Financial Mirror digital edition

October 31 - November 6, 2012

FinancialMirror.com

2 | NEWS

Spain stays in recession as inflation bites Spain’s recession extended into the third quarter while inflation stayed high in October, data showed, indicating a government austerity programme to cut the public deficit is also pushing up living costs.

Gross domestic product shrank 0.3% quarter on quarter between July and September, marking the fifth straight quarter of contraction, according to Tuesday’s preliminary data from the National Statistics Institute.

The reading was slightly better than forecasts for a fall of 0.4%, but any suggestion that that marked an upturn was “a mirage,” said Estefania Ponte, an economist at Madrid-based broker Cortal Consors.

“It does not mean the economy is doing better, but only shows the families have brought forward purchases ahead of

the VAT hike,” she said.

On an annual basis, he economy shrank 1.6%, suggesting Spain was in line to meet its end-of-year GDP target.

EU-harmonised consumer prices rose by 3.5% year-on-year in October, according to separate preliminary data that topped a Reuters forecast of 3.4%. The figure was unchanged from September.

Spain’s conservatives, in power since December, have laid out spending cuts and tax hikes worth over 60 bln euros to end2014 to cut the budget gap to within EU guidelines.

The measures included an across-the-board increase of the value-added tax rate, in force since September 1, which pushed up consumer prices and hit sentiment on the high street.

Retail sales fell at the sharpest pace on record in September

after already cash-strapped shoppers shied away from purchases after the tax hike.

The euro zone’s fourth largest economy is at the centre of the bloc’s debt crisis on concerns the government cannot control its finances.

Spain’s refinancing costs on international debt markets soared to euro-era highs in July but have since eased after the European Central Bank said it would activate a sovereign bondbuying programme for countries that ask for European aid.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy appears in no rush to apply for aid, with debt premiums falling to more manageable levels since the ECB announcement and wary that deeper austerity measures might further hobble the economic recovery and fuel popular protests.

UBS to slash 10,000 jobs in fixed income retreat UBS unveiled plans on Tuesday to wind down its fixed income business and fire 10,000 bankers, as it adapts to tougher capital rules that make it more difficult for investment banks to turn a profit since the financial crisis.

Zurich-based UBS will focus on its private bank and a smaller investment bank, ditching much of the trading business that made most of its $50 bln in losses since the financial crisis began, including $2.3 bln by trader Kweku Adoboli, now on trial defending charges of fraud and false accounting.

Chief Executive Sergio Ermotti, a former Merrill Lynch and UniCredit banker who took over after the Adoboli affair last year, is leading the three-year overhaul, which is aimed at saving 3.4 bln Swiss francs ($3.6 bln), on top of existing spending cuts of 2 bln francs.

The Swiss bank will isolate and wind down those of its fixedincome activities that are no longer profitable as a result of tougher capital rules on riskier business introduced after the crisis.

Of the job cuts, 2,000 will be front-office investment banking staff, the revenue generators and risk takers.

Investment bank co-head Carsten Kengeter leaves UBS’s top management team to handle the wind-down of such businesses.

The remaining investment bank - equities, foreign exchange

trading, corporate advice, and precious metals trading - will be run by Andrea Orcel, a recent Ermotti hire from Bank of America who co-ran the unit with Kengeter.

“The net impact of all these changes will be transformational for the firm,” chairman Axel Weber and Ermotti told shareholders in a letter. “Our overall earnings should be less volatile, more consistent and of higher quality.”

The measures translate to a 15% staff cut, taking UBS’s overall staff to 54,000, from 63,745 now.

Roughly 2,500 jobs will be cut in Switzerland, with the remainder mainly in London and the U.S., where UBS runs considerable trading operations out of Stamford, Connecticut.

A smaller investment bank will leave UBS focused on its private bank, which looks after the affairs of the wealthy. With 1.6 trln francs in assets, it is the second-largest operation of its kind in the world after Bank of America.

UBS shares, which soared 7.3% on Monday in anticipation of the announcement, were up another 5.2% at 13.80 francs in exceptionally heavy trading, their highest since July 2011, compared with a 0.6% rise for the European bank sector index.

UBS, which took a government bailout in 2008 after more than $50 bln in mortgage losses, is effectively admitting that an attempt to crack the fixed-income big league has failed.

Deutsche Bank announced a far more modest plan on

Tuesday to trim 1,993 jobs by year-end, the bulk in its investment bank, after healthy debt trading helped fuel a 20% rise in quarterly profit.

Credit Suisse said last week it was also cutting more costs to boost its profits and capital.

Ermotti’s overhaul comes against a backdrop of far tougher regulation on riskier securities trading activities, and represents a return to advisory roots stemming from UBS’s purchase of Warburg, a British merchant bank, in 1995.

The bank aims to pay out more than 50% of profits to shareholders from 2015, after paying its first post-crisis dividend last year, a modest 0.10 francs a share. It has put away funds in the third quarter for an unspecified dividend this year.

The costs related to the investment banking split will also lead to a fourth-quarter and full-year loss, when taken together with charges on the bank’s own debt, UBS said.

The private bank also faces challenges, with profits falling as Swiss banking secrecy is weakened by repeated demands from foreign governments determined to recoup tax on undeclared funds held in offshore accounts.

The unit secured 7.7 bln francs in net new money from clients in the third quarter, which represents the highest result in a third quarter - typically a slow one for the business due to summer holidays - in five years.

German joblessness rises

Royal Mail to create 1,000 jobs

U.S. tax whistleblower collects $38 mln from IRS

Britain’s state-owned Royal Mail Group said on Tuesday it would create 1,000 new UK jobs as part of a 75 mln pound investment in its Parcelforce business.

The postal operator - set for a sale or flotation in early 2014 - aims to offset a steadily declining letters business by growing in the express parcels market worth 5.8 bln pounds which thrives on increasing online retail sales.

Royal Mail’s parcels businesses contributed 4.2 bln pounds of revenue in the fiscal year to March 25 - almost half of group revenue - helped by retail growth and sales at its European parcels arm GLS. It said the jobs at Parcelforce – whose customers include BT, Amazon and John Lewis – would be spread over four years, with the firm also building a processing centre in 2013 as well as new and revamped depots.

In June, Royal Mail more than quadrupled its annual earnings, with its core letters and parcels business posting a first profit in four years thanks to cost cuts and price hikes.

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service has awarded $38 mln to a whistleblower for information about a tax dodge involving a large corporation, according to the informant’s lawyers.

The Ferraro Law Firm, which represented the whistleblower, would not identify its client or the corporation involved, saying only that it was a Fortune 500 company.

“The IRS never tipped their hand that they had a whistleblower” while the agency was going over the corporation’s books, said Ferraro lawyer Scott Knott. The IRS sent the check last week, Knott said. He declined to say what percentage of the $38 million Ferraro took as a fee.

It is unknown how much money the IRS collected in additional taxes. But the agency could have collected up to $250 mln, based on the law determining how much a whistleblower can collect for information, which ranges between 15 and 30% of the tax recovery.

The case was filed in early 2008, after the IRS overhauled its whistleblower office in 2006.

German joblessness rose for a seventh month in a row in October, highlighting the vulnerability of Europe’s biggest economy to the euro zone crisis, but economists expect the trend to reverse as growth revives in the new year.

Labour Office data showed the number of people out of a job rose to 2.937 mln in October, up 20,000 from the previous month. The unemployment rate stood at 6.9%, unchanged from a revised figure for September.

“The weaker economic situation is having a noticeable impact on the labour market. However, the labour market overall is proving robust and is in good shape,” said FrankJuergen Weise, head of the Labour Office.

The continued weakness of the labour market has upset hopes that domestic demand could offset the impact of weakening exports and cushion the effects of Germany’s economic slowdown.

Economists noted that more companies, especially in the car industry, had reintroduced short-time working and that this would have a further negative impact on joblessness in the key engineering sector.

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FinancialMirror.com

October 31 - November 6, 2012

CYPRUS | 3

Archbishop tells Troika: “Go easy on the banks; Core Tier 1 below 10%” Archbishop Chrysostomos II, representing one of the biggest shareholders in two of the island’s leading banks, wants the Troika of lenders to “go easy” on the banking sector and not impose harsh recapitalisation plans that would push the financial institutions, their shareholders and the economy in general into an even greater abyss.

He has also warned that had his calls been heard, the Cypriot banks would have reduced their exposure to Greece and increased their presence in Russia a long time ago, as he had told the Financial Mirror in an interview in May, 2011.

The head of the Church of Cyprus has had successive meetings with Finance Minister Vassos Shiarly, Central Bank Governor Panicos Demetriades and the CEOs of Bank of Cyprus and Hellenic Bank, Yiannis Kypri and Makis Kervanos, respectively, where he has expressed concern that the Troika inspectors have proposed hiking the bank’s Core Tier 1 capital requirement to 10% as of 2013, instead of a more manageable 8%.

This would mean that the banks would have to return to the investor market and seek more funds at a time when money is scarce, forcing the banks to default once again or seek outside investors in haste.

Both Keravnos and BOC chairman Andreas Artemi have also said they oppose hiking the Core Tier 1 ratio to 10%.

The Church of Cyprus has increased its direct and indirect stake in Hellenic Bank from 13.72% to 16.4% following the bank’s recent 66 mln euro capital increase, but the Archbishopric’s purse is already strained, what with lower public contributions and donations, and the negligent return on its investments, either in the form of dividends or other profit payout.

In the case of Bank of Cyprus, the Church knows that its investment, estimated to be about 3%, would have to be diluted, considering that the bank announced a revised shortfall of 700 mln euros and that the Central Bank’s consultant, Pimco, will want to see some sort of state control in the island’s largest lender. The government is bailing out Laiki Group to the tune of 1.79 bln euros and has taken an 84% stake in exchange, that could rise to 88%.

The Archbishop is worried that Hellenic Bank could also turn out to be the only Cypriot-owned bank as the austerity measures

and bailouts could suggest the Troika of lenders having a say or part control of both Bank of Cyprus and Laiki. He also wants the trio of lenders – the EU, IMF and ECB – to back off from greater controls over the Cooperative banks, which, he believes, should enjoy independent regulation.

WE NEED DIALOGUE

Chrysostomos II also fired a salvo at the government, saying that the current government is about to conclude a “bad deal” with the Troika.

“The government wants our cooperation. It cannot just boss everyone around and expect everybody to obey. So, it should be prepared for dialogue,” he warned.

“There will be some deal with the Troika. But which will it be? Do we destroy everything? Because if there is a bad deal, it is the people who will suffer,” the Archbishop said, adding that “already, thousands are hungry and below the poverty line.”

MORE BRANCHES IN RUSSIA

In May last year, the Archbishop wanted to see a greater return on investments in the two Cyprus-owned banks and the best way to have achieved this was for Bank of Cyprus and Hellenic Bank to expand their operations in Russia.

He told the Financial Mirror in a previous interview that the two banks should consider closing some branches in Greece. However, any merger talk between them would not add any value to the two Cyprus banks.

“Both (Bank of) Cyprus and Hellenic have strong fundamentals to prosper by following independent and organic growth,” he said.

“It is vital that Cyprus has two major banks. If, however, a hostile bid is raised on either or both banks, only then will we consid-

er this option and the underlying circumstances.”

“Considering the serious problems Greece is currently facing, combined with the significant exposure of their portfolios there, I would advise them to close a large number of branches and in a parallel expand further into Russia where there is a strong recovery and there are clearly better prospects,” he had said at the time.

RUSSIAN INTEREST

Finally, the Archbishop may find an ally in presidential hopeful George Lillikas, with whom he seems to share a lot in political views than other candidates, with the former Foreign Minister suggesting that Cyprus embrace Russia further and encourage more investments on the island.

“It is time the relations between Cyprus and Russia were upgraded from ‘friendly’ to ‘strategic’ both on the political and economic front,” he said after returning from Moscow where he addressed a round-table discussion hosted by the Duma.

Lillikas said there was genuine interest from Russia in the prospect of issuing bonds to mortgage the potential future gas revenues from Block 12 in the Cyprus EEZ. He urged the government to push this plan through during its talks with the Troika.

