted whatsoever for any direct or consequential loss arising from the use of this publication.

28

BACK PAGE

FINANCIAL MIRROR, April 18 - 24, 2012

Stocks to track earnings with eye on Europe WALL ST WEEK AHEAD After suffering their worst two weeks of the year, stocks will look to quarterly earnings to determine whether the recent pullback has been exhausted or more losses are justified.

Alcoa Inc opened the earnings season with a bang, reporting a firstquarter profit on Tuesday instead of the expected loss. That positive surprise foretold a trend. Of the 32 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings so far, Thomson Reuters data showed that 75% - or two dozen have beaten Wall Street’s expectations.

This week will start one of the busiest weeks of the quarterly earnings reporting period. About 86 companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 are expected to post results, according to Thomson Reuters Director’s Report.

At Friday’s close, both the Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 suffered their worst two-week percentage drops since late November.

The Dow and the S&P each fell 2.7% for the two weeks from the close on March 30.

“It seems like everybody’s been waiting for this so-called correction to potentially get back into the stock market,” said Kei Sasaki, managing director of listed equities at PineBridge Investments in New York, which has $67 bln in assets under management.

Wall Street typically defines a correction as a drop of 10% from a recent peak. The S&P 500 is down 3.4% from April 2 when it closed at its highest level since mid-May 2008.

“The correlations on a moving average have also stayed relatively subdued, which tells us that investors are still looking at the market in a fundamental way that they haven’t for the past year,” Sasaki added. “So if earnings come in positive for the first quarter, we think they will get rewarded for it.”

Among the marquee names on this week’s earnings calendar are 10 Dow components: Intel, Johnson & Johnson , Coca-Cola, DuPont, Microsoft, The Travelers Companies, Verizon Communications, American Express, General Electric and McDonald’s.

Financials will also be eyed this week on the heels of Friday’s results from JPMorgan Chase & Co and Wells Fargo & Co. Both big banks’ earnings exceeded forecasts. In the coming week, earnings are expected from the likes of Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

RIDING THE EURO-ZONE ROLLER COASTER But even with earnings attracting investors’ attention, equities remain vulnerable to flare-ups in the euro zone as the bloc continues to grapple with its debt crisis.

“Earnings are beating expectations. Outlooks still look pretty optimistic,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer of Harris Private Bank in Chicago.

“Overall pretty good news, but it takes one lousy headline out of Europe to trump the whole thing.”

Equities snapped a two-day advance on Friday, pulled lower as the rising cost of insuring Spanish debt against default increased concerns about Europe’s financial health.

Last week, the benchmark S&P 500 had gained for two consecutive days after a drop of more than 4% in the previous five sessions. That opened the possibility that equities had seen the pullback many analysts were expecting after the S&P 500 climbed 12% in the first quarter.

NBNK back with new bid for Lloyds branches New British banking venture NBNK has made a fresh bid for 632 Lloyds bank branches, putting it back in a race with shops-to-banking group The Co-Op, whose offer has run into regulatory problems.

NBNK said it was offering an “alternative demerger” plan for the Lloyds branches, which are estimated to be worth 1-1.5 bln pounds. It wants to buy the branches and potentially float them so that Lloyds’ shareholders — including the UK taxpayer — could receive cash and/or shares in a new, listed banking group.

Lloyds has been ordered by European regulators to sell the branches by November 2013 as payback for a bail-out with taxpayers’ money during the 2008 credit crisis, which left Britain owning a 40% stake in Lloyds.

NBNK has not yet started talks with Lloyds due to the exclusivity period between Lloyds and Co-Op. NBNK, which has a current market capitalisation of around 45 mln pounds, is confident it can raise the money to pull off a Lloyds branch deal.

“We have strong support from investors in achieving our objectives and we are confident that we can raise the money, obviously at the right price,” Chief Executive Gary Hoffman told Reuters. “The one thing I won’t talk about is the price that we’ve offered,” he said, adding that people had speculated that this could involve a fundraising of up to 2 bln pounds.

Hoffman also said the assets could be worth “in excess of 1.5 bln pounds.” “The details of NBNK’s offer are sketchy. As a trade buyer with an existing business, it would make more sense to do a deal with the CoOp, but I don’t think the Co-Op can actually deliver,” said Shore Capital analyst Gary Greenwood. Lloyds said it remained in exclusive talks with Co-Op. NBNK had lost out on the deal last year when Co-Op became the preferred bidder.

The S&P 500 remained near its 50-day moving average, a key technical level that could help indicate the next direction for stocks.

“Technically, we were due for a correction, we started that correction, and the market will always come up with reasons and find excuses that fundamentally will trigger what should happen technically - and it’s happened almost perfectly,” said Paul Mendelsohn, chief investment strategist of Windham Financial Services in Charlotte, Vermont.

“How far backwards we are going to fall remains to be seen - we’ve got support at that 1,358 area, and we are playing around the 50-day moving average area.”

The S&P 500 closed on Friday at 1,370.26. For the day, it was off 1.3%.

For the week, it was off 2%.

Despite the recent declines, the S&P 500 is still up 9% for the year.

CHECKING THE VITAL SIGNS The data will also get plenty of scrutiny this week for signals on the U.S. economy’s health after a weaker-than-expected jobs report cast doubt on the recovery’s strength.

Economic indicators due this week include the Empire State and Philadelphia Federal Reserve’s manufacturing surveys, retail sales for March, housing starts and existing home sales.

“It will be interesting to see if this is the beginning of a soft patch, if this unemployment number is a harbinger of more,” said Stephen Massocca, managing director of Wedbush Morgan in San Francisco.

The March nonfarm payrolls report, which was released on Good Friday when the cash U.S. stock market was closed, showed just 120,000 jobs added last month. That figure fell far short of the forecast for 203,000 new jobs and raised questions about whether the recovery in the U.S. labor market was stalling.

Sasaki of PineBridge Investments pointed out that “employment’s been under everybody’s watch” since Good Friday. “We still continue to see improvement. We believe it was a hiccup but in aggregate, we think the economic recovery is still continuing to improve.”

But even if earnings are solid and data shows improvement, markets could be susceptible to further losses if more signs of fiscal distress in the euro zone emerge.

“You have to put Europe, Spain and Italy, on any ‘watch list’ at this point. That may even be more important than earnings,” Massocca said.

“It’s not really a liquidity issue. It’s a solvency issue, and there are a lot of political whirlwinds around that, and there are a lot of concerns that the political will to actually do something is not going to be. We shall see.”