He added that Russian investors had also shown interest to invest directly in the banks that would thus escape any recapitalisation efforts that would ultimately lead to nationalisation and control by foreign powers. This, Lillikas said, would also help reduce the government’s dependence on the Troika lenders for any bank bailout.

October 31 - November 6, 2012

FinancialMirror.com

4 | CYPRUS

Gov’t may struggle with December payroll Cyprus may struggle to pay public sector salaries in December unless a bailout deal is clinched by mid-November, an official document quoted Finance Minister Vassos Shiarly as saying.

The confidential minutes of an October 3 meeting in parliament quoted Shiarly as saying Cyprus might be “butchered” if international lenders dealt with the small country in isolation from other euro zone states that need financial aid.

The minutes, reported in the Politis daily on Tuesday, illustrated growing unease at delays in meeting financial aid needs which the troika of international lenders has put at up to 16 bln euros.

Meeting December’s payroll commitments was contingent on the goodwill of bankers, the minutes quoted Shiarly as saying.

Shiarly said that if a deal were agreed, Cyprus could get a first instalment of aid by December 24. Asked if Cyprus would manage until December, he said: “If needs be. We will have difficulties, but nothing can be absolute.

“I can’t make predictions from now, because no banker would undertake a commitment on financing, even when times were good. I’m just saying it’s manageable.”

He also cited disagreements between Cyprus and lenders on the recapitalisation requirements of its banks. Lenders believe

Defa receives 17 bids for natgas supply Cyprus has received 17 bids for the supply of natural gas, state gas company Defa said on Monday, in an interim solution until its own natural gas reserves come online around 2018.

Defa said it would not disclose more details about the process since it was bound by a confidentiality agreement with potential suppliers.

In its announcement on September 28, Defa had said it wanted to move as swiftly as possible with the process, and to come to a decision by the end of 2012.

Cyprus needs around 1.2 bln cubic metres (bcm) of gas a year, and has said it is an interim solution until September 2018, when its own reserves are expected to come online.

Defa has said it would switch to the short-term import of natural gas if the price guaranteed a significant reduction in the cost of generating electricity. The cost of electricity has soared since a deadly blast virtually levelled the largest generation facility at Vassilikos in July 2011.

Recession to stay until end H1 2013, says UCy study The latest forecasts of the University of Cyprus/ Economics Research Centre indicate that the economy will remain in recession throughout 2012 and, at least, for the first half of 2013.

For the third and fourth quarter of 2012 GDP growth is forecasted at -1.8% and -2.0%, respectively, while GDP growth for the whole of 2012 is projected at -1.9%.

The forecast for the first and second quarter of 2013 remains negative at -1.4% and -1.1%, respectively. Hence, a further contraction in activity of -1.3% is forecasted for the first half of 2013.

Furthermore, the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI), which summarises firms’ and consumers’ perceptions and expectations about economic conditions, remains well below the EU and Euro area averages.

Further decline of ESI in the third quarter of 2012 suggests that the Cypriot economy has entered a period of prolonged recession.

Due to the recessionary conditions in the domestic economy, sluggish activity in the Euro area and the U.K., as well as to contained foreign inflation, CPI inflation in Cyprus is forecasted at 2.8% for 2012 and at 2.4% for the first half of 2013.

Cyprus needs 10 bln euros for banks alone, while Cypriot authorities put the total closer to 5 bln euros, Shiarly said.

The minutes show the authorities clearly under-estimated the complexities of the process.

A deal should have been in place by October 20 to put the issue on the agenda of the November 12 meeting of euro zone finance ministers in Brussels, Shiarly told the MPs. But Cyprus in fact only signalled it was ready to delve deep into a final round of talks last week, after preparing what it said were its own “counter-proposals” to an austerity package prepared by lenders in July.

It has since been waiting for the arrival of a team from the troika, comprising the European Commission, IMF and European Central Bank.

A government source told Reuters they believed a deal was close.

“I’m optimistic any differences can easily and swiftly be resolved,” Shiarly told reporters in a brief comment on Tuesday. He was not asked about the October 3 briefing but said the troika would possible come to Cyprus early next week.

“TORN TO PIECES”

At the parliamentary hearing, one MP said Cyprus’s aid needs should be discussed at the same time as those of Spain

and Greece because, if isolated, “Germany and Finland will tear us to pieces”.

Responding to this at the time, Shiarly said: “Yes. That is precisely their approach. Our case is indeed difficult, because some have very negative positions concerning Cyprus ... I’m inclined to believe that if we go on our own, naturally they will butcher us.”

Cyprus accounts for about 0.2% of the euro zone’s economy but its bailout could be proportionately huge.

If troika assessments are verified, the island would need 16 bln euros - 10 bln for its banks and 6 bln for its fiscal requirements. Cypriot assessments put the total at 11 bln euros.

The island’s debt to GDP ratio is already hovering at about 83%.

The island of 1 mln people frequently falls under the radar, a fact authorities were clearly hoping it could turn to its advantage with a less-than-strenuous grilling from EU peers.

In the minutes of the discussion, Shiarly relates cases of some European finance ministers getting testy with Cyprus even though it was 2.30 a.m. and they were “exhausted” after spending hours on Greece and Spain.

“Imagine what will happen if we go completely on our own,” he was quoted as saying.

Gazprom, ENI, Total clinch gas bids French and Italian energy giants Total and ENI, as well as the Korean Gas company and Gazprom-subsidiary Novatec have been awarded the licenses to explore for oil and gas in Blocks 2, 3, 9 and 11 in the Cyprus Exclusive Economic Zone.

The Council of Ministers approved late on Tuesday the winning bidders of the second licensing round in which 33 companies and joint ventures had taken part.

No financial details were announced.

Texas-based Noble Energy is already in an advanced stage of

its exploration plans in Block 12 as it was the sole bidder in 2009. It has since announced a discovery of an average 7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, one of the biggest finds in the area adjacent to Israel’s giant Leviathan basin. Blocks 2 and 3 have been awarded to the ENI and Kogas joint venture, Block 9 to the conglomerate comprising Total, Russia’s Novatec (a Gazprom affiliate) and GP Global Resources, while Block 11 was awarded to Total. Israel’s Delek has an option to buy into the existing gasfield in Noble’s Block 12.

Noble says block 12 could hold more than 7 tcf Cyprus’s offshore block 12 may carry more than 7 trln cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas, Noble Cyprus manager John Tomich said last week.

“We made that nice discovery of 7 tcf but we think there is a lot more potentially there and we will be chasing additional gas fields,” Tomich said during a press conference for the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Conference to be held in Nicosia next year.

Tomich said the company is now focusing on the appraisal well to be conducted in the first quarter of second quarter of 2013 depending on rig availability.

“We are planning to drill the appraisal well in 2013,

Digitising memories: Europeana1914-1918 to collect WWI stories As we are getting closer to 2014 which marks the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War One, Europeana, Europe’s digital library, archive and museum, has embarked on a mission to collect, preserve and publicise the memories and personal accounts of the horror of the war so that everyone has a better understanding of its impact on ordinary people in Europe. The project, which is entitled Europeana 1914-1918, has so far added over 45,000 photos of objects, scanned letters and diaries from WW1 to its website (www.europeana1914-1918.eu) and now, with the collaboration of the Cyprus Ministry of Education and Culture, it is looking to enrich its content with material from Cyprus.

The participation of Cyprus in World War One was significant, compared to the island’s size and capabilities. In all, 16,000 Cypriot volunteers joined the army and served during the war. This was a huge number, equivalent to 5.8% of the total population which was at that time 274.108. Most of the Cypriot volunteers served in the British Army and fought on the Macedonian front.

depending when a suitable rig is available,” he said.

He also noted that Noble will be also searching for oil beneath the natural gas reservoir, noting however that the probability for oil is “small but not zero.”

Referring to Noble’s strategic plan, Tomich said in parallel with the appraisal well another key-step is to negotiate with the government an LNG terminal.

Recalling that Trade and Industry Minister Neoclis Sylikiotis announced that the government has decided to proceed with a shore-based liquefied natural gas plant at Vasilikos, Tomich said that that will be done “in conjunction with Noble as the lead operator for the project.”

FinancialMirror.com

October 31 - November 6, 2012

CYPRUS | 5

Cyta, Radius in telecom cable for East Med gas l

Deploys hi-speed subsea deal with Infinera

Radius Oceanic Communications Inc., a Florida-based technology company that supports the oil and gas industry, has teamed up with the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority for the Poseidon project, a high capacity undersea cable system that will provide advanced telecom facilities to the offshore oil and gas industry in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The Poseidon system will extend for some 800 km from two onshore landings in Pentaskhinos and Yeroskipou, creating a selfhealing ring that borders the Cypriot EEZ, enveloping the offshore oil and gas lease blocks established for development. Through the Poseidon system, Radius will offer managed broadband services on a subscriber basis to offshore exploration, production and support facilities in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Poseidon’s trunk and branch design allows the system footprint to be expanded over time to provide services to all major oil and gas fields throughout the Eastern Mediterranean, as they are developed.

Cyta, through its own strategic business unit Cytaglobal, is already active in the area of undersea cable systems, providing wholesale products and services on a global basis, and has established the island as a regional telecom hub. This will allow Radius to provide its offshore customers with secure, low-latency broadband connections to key locations worldwide.

Africa, the Gulf of Mexico and the Asia Pacific regions since 2000.

INFINERA PLATFORM

“Poseidon will enable Cyta to play an important role in providing state-of-the-art telecommunications facilities to the developing energy sector in the Eastern Mediterranean region. Our partnership with Radius will allow offshore exploration, production and support facilities to reach the world, through

Shipping can play important role in economy Shipping can play a very important role in the growth of the economy and in attracting foreign investments to Cyprus, President Demetris Christofias said this week at the inauguration of the new head offices of Mastermind Shipmanagement in Limassol.

President Christofias congratulated the Chairman of the Cyprus Shipping Chamber, Captain Eugen Adami, on his support of Cyprus’ shipping and flag, noting that over the past few years he has contributed significantly to the country’s maritime sector.

Christofias said that in these tough economic times, efforts are focused on the growth of the economy and the attraction of foreign investments, noting that shipping

can play an important role in this direction.

He said that one of the greatest achievements of the Cyprus EU Presidency was the signing of the Limassol Declaration, which reactivates the Integrated Maritime Policy of the EU. The Declaration, he added, is a landmark for future action, which will give new impetus and contribute to the development of this innovative policy, and expressed hope that this policy would prove to be an important instrument for maximising sustainable development, the creation of new jobs, the recovery of the economy, social cohesion, and meeting the aims of “Europe 2020” strategy.

Cyta’s telecommunications hub.” said Cyta Chairman Stathis Kittis.

The Radius team, headed by its president, Jim Byous, consists of leading industry professionals with experience in the fields of undersea fiber optic telecommunications engineering, development and operations in West

Meanwhile, Cyta also announced that it has deployed a high-speed subsea platform with California-based Infinera, featuring 500 Gigabit per second (Gb/s) long-haul superchannels, across the TE-North Cable System, interconnecting Asia and Africa to Europe.

Cyta operates and maintains the Alexandros subsystem, part of Telecom Egypt’s TE-North Cable System which stretches 3,600 kms connecting Abu Talat, Egypt, to Marseilles, France, with a branch to Pentaskhinos, Cyprus. The deployment of Infinera’s DTN-X platform will allow Cyta to add additional capacity to the Alexandros subsystem, with the ability to upgrade TE North’s terrestrial network in the future, in order to serve global operators who rely on Cyta to offer services in the Middle East, Asia and Africa region.

“We are committed to delivering innovative optical transport network solutions to customers like Cyta,” said Chris Champion, VP EMEA Sales for Infinera. “We are excited that Cyta has chosen our DTN-X platform to deliver services quickly and reliably to global operators who rely on this important Mediterranean route.”

FinancialMirror.com

October 31 - November 6, 2012

6 | OPINION

Will Cyprus banks ever turn a new leaf?

EDITORIAL The Libor scandal was a turning point in what is becoming the “financial reformation” of Britain’s banking sector, with banks on the way to delivering a more “socially useful” system after becoming a focus for public anger in the financial crisis.

Even the Bank of England’s director of financial stability told members of the Occupy movement that wants to reform finance and end social inequality, that it had played a key role in changing attitudes.

Key reforms, such as changing banking culture, forcing lenders to hold more capital, more competition and reining in big bonuses are starting to have an effect, while negligence and criminality are being punished.

But will the latest sequence of scandals rocking the banks

CIIM offers CISI certificates for investment professionals Following the successful launch of CIIM’s cooperation in 2012 with the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment which was well received by all networks of investment professionals in Cyprus, CIIM provides the Certificate in Investment (Securities) and the Certificate in Investment Management (CertIM) courses this November.

The certificates are recognised by the UK’s Financial Securities Authority and the Financial Services Skills Council as appropriate examinations for those who are managing and/or advising on investments. They are widely recognised and respected as leading qualifications, in a growing number of major financial centres round the world, as well as the Ministry of Finance of Cyprus.

The Certificate in Investment: Securities course will take place in Limassol on November 16, 17 and 23 and the Certificate in Investment Management (CertIM) course will take place in Nicosia on the November 12, 13, 20, 21, 27 and 28 For information on the both courses call the CIIM Executive Education Team at 22462246, e-mail execedu@ciim.ac.cy or visit www.ciim.ac.cy.

FinancialMirror Financial Mirror Published every Wednesday by Financial Mirror Ltd. Tel. 22 678 666 Fax. 22 678 664 www.financialmirror.com P.O. Box 16077, CY2085 Nicosia

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in Cyprus – from the shoddy issue of securities to the big bonuses and the write-off of party-linked debts – ever be fully revealed and will those at fault pay harsh fines or ever go to jail?

Fortunately, President Christofias is busy embarking on his farewell trips around the world before he steps down next February and in between hastily appointing loyal servants to cushy jobs, has found little time to slam the banking sector as the Big Bertha of all evils.

Little has ever come out of the Presidential Palace as regards constructive ways to rebuild the banking sector, restore trust in their institutions and improve their social usefulness, which is why the investors who were duped into buying the toxic bank securities are demoralised and frustrated. Many suggestions have been put on the table but no one seems to want (or have the guts) to take the political decision to resolve the matter.

The Finance Minister is so busy with the government’s

delaying tactics to hold off as much as possible the arrival of the Troika inspectors for the conclusion of the epicallydelayed austerity measures, that he has found little time to consider the options to solve the securities’ debacle.

Perhaps the behind-the-scenes back-stabbing, conspiracies and threats ought to subside and for once reason should prevail so that Pimco can conclude its review of the Cyprus banking sector as soon as possible. Parallel to that, we have yet to see a truly transparent inquiry into the whole financial crisis and we may never see one, as long as all political parties and senior public officials are to blame for having their hands in the cookie jar.

Holding people and institutions hostage to their actions of the past will not result in anything. But delaying the “financial reformation” of the Cyprus banking sector will cause irreparable damage to our economy, far worse than the destruction of 1974 or the 1999-2000 stock market boomand-bust combined.

An Optimistic Case for the Euro None of this would be enough to save Greece, where the fiscal The prospects for the euro and the eurozone remain uncertain.

But recent events at the European Central Bank, in Germany, and deficit is 7.5% of GDP, or Portugal, where it is 5% of GDP. But if in global financial markets, make it worthwhile to consider a favor- Italy and Spain are no longer at risk of default, or of abandoning the euro, Germany and other eurozone leaders will have room to decide able scenario for the common currency’s future.

The ECB has promised to buy Italian and Spanish sovereign whether to continue funding these very small states or politely bonds to keep their interest rates down, provided these countries invite them to leave the euro and return to national currencies.

Moreover, even under this optimistic scenario, the problem of ask for lines of credit from the European Stability Mechanism and the current-account deficits of adhere to agreed fiscal reforms.

Italy, Spain, and the other peripherGermany’s Constitutional Court MARTIN FELDSTEIN al countries will remain. has approved the country’s particiProfessor of Economics at Harvard, Differences among the eurozone pation in the ESM, and Chancellor was Chairman of President Ronald Reagan’s countries in growth rates of proAngela Merkel has given her bless- Council of Economic Advisers and ductivity and wages will continue ing to the ECB’s bond-buying plan, is a former president of the US National to cause disparities in international despite strong public objections Bureau for Economic Research competitiveness, resulting in trade from the Bundesbank. And the international bond market has expressed its approval by cutting and current-account imbalances. Germany now has a currentinterest rates on Italy’s ten-year bonds to 4.8%, and on Spain’s to account surplus of about $215 billion a year, while the rest of the eurozone is running a current-account deficit of about $140 billion.

5.5%.

Italy, Spain, and France all have current-account deficits equal Italian bond rates had already been falling before ECB President Mario Draghi announced the conditional bond-buying plans. That to 2% or more of their GDP. As they come out of their cyclical recesreflected the substantial progress Italian Prime Minister Mario sions, incomes will rise, leading to increased imports and even largMonti’s government had already made. New legislation will slow er current-account deficits. Those deficits must be financed by net the growth of pension benefits substantially, and the Monti govern- inflows of funds from other countries.

If Italy, Spain, and France were not part of the eurozone, they ment’s increase in taxes on owner-occupied real estate will raise significant revenue without the adverse incentive effects that would could allow their currencies to devalue; weaker exchange rates occur if rates for personal-income, payroll, or value-added taxes would increase exports and reduce imports, eliminating their current-account deficits. Moreover, the increase in exports and the were raised.

Reflecting these reforms, the International Monetary Fund shift from imports to domestically produced goods and services recently projected that Italy will have a cyclically adjusted budget would strengthen their economies, thereby reducing their fiscal surplus of nearly 1% of GDP in 2013. Unfortunately, because Italy deficits as tax revenues rose and transfers declined. And a stronger will still be in recession next year, its actual deficit is expected to be economy would help domestic banks by reducing potential bad 1.8% of GDP, adding to the national debt. But economic recovery debt and mortgage defaults. But, of course, Italy, Spain, and France are part of the eurozone and therefore cannot devalue. That is why will come to Italy, moving the budget into surplus.

When the markets see that coming, they will drive Italy’s sover- I believe that these countries – and the eurozone more generally – eign interest rates even lower. Given Italy’s very large national debt, would benefit from euro depreciation. Although a weaker euro interest payments add more than 5% of GDP to the fiscal deficit. would not increase their competitiveness relative to Germany and The combination of economic recovery and lower interest rates other eurozone countries, it would improve their competitiveness would produce a virtuous dynamic in which falling interest rates relative to all non-eurozone countries.

If the euro falls by 20-25%, bringing it close to parity with the and a rising budget surplus are mutually reinforcing.

The situation in Spain is not as good. Despite cuts in govern- dollar and weakening it to a similar extent against other currencies, ment spending and increases in taxes, the IMF still projects the the current-account deficits in Italy, Spain, and France would cyclically adjusted fiscal deficit to exceed 3.2% of GDP in 2013 and shrink and their economies would strengthen. German exports 2.3% of GDP in 2015. The key to solving Spain’s fiscal problem lies would also benefit from a weaker euro, boosting overall economic in the semi-autonomous regions that generate spending and shift demand in Germany.

It is ironic that the ECB’s offer to buy Italian and Spanish debt the financing burden to Madrid. Perhaps Italy’s success will help to convince Spain to adopt the tough measures that reduce projected has exacerbated external imbalances by raising the value of the euro. Perhaps that is just a temporary effect and the euro will future deficits without more current austerity.

If Italy and Spain have budget surpluses and declining debt/GDP decline when global financial markets recognize that a weaker ratios, financial markets will reduce the interest rates on their exchange rate is needed to reduce current-account deficits in the bonds without the proposed ECB purchases. That would remove eurozone’s three major Latin countries. If not, the ECB’s next chalthe serious risk that the ECB could start buying bonds on the basis lenge will be to find a way to talk the euro down. of agreed fiscal packages, and then be forced to react if governments © Project Syndicate, 2012. fall short on implementing them. www.project-syndicate.org

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COMMENT | 7

Different. Escaping the Competitive Herd Recommended Reading

By Dr. RAINER ZITELMANN

No book about marketing and positioning will fail to communicate how important it is to set yourself apart from your competitors. However, “Different. Escaping the Competitive Herd” by Youngme Moon is devoted exclusively to this issue.

The author, who teaches marketing at the Harvard Business School, starts by saying how hard it is to distinguish yourself in a way that will be appreciated by the customer.

At some point in the past, it may have been enough to simply be louder than the others.

“Today, that kind of marketing is likely to appear as vacuous as a 1980s heavy metal band.” While products available in a given category proliferate, they tend to show very few differences or else the differences are so negligible as to escape the awareness of the consumer who, after all, may not be an expert in the category.

More and more consumers are basically of the opinion that product differences do not actually matter. “The differences are there, but they are lost in a sea of sameness.”

The result of competition is no longer differentiation but imitation and levelling – and one look at today’s automobiles, which increasingly resemble each other, suggests as much.

And yet, while there may be few companies in each product category that truly make a difference, the very fact makes it highly interesting to take a closer look at these companies and to see what makes them meaningfully different from the rest of the field.

The first part of the book (“The Competitive Her”) is devoted to criticism, and takes on the tendency that products more and more resemble each other in the eyes of consumers. I found the book’s second part (“No Contest”) more interesting that identifies brands that did something fundamentally and comprehensively different than their rivals. One example is IKEA that offered not more, but less, customer service and product differentiation, and became vastly successful as a result – even in the United States. Extreme examples are the two apparel brands BAPE and Hollister, popular among young people in Japan and the U.S., respectively.

What did BAPE do that its competitors failed to do?

They simply did everything differently. Their stores are not located in good locations but are intentionally hidden away in places that are rather hard to find for the buyer. In most BAPE stores you may only buy a single garment, and it has to be your own size. Clothing is produced in limited editions only, making it quite hard to obtain a given garment. Of course, it is precisely this sort of shortage and the eccentric flair that makes the brand attractive.

Hollister, just like the affiliated Abercrombie & Fitch, also does everything differently, and addresses itself specifically to a certain target group while consciously and consistently excluding others. The author, while acknowledging the success of the strategy, is dismayed over the fact that the scheme works – a dismay that I, as reviewer, do not care to share. In fact, the difference in angle prompts me to retell the story of Abercrombie & Fitch in my own words because it underscores the author’s hypothesis that it is not enough to make a wee bit of a difference, but that you need to set yourself apart comprehensively to get consumers to respond. The A&F stores, which are very popular among young people, look entirely different than normal apparel stores. It is dark like in a club inside, and the music is just as loud. The fragrance “Fierce” is dispersed via the ventilation system, impregnating the clothes, too. Most importantly, the sales staff are selected according to strict criteria – all of the young men and women being very good-looking. Young lads with six-pack abdominals pose occasionally outside the boutiques.

The clothing sold inside is tailored for people with a perfect figure. This fact, as much as the selection of the sales staff according to optical criteria, woke the ire of feminists and other interest groups. People less good-looking felt discriminated against and accused it of sexism. Environmentalists protested against the “air pollution” because you can smell the scent even outside the premises. Since the company has clearly positioned itself and does not fear public controversy, it needs no advertising. It has therefore dispensed with classic advertisements since the proper positioning ensures a high degree of media exposure, while word of mouth among the young target group takes care of the rest. This much on the story of this company.

The author cites several examples to show how companies successfully positioned themselves by resisting the urge to adapt to their competitors. Her message is, therefore: Of course you need to keep an eye on the competition. But we all spend way too much time studying the competition and not enough time trying to understand customer psychology.

An intense observation of the competition can have the effect of getting closer and closer to the products of the competitors along the lines of an assumed “best practice” – instead of using your imagination to find ways to set yourself apart conspicuously and comprehensively from the customer’s point of view, dif-

fering not just in nuances.

“Now, to be clear, I am not suggesting that we should be ignoring our competition. But I do believe that it is important for us to begin looking at ourselves the way that consumers do. When consumers look at the brands within a particular category, more often than not, all they see is a competitive blur.”

I would like to add: The strategy to set yourself radically apart is so effective because it makes it so much easier for companies and products to catch the attention of the media, which are always on the lookout for new things and love to report on provocative strategies. Even before the first Abercrombie & Fitch store opened in Germany, the German media covered the event. The “Handelsblatt” business daily, for one, carried a lengthy article, headlined “A Lot of People Don’t Belong in Our Clothes.”

And this is precisely the gist of the positioning strategy of the apparel chain. The article quotes Michael Jeffries, the group’s CEO, with the words: “A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes]. Those companies that are in trouble are trying to target everybody: young, old, fat, skinny.”

The book by Youngme Moon will stimulate any entrepreneur or manager to think about whether the products and services that their company have to offer might be too similar to those of others, and whether they might do better with a strategy of radical differentiation. The success of companies such as Apple whose products are not just slightly different than those of the competition but differ radically should encourage us all to think harder about distinctness.

Dr. Rainer Zitelmann is editor of the German Real Estate News and founder of Dr.ZitelmannPB.GmbH based in Berlin, Germany’s leading consulting company for real estate companies and funds. info@zitelmann.com

Behavioral economics taps power of persuasion for tax compliance l

Persuading delinquent taxpayers to do the right thing

Can peer pressure make delinquent taxpayers pony up what they owe the government?

Behavioral economists say it can, and some tax agencies in both the United States and Britain are taking their advice to heart — and finding that they are reaping rewards.

Behavioral economics has already upended investing and finance with new theories on why and how people make decisions about their money.

From the simple re-wording of late notices to changing the structure of back-tax payment plans, tax collectors are getting results by tapping into basic human tendencies. Whether it is the desire to do what peers do or to stick with a voluntary commitment, persistent patterns of human conduct revealed by behavioral economics are gradually being targeted to boost tax revenues at very low cost.

“People forget the basis of our system is voluntary compliance,” said Ted London, a California-based specialist in taxation with information technology consultancy CGI Group Inc. “The vast majority of people want to do the right thing. If government can make it easier to understand what that is, it can have a big impact,” he said.

Behavioral economists study how social and emotional fac-

tors influence economic decisions, using psychology and other disciplines to shed light on how and why we behave as we do when it comes to finance and money.

These researchers’ insights have undermined orthodox economic theories that assume consumers and investors make decisions based solely on material self-interest.

Tax administrators traditionally have focused on penalties to compel compliance. That remains important, but audits and legal enforcement action are expensive. Behavioral strategies can help do the job at far lower cost, experts said.

PEER PRESSURE

Psychologist Robert Cialdini, a professor at Arizona State University and an expert in persuasion, pioneered the social insight that if people know what their peers are doing, they are more likely to do the same. Applying that insight, the British tax agency, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), has tested different form letters on delinquent taxpayers.

In one letter, this sentence - “Nine out of 10 people in the UK pay their tax on time” - increased positive response by 1.5%.

Adding another sentence - “You are one of the few who have not paid us yet” - raised the success rate 3.9%.

HMRC also found compliance rose 6.8% when taxpayers were told they were one of few delinquents in their hometowns.

The HMRC’s work is led by its Behavioral Insights Team, which is advised by University of Chicago professor Richard Thaler, a founder of the field of behavioral finance.

Other tax administrators have caught on to these ideas on their own, without a behavioral economist to guide them.

A push for “plain English” in tax forms over the past decade has led the Washington State Department of Revenue toward behavioral ideas of salience, the idea that people focus only on what they understand.

After re-writing the department’s form letter sent to firms believed to owe tax on the use of goods or services, positive responses from taxpayers increased 43%.

Washington State’s first-ever tax amnesty program was also written by experts in plain language. It recently generated $321 mln in new tax revenue for the state.

The results have made the department receptive to the idea of more targeted messages like HMRC’s, said Janet Shimabukuro, assistant director of Washington’s Taxpayer Services Division. Structuring late payments is another area where understanding behavior can have an impact.

FinancialMirror.com

October 31 - November 6, 2012

8 | CΟΜΜΕΝΤ

The Lost Generations A country’s economic success depends on the education, skills, and health of its population. When its young people are healthy and well educated, they can find gainful employment, achieve dignity, and succeed in adjusting to the fluctuations of the global labor market. Businesses invest more, knowing that their workers will be productive. Yet many societies around the world do not meet the challenge of ensuring basic health and a decent education for each generation of children.

Why is the challenge of education unmet in so many countries? Some are simply too poor to provide decent schools. Parents themselves may lack adequate education, leaving them unable to help their own children beyond the first year or two of school, so that illiteracy and innumeracy are transmitted from one generation to the next. The situation is most difficult in large families (say, six or seven children), because parents invest little in the health, nutrition, and education of each child.

Yet rich countries also fail. The United States, for example, cruelly allows its poorest children to suffer. Poor people live in poor neighborhoods with poor schools. Parents are often unemployed, ill, divorced, or even incarcerated.

Children become trapped in a persistent generational cycle of poverty, despite the society’s general affluence. Too often, children growing up in poverty end up as poor adults.

A remarkable new documentary film, The House I Live In, shows that America’s story is even sadder and crueler than that, owing to disastrous policies. Starting around 40 years ago, America’s politicians declared a “war on drugs,” ostensibly to fight the use of addictive drugs like cocaine. As the film clearly shows, however, the war on drugs became a war on the poor, especially on poor minority groups.

In fact, the war on drugs led to mass incarceration of poor, minority young men. The US now imprisons around 2.3 mln people at any time, a substantial number of whom are poor people who are arrested for selling drugs to support their own addiction. As a result, the US has ended up with the world’s highest incarceration rate – a shocking 743 people per 100,000!

The film depicts a nightmarish world in which poverty in one generation is passed on to the next, with the cruel, cost-

ly, and inefficient “war on drugs” facilitating the process.

Poor people, often African-Americans, cannot find jobs or have returned from military service without skills or employment contacts. They fall into poverty and turn to drugs.

Instead of receiving social and medical assistance, they are arrested and turned into felons. From that point on, they are in and out of the prison system, and have little chance of ever getting a legal job that enables them to escape poverty.

Their children grow up without a parent at home – and without hope and support. The children of drug users often become drug users themselves; they, too, frequently end up in jail or suffer violence or early death.

BY JEFFREY D. SACHS

What is crazy about this is that the US has missed the obvious point – and has missed it for 40 years. To break the cycle of poverty, a country needs to invest in its children’s future, not in the imprisonment of 2.3 mln people a year, many for non-violent crimes that are symptoms of poverty.

Many politicians are eager accomplices to this lunacy.

They play to the fears of the middle class, especially middleclass fear of minority groups, to perpetuate this misdirection of social efforts and government spending.

The general point is this: Governments have a unique role to play to ensure that all young members of a generation – poor children as well as rich ones – have a chance. A poor kid is unlikely to break free of his or her parents’ poverty without strong and effective government programs that support high-quality education, health care, and decent nutrition.

This is the genius of “social democracy,” the philosophy pioneered in Scandinavia, but also deployed in many developing countries, such as Costa Rica. The idea is simple and powerful: All people deserve a chance, and society needs to help everybody to secure that chance. Most important, fami-

lies need help to raise healthy, well-nourished, and educated children. Social investments are large, financed by high taxes, which rich people actually pay, rather than evade.

This is the basic method to break the intergenerational transmission of poverty. A poor child in Sweden has benefits from the start. The child’s parents have guaranteed maternity/paternity leave to help them nurture the infant. The government then provides high-quality day care, enabling the mother – knowing that the child is in a safe environment – to return to work. The government ensures that all children have a place in preschool, so that they are ready for formal schooling by the age of six. And health care is universal, so the child can grow up healthy.

A comparison of the US and Sweden is therefore revealing. Using comparable data and definitions provided by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the US has a poverty rate of 17.3%, roughly twice Sweden’s poverty rate of 8.4%. And America’s incarceration rate is 10 times Sweden’s rate of 70 people per 100,000. The US is richer on average than Sweden, but the income gap between America’s richest and poorest is vastly wider than it is in Sweden, and the US treats its poor punitively, rather than supportively.

One of the shocking realities in recent years is that America now has almost the lowest degree of social mobility of the high-income countries. Children born poor are likely to remain poor; children born into affluence are likely to be affluent adults.

This inter-generational tracking amounts to a profound waste of human talents. America will pay the price in the long term unless it changes course. Investing in its children and young people provides the very highest return that any society can earn, in both economic and human terms.

Jeffrey D. Sachs is Professor of Economics and Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. He is also Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General on the Millennium Development Goals. © Project Syndicate, 2012. www.project-syndicate.org

Sovereign Environmental Risk NAIROBI – Until the global financial crisis erupted four years ago, sovereign bonds had traditionally been viewed as reliable, virtually risk-free investments. Since then, they have looked far less safe. And many observers within and outside the financial sector have begun to question the models upon which credit-rating agencies, investment firms, and others rely to price the risks tied to such securities.

At the same time, it is increasingly obvious that any reform of risk models must factor in environmental implications and natural-resource scarcity. Indeed, a recent investment report underlined that the fall in prices in the twentieth century for 33 important commodities – including aluminum, palm oil, and wheat – has been entirely offset in the decade since 2002, when commodity prices tripled.

It is likely that growing natural-resource scarcities are driving a paradigm shift, with potentially profound implications for economies – and thus for sovereign-debt risk – worldwide. Indeed, many countries are already experiencing an increase in import prices for biological resources. Financial markets can no longer overlook how ecosystems and the multitrillion-dollar services and products that they provide – ranging from water supplies, carbon storage, and timber to the healthy soils needed for crop production – underpin economic performance.

In addition, we are living in a world in which overexploitation of natural resources, unsustainable consumption, and the condition of many ecosystems have become incompatible with accelerating demographic growth, as the human population increases from seven billion today to well over nine billion by 2050.

Studies such as the The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB), conducted on behalf of the G-8, have improved our understanding of the economic, ecological, and

social value of the goods and services provided by ecosystems, and have proposed better methods for pricing them. Yet this new thinking has yet to influence significantly the behavior of bond investors and rating agencies.

Some might assume that bond markets are shielded from the effects of climate change, ecosystem degradation, and water scarcity. With more than $40 trln of sovereign debt in global markets at any given time, that is a very high-risk game.

By ACHIM STEINER and SUSAN BURNS

In order to address the gap between reality and perception, the United Nations Environment Program Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) and the Global Footprint Network (GFN), together with a number of institutional investors, investment managers, and information providers, have launched E-RISC, or Environmental Risk in Sovereign Credit analysis.

The project will take center stage at a gathering of investors in London on November 19, providing an early glimpse of how environmental criteria can be factored into sovereign-risk models and hence into the credit ratings assigned to sovereign bonds.

E-RISC highlights the situation in several countries – including Brazil, France, India, Turkey, and Japan – demonstrating how importers and exporters of natural resources such as timber, fish, and crops are being exposed to the increasing volatility that accompanies rising global resource scarcity. Indeed, the E-RISC report estimates that a 10% vari-

ation in commodity prices can lead to changes in a country’s trade balance amounting to more than 0.5% of GDP. Meanwhile, the economic consequences of environmental degradation can be severe. The report estimates that a 10% reduction in the productive capacity of soils and freshwater areas alone could lead to a reduction in the trade balance equivalent to more than 4% of GDP. Clearly, environmental risks are potentially large enough to affect countries’ economies in ways that could influence their willingness or ability to repay sovereign debt. In addition, these risks vary widely across countries, including countries whose current credit ratings suggest similar levels of sovereign risk.

This suggests that the findings and methodologies applied in the E-RISC project bring added value to traditional sovereign-risk analysis, by providing insights into relevant but currently unaccounted-for parameters. Credit-rating agencies, institutional investors, and asset managers are encouraged to see how such factors can be incorporated into their own risk models.

The time has come for a better understanding of the connection between environmental and natural-resource risk and sovereign credit risk. Only then will investors, rating agencies, and governments be able to plan over the medium to long term with the knowledge needed to ensure long-term economic growth and stability.

Achim Steiner is Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of the UN Environment Program. Susan Burns is the founder of the Global Footprint Network. © Project Syndicate, 2012. www.project-syndicate.org

October 31 - November 6, 2012

FinancialMirror.com

COMMENT | 9

US foreign bribery penalties for drugmakers may lack bite l Most top pharmaceuticals targeted for foreign corruption probes Global drugmakers are paying tens of millions of dollars to settle U.S. allegations that they bribed their way across emerging markets, but harsher penalties may be needed to deter the practice in untapped regions where billions are at stake.

Federal authorities have cast a wide net to weed out suspected gift-giving and kickbacks to foreign doctors and government officials to gain a foothold in burgeoning new markets in Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America.

At least eight of the world’s top ten pharmaceuticals, including Bristol-Myers Squibb Co, Pfizer Inc and Johnson & Johnson, have disclosed U.S. probes under the 1977 Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

Pfizer agreed to pay $60 mln this year to settle FCPA charges and J&J reached a $70 mln settlement last year. Pfizer is on track to record $10 bln in sales from emerging markets this year, while J&J said Brazil, Russia, India and China accounted for just under 10% of the $65 bln in sales it reported last year.

With so much at stake outside of established markets in the United States and Europe, s ome experts say fines like these are hardly a deterrent.

“The $60 mln fine for Pfizer to a lay person sounds like quite a bit of money, but in perspective it took less than two days of Lipitor sales during its peak. It’s really just chump change for them,” said Michael Leibfried, a senior analyst with market research consulting firm GlobalData. The cholesterol pill at its height was a $13 bln a year cash cow for Pfizer.

Kara Brockmeyer, chief of FCPA investigations within the Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement division, said the SEC and Department of Justice make a considerable

effort to ensure penalties are appropriate and a deterrent. And there has yet to be a repeat FCPA prosecution.

The SEC relies on legal provisions that call for disgorgement of profits based on ill-gotten gains plus penalties. Companies that report violations and cooperate with authorities are often rewarded with penalty reductions. “I would hate to think the companies view enforcement actions as the cost of doing business,” Brockmeyer told Reuters. “If we find that out, it will certainly increase the size of the penalty,” she said.

The law firm Shearman & Sterling, which puts out a semiannual report tracking FCPA enforcement, found that penalties across all industries have averaged less than $20 mln.

In 2009 Danish insulin maker Novo Nordisk paid $9 mln for FCPA violations, while medical device maker Smith & Nephew this year agreed to $22 mln in fines and profit disgorgement.

The largest FCPA penalty on record was $800 mln paid in 2008

by Germany-based Siemens.

The industry’s FCPA payments pale in comparison to billiondollar settlements over allegations drugmakers promoted medications for unapproved uses in the United States. These penalties often involve how much federal Medicare and Medicaid programs spent on the so-called off-label prescriptions. “I’m not terribly surprised that dollar settlements (for FCPA violations) are strikingly lower because the government isn’t directly being harmed,” said Boston University law professor Kevin Outterson.

Pfizer’s settlement covered infractions dating back to 2004, including some attributed to drugmaker Wyeth, which it bought in 2009. The company lightened its penalty by

voluntarily providing information about kickbacks and bribes in Bulgaria, Croatia, Kazakhstan, Russia, China, the Czech Republic, Italy, Serbia, Indonesia, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

“Pfizer subsidiaries in several countries had bribery so entwined in their sales culture that they offered points and bonus programs to improperly reward foreign officials who proved to be their best customers,” Brockmeyer said in a statement at the time the settlement was announced.

Pfizer executives say their emerging market operations will not repeat those practices. It has introduced an anti-corruption audit program, closer monitoring of relationships with non-U.S. healthcare providers and government officials, a mandatory global training program for appropriate employees and enhanced due diligence to make sure buyout targets follow the rules. J&J said it has enacted similar anti-corruption initiatives.

“We’re not out there to play the game that’s been played before,” said Adele Gulfo, head of Latin America for Pfizer’s emerging markets unit. “We’re either going to win by playing the right way or we’re going to find another place to go.”

Asked if there is still an expectation of payoffs for business in some Latin American circles, Gulfo said: “I’m sure it exists. I’d be naive to say it doesn’t exist.”

Latin American business practices were cited in August as the reason No. 1 generic drugmaker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries was targeted for an FCPA investigation.

J&J also voluntarily reported violations by foreign subsidiaries going back to 2007. Its settlement covered allegations of bribes and kickbacks to win business in Greece, Iraq, Poland and Romania.

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∞Ú¯ÈÂ›ÛÎÔÔ˜ Vs ∆ÚfiÈη Αγώνα κατά των µέτρων που θέλει να επιβάλει στισ τράπεζεσ και κατ’ επέκταση στο χρηµατοπιστωτικÞ σύστηµα η ΤρÞικα κάνει ο Αρχιεπίσκοποσ ΧρυσÞστοµοσ ώστε κάποια απÞ τα µέτρα τησ τρÞικασ για τον τραπεζικÞ τοµέα να µην περιλαµβάνονται στο τελικÞ µνηµÞνιο.

Oι ανησυχίεσ του προκαθήµενου τησ Κυπριακήσ Εκκλησίασ αφορούν την πρÞθεση τησ τρÞικα για βασικά πρωτοβάθµια κεφάλαια 10% αντί 8% αφού θεωρείται δεδοµένο Þτι θα χρειαστεί νέα αύξηση κεφαλαίου. Ùπωσ πληροφορούµαστε ο ΜακαριÞτατοσ µετάφερε αυτέσ του τισ ανησυχίεσ στον ΥπουργÞ Οικονοµικών Βάσο Σιαρλή, στο ∆ιοικητή τησ Κεντρικήσ Τράπεζασ Πανίκο ∆ηµητριάδη και στουσ επικεφάλησ τησ Τράπεζασ Κύπρου Γιάννη Κυπρή και τησ Ελληνικήσ Τράπεζασ Μάκη ΚεραυνÞ. Μετά την πρÞσφατη αύξηση κεφαλαίου τησ Ελληνικήσ τράπεζασ κατά 66 εκ. ευρώ στο οποίο συµµετείχε η Ιερά Αρχιεπισκοπή, το ποσοστÞ τησ αυξήθηκε απÞ 13.72% σε 16.40%.

Σε περίπτωση, που η συγκεκριµένη πρÞταση τησ τρÞικασ για Core Tier 1 10% επικυρωθεί και µάλιστα ισχύει απÞ το 2013 τÞτε, γίνεται αντιληπτÞ πωσ και η Ελληνική Τράπεζα θα χρειαστεί να προβεί σε αύξηση κεφαλαίου ανάλογα βέβαια και µε τυχÞν αποµÞχλευση στην οποία θα προβεί αλλά και τα αποτελέσµατα του ελέγχου τησ Pimco. ∆εδοµένο θεωρείται το Þτι το ποσοστÞ τησ Αρχιεπισκοπήσ στην Τράπεζα Κύπρου θα µειωθεί αφού ήδη η τράπεζα ανακοίνωσε κεφαλαιακÞ έλλειµµα πέραν των 700 εκ. ευρώ χωρίσ να υπολογίζονται τα αποτελέσµατα τησ Pimco και τυχÞν αυστηρÞτεροι Þροι σε θέµατα κεφαλαίου και θέλει να αποφύγει παρÞµοιεσ καταστάσεισ και µε την Ελληνική. Κατά τησ αύξησησ του συγκεκριµένου δείκτη στο 10% τάχθηκε πρÞσφατα και ο Ανώτατοσ ΕκτελεστικÞσ ∆ιευθυντήσ τησ Ελληνικήσ Τράπεζασ Μάκησ ΚεραυνÞσ καθώσ και ο ΠρÞεδροσ του ∆Σ τησ Τράπεζασ Κύπρου Ανδρέασ Αρτέµη. Ο Αρχιεπίσκοποσ, φαίνεται να προτάσσει το επιχείρηµα πωσ η Ελληνική θα είναι σύντο-

µα η µοναδική απÞ τισ µεγάλεσ τράπεζεσ που θα µπορεί να θεωρείται αµιγώσ κυπριακή αφού στισ άλλεσ δύο λÞγο θα έχει η τρÞικα. ΕκτÞσ απÞ την Ελληνική Τράπεζασ ο Αρχιεπίσκοποσ κάλεσε την τρÞικα να αφήσει ήσυχα τα Συνεργατικά τονίζοντασ πωσ θα πρέπει να διατηρηθεί το υφιστάµενο καθεστώσ εποπτείασ τουσ.

KAK∏ ™Àªºø¡π∞ Χθεσ ο Αρχιεπίσκοποσ εξέφρασε τισ έντονεσ ανησυχίεσ του για το ενδεχÞµενο µιασ κακήσ συµφωνίασ µε την ΤρÞικα. Είπε Þτι η Κυβέρνηση θα πρέπει να επιτρέψει το διάλογο και τον αντίλογο, ώστε να βρεθεί µια χρυσή τοµή. «Η Κυβέρνηση θέλει συνεργασία, δεν µπορεί Þµωσ να διατάσσει και οι άλλοι να υπακούν. Πρέπει να υπάρξει διάλογοσ, να υπάρξει λÞγοσ και αντίλογοσ και να βρεθεί η χρυσή τοµή», είπε ο Αρχιεπίσκοποσ. Ερωτηθείσ κατά πÞσο ανησυχεί για το

ενδεχÞµενο το κράτοσ να µην µπορεί να ανταποκριθεί στισ υποχρεώσεισ του αν δεν υπάρξει συµφωνία µε την ΤρÞικα σύντοµα, ο Κύπρου ΧρυσÞστοµοσ είπε «µε ανησυχεί πολύ». «Κάποια συµφωνία θα γίνει µε την ΤρÞικα αλλά ποια συµφωνία; Να διαλύσουµε τα πάντα; ∆ιÞτι αν θα γίνει µια κακή συµφωνία ο λαÞσ θα υποφέρει», πρÞσθεσε.

∆Ô Ì·Ï¿ÎÈ ÛÙȘ ÙÚ¿Â˙˜ ÁÈ· Ù· ·ÍÈfiÁÚ·Ê· Στα 700 εκ. ευρώ ανέρχεται το ποσÞ αξιογράφων που αγοράστηκαν απÞ µη θεσµικούσ επενδυτέσ, σύµφωνα µε εκτιµήσεισ τησ Επιτροπήσ Κεφαλαιαγοράσ, η οποία αναµένει τισ προτάσεισ τησ Τράπεζασ Κύπρου και τησ Λαϊκήσ για λύση του θέµατοσ των αξιογράφων. Σύµφωνα µε πληροφορίεσ, οι εποπτικέσ αρχέσ πιστεύουν Þτι ένα διαπραγµατευτικÞ χαρτί ενÞψει των συζητήσεων µε την ΤρÞικα είναι και το πÞρισµα τησ Κεντρικήσ Τράπεζασ, σύµφωνα µε το οποίο οι τράπεζεσ Κύπρου και Λαϊκή έχουν εµπλακεί σε διαδικασίεσ και πρακτικέσ προώθησησ τησ διάθεσησ των αξιÞγραφων κεφαλαίου, οι οποίεσ συνίστανται στην παροχή τησ επενδυτικήσ συµβουλήσ, χωρίσ να

«Επαγγελµατική Συµπεριφορά των τραπεζών κατά την Παροχή Επενδυτικών ή ΠαρεπÞµενων Υπηρεσιών και κατά την Άσκηση Επενδυτικών ∆ραστηριοτήτων».

∆∂§∂™π°ƒ∞º√

έχουν τηρηθεί οι πρÞνοιεσ του περί Επενδυτικών Υπηρεσιών και ∆ραστηριοτήτων ΝÞµου και τησ Οδηγίασ που εξέδωσε η Κεντρική Τράπεζα για την

Παράδοση των προτάσεών τουσ για λύση του προβλήµατοσ αξιογράφων µέχρι τισ 5 Νοεµβρίου ζητά απÞ Υπουργείο Οικονοµικών, Κεντρική Τράπεζα και τισ ∆ιοικήσεισ των Τραπεζών Κύπρου και Λαϊκήσ ο Σύνδεσµοσ ΚατÞχων Τραπεζικών Αξιογράφων. Σε διαφορετική περίπτωση ο Σύνδεσµοσ προειδοποιεί µε ιδιωτικέσ ποινικέσ διώξεισ κατά παντÞσ υπευθύνου, την αποστο-

∆Ô ÛΤÊÙÔÓÙ·È ÁÈ· ·ÂÚÁ›· ∞΢‚¤ÚÓËÙÔ Î·Ú¿‚È Ë §·˚΋ ∆Ú¿Â˙· ΠοσοστÞ 98,2% των υπαλλήλων τησ Λαϊκήσ Τράπεζασ που παρευρέθηκαν χθεσ στισ επαρχιακέσ γενικέσ συνελεύσεισ τησ ΕΤΥΚ, εξουσιοδÞτησαν µε την ψήφο τουσ την συντεχνία Þπωσ λάβει τα απαραίτητα µέτρα, χωρίσ να αποκλείονται απεργιακά µέτρα, για τη µονοµερή Þπωσ την χαρακτηρίζουν απÞφαση για περικοπέσ στουσ µισθούσ των εργαζοµένων. O πρÞεδροσ τησ συντεχνίασ των τραπεζοϋπαλλήλων Λοϊζοσ Χατζηκωστήσ, άστραψε και βρÞντηξε για τα τεκταινÞµενα στη Λαϊκή. Ο κ. Χατζηκωστήσ υποστήριξε στην οµιλία του Þτι η Λαϊκή είναι ακυβέρνητο καράβι καθώσ οι υπάλληλοι δεν γνωρίζουν καν τη νέα διοίκηση του οµίλου. Η συντεχνία ανακοίνωσε τη διαφωνία τησ µε τισ τελικέσ ρυθµίσεισ για το µισθολογικÞ, γιατί δεν λήφθηκε υπÞψη η µείωση του κÞστουσ που προέκυψε απÞ την αλλαγή του συνταξιοδοτικού και απÞ τισ πρÞωρεσ αφυπηρετήσεισ. Ο κ. Χατζηκωστήσ κατηγÞρησε τη νέα διοίκηση τησ Λαϊκήσ για υπαναχώρηση σε Þσα συµφωνήθηκαν προηγουµένωσ. Η νέα διοίκηση δεν έχει αίσθηση τησ ψυχολο-

γίασ του προσωπικού, είπε ο κ. Χατζηκωστήσ, κατηγορώντασ διαφορετικά διοικητικά στελέχη Þτι προσήλθαν στο διάλογο µε την ΕΤΥΚ µε διαφορετική ατζέντα ο καθένασ. Ψήφισµα που εγκρίθηκε απÞ τη συνέλευση καλεί την Κεντρική Τράπεζα να επιταχύνει τουσ ελέγχουσ τησ στισ κυπριακέσ τράπεζεσ και εκεί που διαπιστώνεται κακοδιαχείριση ή αδικαιολÞγητη διαγραφή χρεών να τιµωρηθούν οι υπεύθυνοι, Þποιοι και να είναι. Η συνέλευση καλεί επίσησ τισ διοικήσεισ των τραπεζών να καλέσει Þσουσ πήραν µπÞνουσ πέραν των 10,000 ευρώ να τα επιστρέψουν. Εξουσιοδοτείται το Συµβούλιο τησ ΕΤΥΚ να επιδιώξει την αλλαγή-βελτίωση τησ µονοµερούσ απÞφασησ του ∆Σ τησ Λαϊκήσ Τράπεζασ. Τέλοσ ωσ ύστατο µέσο για επίτευξη των στÞχων, το ∆Σ θα προχωρήσει σε Þλα τα ενδεδειγµένα µέτρα µη αποκλειÞµενησ και τησ απεργίασ.

λή του πορίσµατοσ τησ Κεντρικήσ Τράπεζασ στα αρµÞδια σώµατα τησ ΕΕ, µε τερµατισµÞ τησ συνεργασίασ των µελών µε τισ τράπεζεσ, απÞσυρση καταθέσεων και µε δυναµικέσ κινητοποιήσεισ. Στην επιστολή του, ο Σύνδεσµοσ σηµειώνει Þτι επιµένει στην πρÞτασή του για παραχώρηση δανείων στουσ κατÞχουσ αξιογράφων στο 100% τησ ονοµαστικήσ αξίασ των αξιογράφων και ταυτÞχρονη κατάθεση του προϊÞντοσ των δανείων σε 5ετείσ καταθέσεισ µε το τρέχον επιτÞκιο και µε δικαίωµα απÞσυρσησ του 20% του κεφαλαίου κάθε χρÞνο επιπλέον τουσ τÞκουσ, λέγοντασ Þτι η πρÞταση αυτή αποτελεί “κÞκκινη γραµµή”.

G∞∑PR√ª, ∂¡π Î·È TOTAL ‹Ú·Ó Ù· √ÈÎfi‰· Την καταρχήν χορήγηση άδειασ για τέσσερα τεµάχια στην κυπριακή ΑΟΖ αποφάσισε το ΥπουργικÞ Συµβούλιο, αφού ενώπιον του τέθηκε η έκθεση αξιολÞγησησ των 33 αιτήσεων για τον Β’ γύρο αδειοδÞτησησ. Η Κύπροσ µπαίνει πλέον για τα καλά στην εποχή των υδρογονανθράκων και στον ενεργειακÞ χάρτη τησ Ευρώπησ και τησ Μέσησ Ανατολήσ. Σύµφωνα µε τον ΥπουργÞ Εµπορίου, Βιοµηχανίασ και Τουρισµού Νεοκλήσ Συλικιώτησ, οι άδειεσ αποφασίστηκε να χορηγηθούν για τα τεµάχια 2, 3, 9 και 11. Ο κ. Συλικιώτησ είπε Þτι αναµένεται οι διαπραγµατεύσεισ να ολοκληρωθούν εντÞσ του 2013. Οι άδειεσ θα χορηγηθούν στισ πιο κάτω εταιρείεσ: - ΟικÞπεδο 2 και 3: ΕΝΙ (Ιταλία) και KOGAS (Ν.Κορέα) - ΟικÞπεδο 9: TOTAL (Γαλλία) και NOVATEC (Ρωσία, θυγατρική τησ Gazprom) και την GP Global Resources - ΟικÞπεδο 11: TOTAL (Γαλλία). Πλέον δηµιουργείται ένασ κλοιÞσ υπερδυνάµεων στην κυπριακή ΑΟΖ. ΗΠΑΓαλλία- Ρωσία- Ιταλία- Ν.Κορέα είναι οι χώρεσ που αποτελούν αυτÞ το µπλοκ που πλέον στέλνει και πολιτικά µηνύµατα.

ΧΡΗΜΑ&ΑΓΟΡΑ

31 OKTΩΒΡΙΟΥ, 2012

2/14 | ΕΙ∆ΗΣΕΙΣ

ªÔÚÊ‹ ‰È·ÏÔ΋˜ ÔÈ ‰È·Áڷʤ˜ ¯ÚÂÒÓ ÙˆÓ ÎÔÌÌ¿ÙˆÓ µÔϤ˜ ·fi ÙÔÓ °ÂÓÈÎfi ∂ÈÛ·ÁÁÂϤ· ¶¤ÙÚÔ ∫ÏËÚ›‰Ë Απαράδεκτη µορφή διαπλοκήσ χαρακτηρίζει ο ΓενικÞσ Εισαγγελέασ, Πέτροσ Κληρίδησ, τη χαριστική διαγραφή χρεών απÞ πλευράσ τραπεζών σε κÞµµατα ή ακÞµα και φυσικά πρÞσωπα που εµπλέκονται στην πολιτική. Ο ΓενικÞσ Εισαγγελέασ ανέφερε Þτι οι χαριστικέσ διαγραφέσ χρεών σε αυτέσ τισ περιπτώσεισ αποδεικνύουν και τη διαπλοκή. «Αν µε τη διαγραφή φαίνεται Þτι υπάρχει µια διαπλοκή µεταξύ τησ τράπεζασ και του συγκεκριµένου προσώπου που είχε το δάνειο, τÞτε σίγουρα είναι επιλήψιµη πράξη, αλλά δεν σηµαίνει Þτι είναι ποινικÞ αδίκηµα. Σίγουρα είναι επιλήψιµη γιατί ακριβώσ δείχνει αυτή τη διαπλοκή η οποία υπάρχει µεταξύ των οικονοµικά ισχυρών και των πολιτικών. Φαίνεται Þτι τα κακά τα οποία υπάρχουν στη διαχείριση των τραπεζών δεν εξαντλούνται µÞνο στη διαγραφή χρεών αλλά µπορεί να επεκτείνονται σε άλλουσ τοµείσ, Þπωσ την παροχή δανείων χωρίσ να υπάρχει ασφαλιστική κάλυψη, να παρέχονται µε πολύ χαµηλά επιτÞκια, να δίδονται πάρα πολύ µεγάλα ποσά σε µερικούσ για διευκολύνσεισ που να µην

δικαιολογούνται», είπε Ο αντιπρÞεδροσ του ∆ηµοκρατικού Συναγερµού, Ιωνάσ Νικολάου, παραχωρώντασ συνέντευξη Τύπου για τα µέτρα κατά τησ διαφθοράσ, σηµείωσε Þτι η δηµÞσια συζήτηση για τη διαγραφή δανείων σε εταιρείεσ που συνδέονται µε πολιτικά κÞµµατα βαθαίνει τη δικαιολογηµένη δυσπιστία τησ κοινωνίασ προσ το πολιτικÞ σύστηµα. Αναφέρθηκε µάλιστα σε σειρά µέτρων που προτείνει ο Νίκοσ Αναστασιάδησ. «Μεταξύ των οποίων είναι, ο περιορισµÞσ θητειών για τον ΠρÞεδρο τησ ∆ηµοκρατίασ και τουσ ∆ηµάρχουσ σε δύο και για τουσ βουλευτέσ και τουσ δηµοτικούσ συµβούλουσ σε τρεισ. Η πλήρησ εναρµÞνιση των νοµοθεσιών µασ για τα οικονοµικά των κοµµάτων προσ τισ οδηγίεσ τησ GRECO. ∆εν µπορεί να απαιτούµε διαφάνεια στα οικονοµικά του κράτουσ, αλλά Þχι διαφάνεια στα οικονοµικά των κοµµάτων», τÞνισε. Ο εκπρÞσωποσ Τύπου του ΑΚΕΛ, Γιώργοσ Λουκαϊδησ χαρακτήρισε προφανείσ τουσ λÞγουσ οι οποίοι ωθούν, Þπωσ είπε, ορισµένεσ πολιτικέσ δυνάµεισ και πολιτικά πρÞσωπα στη συνεχή στοχοποίηση του ΑΚΕΛ σε Þτι

αφορά το θέµα τησ διαγραφήσ χρεών απÞ τράπεζεσ. «Να είναι σίγουροι Þλοι Þσοι νοµίζουν Þτι θα αποπροσανατολίσουν την κοινή γνώµη απÞ τα λερωµένα τησ δικήσ τουσ φωλιάσ πωσ δεν πρÞκειται και δεν µπορούν να µασ εκφοβίσουν, γιατί πολύ απλά δεν έχουµε τίποτα απολύτωσ να φοβηθούµε. ∆εν πρÞκειται και δεν µπορούν να µασ σπρώξουν ούτε και ένα βήµα πίσω απÞ την απαίτηση µασ η έρευνα να φτάσει µέχρι το τέλοσ», υπογράµµισε. Επιτέθηκε και στον υποψήφιο ΠρÞεδρο Γιώργο Λιλλήκα, Þτι φοβάται Þτι δεν θα περάσει στο δεύτερο γύρο, και τον κάλεσε να σέβεται περισσÞτερο τον πολιτικÞ χώρο που τον ανέδειξε και τον άνδρωσε, αλλά και να προβεί, µαζί µε την ηγεσία και τα στελέχη του ΑΚΕΛ, σε ταυτÞχρονη δηµοσιοποίηση τησ περιουσιακήσ κατάστασησ των ιδίων και των συζύγων τουσ. Η απάντηση του υποψηφίου Προέδρου ήρθε δια γραπτήσ ανακοίνωσησ. «Ποιοσ υποψήφιοσ θα περάσει στο δεύτερο γύρο των Προεδρικών Εκλογών δεν θα το αποφασίσει ο κύριοσ Λουκαϊδησ. Θα το αποφασίσουν οι

«™ËÌ¿‰È· ·ÓÙ›‰Ú·Û˘» ÛÙÔ Ã∞∫ Σηµαντικά κέρδη κατέγραψε χθεσ το Χρηµατιστήριο Αξιών Κύπρου, αντιδρώντασ στη βουτιά πέραν του 14% που πραγµατοποίησε κατά τη συνάντηση τησ ∆ευτέρασ. Ο ΓενικÞσ ∆είκτησ, στηριζÞµενοσ απÞ τισ τραπεζικέσ µετοχέσ, κατέγραψε σηµαντικά κέρδη σε ποσοστÞ 3,78% και έκλεισε στισ 138,85 µονάδεσ. Ο ηµερήσιοσ Þγκοσ συναλλαγών διαµορ-

φώθηκε στα 1.646.619,32 ευρώ, µε τη µετοχή τησ Τράπεζασ Κύπρου να συγκεντρώνει το 58,2% του ηµερήσιου τζίρου. Σηµαντική αύξηση σε ποσοστÞ 3,47% παρουσίασε και ο ∆είκτησ FTSE/CySE 20, ο οποίοσ ανήλθε στισ 52,84 µονάδεσ. Το µεγαλύτερο επενδυτικÞ ενδιαφέρον προσέλκυσαν οι τίτλοι τησ Τράπεζασ Κύπρου µε 959.454 ευρώ (τιµή κλεισίµατοσ 0,313

ευρώ – άνοδοσ 4,33%), τησ Λαϊκήσ Τράπεζασ µε 608.919 ευρώ (τιµή κλεισίµατοσ 0,056 ευρώ – άνοδοσ 5,66%), τησ Ελληνικήσ Τράπεζασ µε 18.950 ευρώ (τιµή κλεισίµατοσ 0,188 ευρώ – χωρίσ µεταβολή). Στο Χρηµατιστήριο Αθηνών ο ΓενικÞσ ∆είκτησ έκλεισε µε απώλειεσ 0,50% στισ 815,54 µονάδεσ, ανακάµπτοντασ απÞ το χαµηλÞ ηµέρασ των 800,31 µονάδων.

¶ÚÔÛˆÈΤ˜ ÂÈÛÙÔϤ˜ Û 22,000 „ËÊÔÊfiÚÔ˘˜ Το Υπουργείο Εσωτερικών εργάζεται πυρετωδώσ για τη 17η Φεβρουαρίου 2013, ηµέρα κατά την οποία διεξάγονται οι προεδρικέσ εκλογέσ στισ οποίεσ πέραν των 533 χιλιάδων εκλογέων θα αναδείξουν το νέο ΠρÞεδρο τησ Κυπριακήσ ∆ηµοκρατίασ, προσερχÞµενοι σε 1200 εκλογικά κέντρα εντÞσ Κύπρου και σε µεγάλο αριθµÞ εκλογικών κέντρων εκτÞσ Κύπρου, ο οποίοσ δεν έχει ακÞµη καθοριστεί.

Mέχρι στιγµήσ έχει συµπληρωθεί ένασ αριθµÞσ των 533,565 εκλογέων ενώ συνεχίζεται η

εγγραφή στουσ εκλογικούσ καταλÞγουσ µέχρι και τισ 2 Ιανουαρίου που πλέον κλείνει ο εκλογικÞσ κατάλογοσ για τισ Προεδρικέσ Εκλογέσ του 2013.

Tο Υπουργείο Εσωτερικών στην προσπάθειά του να ενθαρρύνει ιδιαίτερα τουσ νέουσ να εγγραφούν στουσ εκλογικούσ καταλÞγουσ, έχει στείλει προσωπικέσ επιστολέσ σε πάνω απÞ 22 χιλιάδεσ άτοµα που συµπληρώνουν την ηλικία των 18 χρÞνων. Θα λειτουργήσουν εκλογικά κέντρα σε

πολλέσ χώρεσ Þπου έχει πρεσβεία η Κυπριακή ∆ηµοκρατία, Þµωσ τα κέντα δεν µπορούν να ανακοινωθούν απÞ τώρα, νοουµένου Þτι θα συµπληρωθεί ο αριθµÞσ των 50 ψηφοφÞρων που είναι ο ελάχιστοσ για λειτουργία εκλογικού κέντρου στο εξωτερικÞ. Στην Ελλάδα και τη Μεγάλη Βρετανία έχουν γίνει και άλλεσ διευθετήσεισ και αυξήθηκε σηµαντικά ο αριθµÞσ των εκλογικών κέντρων ώστε να διευκολυνθούν Þσοι περισσÞτεροι Κύπριοι ψηφοφÞροι.

∫∆: ¢ÈÂıÓ‹˜ Ú·ÎÙÈ΋ ÁÈ· ÌË Â͢ËÚÂÙÔ‡ÌÂÓ· ‰¿ÓÂÈ· O τρÞποσ υπολογισµού των µη εξυπηρετούµενων δανείων, για σκοπούσ υπογραφήσ µνηµονίου, καθορίζεται στη βάση τησ διεθνούσ πρακτικήσ, Þπωσ έχει ζητήσει η ίδια η ΤρÞικα, επανέλαβε χθεσ η Κεντρική Τράπεζα τησ Κύπρου (ΚΤΚ) Η ΚΤ παραπέµπει στο προσχέδιο µνηµονίου που δηµοσιεύθηκε στον Τύπο, στο οποίο αναφέρεται Þτι «τα µη εξυπηρετούµενα δάνεια απειλούν την κερδοφορία των τραπεζών και θα πρέπει να παρακολουθούνται δεÞντωσ έτσι ώστε να διασφαλίζονται τα

κεφαλαιακά αποθέµατα των τραπεζών. Η οδηγία τησ Κεντρικήσ Τράπεζασ τησ Κύπρου Þσον αφορά την ταξινÞµηση των δανείων ωσ µη εξυπηρετούµενα θα πρέπει να τροποποιηθεί άµεσα για να περιλαµβάνει Þλα τα δάνεια για τα οποία υπάρχει καθυστέρηση πέραν των 90 ηµερών. Οι δείκτεσ των διαθέσιµων χρονολογικών σειρών των µη εξυπηρετούµενων δανείων θα δηµοσιεύονται. Η τροποποίηση αυτή πρέπει να εισαχθεί πριν την υπογραφή του µνηµονίου». Απαντώντασ σε δήλωση του Αναπληρωτή

Προέδρου του ∆ΗΚΟ, ΝικÞλα ΠαπαδÞπουλου, η ΚΤΚ διευκρινίζει Þτι «η Κύπροσ µέχρι σήµερα δεν εφάρµοζε την ίδια µεθοδολογία για τον καθορισµÞ των µη εξυπηρετούµενων δανείων, Þπωσ άλλεσ χώρεσ τησ ΕΕ». Τονίζει ακÞµα πωσ τα δάνεια που χαρακτηρίζονται ωσ µη εξυπηρετούµενα δεν αυξάνουν κατά το ισÞποσο, το ποσÞ ανακεφαλαιοποίησησ των τραπεζών επειδή για πολλά απÞ αυτά τα δάνεια υπάρχουν ικανοποιητικέσ εξασφαλίσεισ.

™˘ÓÂÚÁ·Û›· Cyta Î·È Radius

¶·Ú·ÈÙ‹ıËÎÂ Ô Ã¿Ú˘ £Ú¿ÛÔ˘

17 ÚÔÙ¿ÛÂȘ ÁÈ· Ê˘ÛÈÎfi ·¤ÚÈÔ

Την έναρξη τησ συνεργασίασ τουσ στο πλαίσιο του σχεδίου «Ποσειδώνασ» ανακοίνωσαν η Cyta και η εταιρεία Radius Oceanic Communications, µε στÞχο την παροχή προηγµένων τηλεπικοινωνιακών υπηρεσιών στην υπεράκτια βιοµηχανία πετρελαίου και φυσικού αερίου, στην Ανατολική ΜεσÞγειο.

Tο σχέδιο αφορά στη δηµιουργία ενÞσ υποθαλάσσιου καλωδιακού συστήµατοσ υψηλήσ χωρητικÞτητασ, που θα ξεκινά απÞ δύο σηµεία των κυπριακών ακτών.

Την παραίτησή του στον ΠρÞεδρο τησ ∆ηµοκρατίασ υπέβαλε ο ΠρÞεδροσ του ∆ιοικητικού Συµβουλίου τησ ΑΗΚ Χάρησ Θράσου, η οποία έγινε αποδεκτή. Ο ΠρÞεδροσ έκαµε αποδεκτή την παραίτησή του, σηµειώνοντασ Þτι ο ΠρÞεδροσ τον παρακάλεσε να παραµείνει στα καθήκοντά για ακÞµη λίγο χρονικÞ διάστηµα µέχρι να γίνουν οι απαιτούµενεσ διευθετήσεισ για την αντικατάστασή του.

Συνολικά 17 προτάσεισ έχουν υποβληθεί στο πλαίσιο τησ εκδήλωσησ ενδιαφέροντοσ που προκήρυξε η ∆ΕΦΑ στισ 27 Σεπτεµβρίου 2012 για την προµήθεια φυσικού αερίου στουσ Ηλεκτροπαραγωγούσ Σταθµούσ τησ Κύπρου και η οποία έληξε.

H ∆ηµÞσια Επιχείρηση Φυσικού Αερίου δεσµεύεται µε συµφωνία εµπιστευτικÞτητασ µε τουσ πιθανούσ προµηθευτέσ και καµία απολύτωσ δήλωση δεν θα γίνεται για το θέµα.

πολίτεσ», απάντησε ο Γ. Λιλλήκασ. Είµαστε βέβαιοι Þτι οι πολίτεσ θα δώσουν την κατάλληλη απάντηση για τισ χαριστικέσ διαγραφέσ εκατοµµυρίων, τισ σχέσεισ διαπλοκήσ µε τραπεζίτεσ, τουσ δεκάδεσ χιλιάδεσ ανέργουσ, τισ περικοπέσ µισθών, τα επαχθή φορολογικά µέτρα, την ΤρÞικα και το µνηµÞνιο. Τέλοσ ο Γραµµατέασ τησ Κεντρικήσ Επιτροπήσ τησ Ε∆ΕΚ, ∆ηµήτρησ Παπαδάκησ δήλωσε Þτι ο βουλευτήσ του Κινήµατοσ, Φειδίασ Σαρίκασ, ενέγραψε στη Βουλή το θέµα τησ διαγραφήσ χρεών εταιρειών που συνδέονται µε πολιτικά κÞµµατα, καθώσ και πολιτικών προσώπων και κρατικών αξιωµατούχων.

Afi ¢Â˘Ù¤Ú·˜ Ë Î¿ıÔ‰Ô˜ Ù˘ ∆ÚfiÈη˜ Την ελπίδα νωρίσ την άλλη εβδοµάδα να βρίσκεται στην Κύπρο το κλιµάκιο τησ ΥπουργÞσ εξέφρασε ο ΤρÞικασ, Οικονοµικών Βάσοσ Σιαρλή, διατυπώνοντασ την ίδια ώρα αισιοδοξία Þτι Þποιεσ διαφορέσ υπάρχουν, θα ξεκαθαρίσουν. Ερωτηθείσ αν είµαστε έτοιµοι για την κάθοδο τησ ΤρÞικασ, ο κ. Σιαρλή απάντησε θετικά, εκφράζοντασ την ελπίδα να βρίσκεται στην Κύπρο την άλλη βδοµάδα. «Εµείσ είµαστε έτοιµοι. Το θέµα είναι µε την ΤρÞικα. Εχουν κάποιο πρÞβληµα αυτή την εβδοµάδα, έχουν γιορτέσ, οπÞτε βλέπω Þτι πιθανώσ να υπάρχει κάποιο µικρÞ πρÞβληµα χρÞνου, είναι θέµα δικÞ τουσ να αποφασίσουν Þµωσ ελπίζω - και το τονίζω αυτÞ - Þτι θα τουσ δούµε νωρίσ την άλλη βδοµάδα. Αλλά είναι θέµα δικÞ τουσ να αποφασίσουν. Πιστεύω Þτι εµείσ είµαστε σε θέση να ξεκαθαρίσουµε πολλά απÞ τα θέµατα που παραµένουν», ανέφερε ο κ. Σιαρλή. Σε άλλη ερώτηση αν τα θέµατα θα ξεκαθαρίσουν Þταν έρθει η ΤρÞικα, ο κ. Σιαρλή είπε Þτι πιθανώσ και προτού έρθουν, σηµειώνοντασ Þτι «λίγα θέµατα πιστεύω θα έχουν παραµείνει προσ διευκρίνιση».

¶·Ó¿ÎÚÈ‚Ô ÙÔ ›ÓÙÂÚÓÂÙ ÛÙËÓ ∫‡ÚÔ Την διενέργεια έρευνασ για το κÞστοσ και τα οφέλη απÞ τη δυνατÞτητα παροχήσ ελεύθερου διαδικτύου σε ολÞκληρη την Κύπρο, ζήτησε η Επιτροπή Εµπορίου τησ Βουλήσ, απÞ το Πανεπιστήµιο Κύπρου και απÞ το Ρυθµιστή Ηλεκτρονικών Τηλεπικοινωνιών Ùπωσ δήλωσε ο ΠρÞεδροσ τησ Επιτροπήσ, Λευτέρησ ΧριστοφÞρου, η Επιτροπή διαπίστωσε για ακÞµα µια φορά Þτι το διαδίκτυο στην Κύπρο είναι πανάκριβο και ουσιαστικά τα νοικοκυριά και οι πολίτεσ που θέλουν να έχουν πρÞσβαση στο διαδίκτυο καταβάλλουν ακριβÞ τίµηµα. «Για αυτÞ και καταθέσαµε πρÞταση ούτωσ ώστε να εξεταστεί το ενδεχÞµενο να καταστεί η Κύπροσ ελεύθερη ζώνη διαδικτύου», είπε. Ο κ. ΧριστοφÞρου ανέφερε επίσησ Þτι και οι ταχύτητεσ του διαδικτύου στην Κύπρο είναι πολύ χαµηλέσ.

31 OKTΩΒΡΙΟΥ, 2012

ΧΡΗΜΑ&ΑΓΟΡΑ

ΕΙ∆ΗΣΕΙΣ | 3/15

¢ÈÂıÓ›˜ Û˘ÓÂÚÁ·Û›Â˜ ˘ËÚÂÛÈÒÓ ∞¡∆ø¡∏™ §√π∑√À ∞ÓÙÒÓ˘ §Ô›˙Ô˘ F.R.I.C.S. & ™˘ÓÂÚÁ¿Ù˜ §Ù‰, ∂ÎÙÈÌËÙ¤˜ ∞ÎÈÓ‹ÙˆÓ & ¢È·¯ÂÈÚÈÛÙ¤˜ ŒÚÁˆÓ ∞Ó¿Ù˘Í˘

Επαγγελµατικά γραφεία Þλων των ειδών επιδιώκουν διεθνείσ συνεργασίεσ οι οποίεσ µπορούν να είναι δύο ή περισσÞτερων ειδών. Η µια είναι εκείνη Þπου ο κάθε ΚυπριακÞσ οίκοσ φέρει το Þνοµα του διεθνή και λειτουργεί εντÞσ των κανονισµών και πλαισίων που θέτει αυτÞσ ο διεθνήσ οργανισµÞσ. Με τα Κυπριακά δεδοµένα οι πιο γνωστοί επαγγελµατικοί οίκοι µε διεθνέσ Þνοµα είναι τα ελεγκτικά γραφεία. Ùσο και να µην µασ γίνεται πλήρωσ αντιληπτÞ, οι ντÞπιοι οίκοι επιθυµούν να συνεργάζονται µε τα πολυεθνικά αυτά ονÞµατα τα οποία έχουν και αυστηρούσ κανÞνεσ επαγγελµατικήσ συµπεριφοράσ. Προσ τούτο είναι προσεκτÞ Þτι οι πλείστεσ Þσεσ υπεράκτιεσ εταιρείεσ χρησιµοποιούν αυτά τα διεθνή ελεγκτικά γραφεία µια και στισ πλείστεσ των περιπτώσεων οι ιδιοκτήτεσ είτε χρησιµοποιούν αυτούσ τουσ οίκουσ στην δική τουσ πατρίδα, είτε σε µια νέα χώρα το πιο σίγουρο κατ’ εκείνουσ είναι η χρήση ενÞσ πολυεθνικού οίκου που ακολουθεί τα διεθνή πρÞτυπα. Το τελευταίο παράδειγµα τησ συνεργασίασ Pimco και Deloitte είναι προσεκτÞ, Þπωσ είναι και απÞ διάφορεσ µελέτεσ που αναλαµβάνονται για διάφορα θέµατα εκ µέρουσ τησ ∆ηµοκρατίασ και άλλων, διÞτι το Þνοµα του µελετητή φέρει και την ανάλογη βαρύτητα στο εξωτερικÞ (προσέλκυση επενδυτών κλπ). Είναι προσεκτÞ Þτι τα ελεγκτικά γραφεία τησ περασµένησ εικοσαετίασ δεν έχουν καµία σχέση µε τα σηµερινά, Þπου η

κύρια ενασχÞληση τουσ τÞτε ήταν λογιστικέσ εργασίεσ, ενώ τώρα έχουν εξελιχθεί σε µελέτεσ, επαγγελµατικέσ συµβουλέσ, φορολογικά θέµατα και οτιδήποτε άλλο περιλαµβανοµένων και οργάνωση στρατηγικών µελετών και άλλων θεµάτων. Τα µεγέθη τέτοιων συνεργασιών είναι τέτοια που µπορούν να αντλήσουν ειδικούσ απÞ διάφορεσ χώρεσ και τοµείσ. Μασ έκανε εντύπωση Þταν λαµβάναµε µέροσ για την µελέτη του Λιµένοσ Λάρνακοσ πÞσουσ ειδικούσ «έφερε στο τραπέζι των συµβούλων» ο διεθνείσ ελεγκτικÞσ οίκοσ απÞ Κινέζουσ διαχειριστέσ λιµένων, Αυστραλούσ για µαρίνεσ, Γάλλουσ για την ανάπτυξη κλπ κλπ. ΕκτÞσ απÞ την πιο πάνω ευρύτερη συνεργασία υπάρχει και ένα άλλο είδοσ συνεργασίασ µιασ πιο «ελεύθερησ» συνεργασίασ απÞ διάφορα γραφεία (µιασ ειδίκευσησ) που αποτελούν µέροσ µιασ συνεργασίασ που φέρει Χ πολυεθνικÞ Þνοµα. Το κάθε γραφείο εργάζεται απÞ µÞνο του, αλλά το «κλαµπ» αυτÞ αν και στεγάζει πολυάριθµα γραφεία ανά τον κÞσµο, µπορεί να διοχετεύει δουλειέσ απÞ τη µια χώρα στην άλλη και ασφαλώσ η απευθείασ συνεργασία. Έτσι πρÞσφατα ανατέθηκε σε διάφορα γραφεία τησ Κύπρου απÞ αντίστοιχο δικηγορικÞ γραφείο τησ Φλώριδασ για ένα πελάτη τουσ που ήθελε να δηµιουργήσει εταιρεία στην Κύπρο. Στην περίπτωση αυτή η συνεργασία είναι πιο ελεύθερη και ίσωσ να περιορίζεται σε κάποια χρηµατική πληρωµή, ενÞσ είδουσ προµήθειασ (referral fees) – Þλα εξαρτώµενα απÞ το σχετικÞ καταστατικÞ. Ùσον αφορά την «προµήθεια» θα σασ αναφέρουµε Þτι κάποτε δεν µπορούσαµε να δώσουµε referral fees σε ξένο οίκο διÞτι «ονοµάζεται προµήθεια και άρα έπρεπε να είναι εγγεγραµµένοσ κτηµατοµεσίτησ!!».

∂¶π∆∂§√À™ ÛÙ· ‰ËÌfiÛÈ· ‚ÔËı‹Ì·Ù· Ψαλίδι στα ποσά, καθιέρωση των κουπονιών και πολύ αυστηρÞτερα κριτήρια, είναι οι αλλαγέσ που προτείνει η κυβέρνηση στην πολιτική για τα δηµÞσια βοηθήµατα και επιδÞµατα, µε έµφαση στα Þσα απολαµβάνουν οι αλλοδαποί αιτητέσ διεθνούσ προστασίασ. ∆εν πρÞκειται για τουσ αιτητέσ πολιτικού ασύλου για τουσ οποίουσ ετοιµάζεται ξεχωριστÞ νοµοσχέδιο µε παρÞµοιεσ περικοπέσ. Το νέο νοµοσχέδιο θα έχει, Þπωσ αναφέρεται στο εισαγωγικÞ σηµείωµα σαφή σκοπÞ. Το επίδοµα θα είναι τέτοιο που να µην λειτουργεί ωσ αντικίνητρο για εργασία για αυτÞ και θα υπάρχει καθορισµÞσ του ανώτατου ποσού που µπορεί να δοθεί. Τα κριτήρια καθίστανται πολύ αυστηρά αφού προβλέπει: - ΜÞνιµη διαµονή στισ ελεγχÞµενεσ απÞ τη ∆ηµοκρατία περιοχέσ για ένα τουλάχιστον έτοσ (πρÞνοια που αφορά και τουσ Τουρκοκύπριουσ) - Το ποσÞ που θα καταβάλλεται θα είναι η διαφορά µεταξύ του εισοδήµατοσ του λήπτη και του ποσού των βασικών του αναγκών - Θα παρέχεται σε µετρητά, είδοσ ή µε την µορφή κουπονιών - Οι λήπτεσ οφείλουν να προσφέρουν κοινοτική εργασία Τρία εκατοµµύρια ευρώ θα εξοικονοµηθούν απÞ το επίδοµα που απολαµβάνουν αλλοδαποί αιτητέσ διεθνούσ προστασίασ και αλλοδαποί µε καθεστώσ προσωρινήσ διαµονήσ. Θα αναγνωρίζονται µέχρι δύο παιδιά και το ανώτατο ποσÞ καθορίζεται στα 1100 ευρώ. Η βοήθεια για τρÞφιµα ένδυση και υπÞδηση θα

δίδεται υπÞ µορφή κουπονιών. Θα υποχρεούνται επίσησ να παρακολουθούν µαθήµατα ελληνικήσ γλώσσασ και προγράµµατα κατάρτισησ ώστε να εντάσσονται στο κοινωνικÞ σύνολο καθώσ και να εργάζονται. Αντιδράσεισ αναµένεται πάντωσ να προκληθούν απÞ το ψαλίδι στα επιδÞµατα αναπήρων: Για ήπιεσ αναπηρίεσ αποκÞπτεται πλήρωσ το επίδοµα, ενώ τα επιδÞµατα για µέτριεσ, σοβαρέσ και πολύ σοβαρέσ αναπηρίεσ αναπροσαρµÞζονται προσ τα κάτω µε το µέγιστο ποσÞ να περιορίζεται στα 336 ευρώ µηνιαίωσ. Σε γενικέσ γραµµέσ το νοµοσχέδιο προβλέπει: Παραχώρηση δηµÞσιου βοηθήµατοσ σε άτοµα που δεν έχουν πÞρουσ στη βάση κριτηρίων, Εισοδηµατικά κριτήρια για παραχώρηση επιδÞµατοσ ενοικίου, ΣυνδυασµÞσ παροχών σε αιτητέσ πολιτικού ασύλου κουπονιών και χρηµάτων, ΑξιολÞγηση αναπηρίασ για ανάπηρα άτοµα, Υποχρεωτική προσφορά κοινωνικήσ εργασίασ απÞ λήπτεσ και αιτητέσ. Το νοµοσχέδιο δεν έχει ακÞµη κατατεθεί στη Βουλή αφού θα συζητηθεί πρώτα µε τισ επηρεαζÞµενεσ οµάδεσ και ακολούθωσ µε τα πολιτικά κÞµµατα. Έντονεσ είναι οι αντιδράσεισ στουσ κύκλουσ των αναπήρων, για τισ δραστικέσ περικοπέσ στα δηµÞσια βοηθήµατα, που προβλέπονται στο νοµοσχέδιο του υπουργείου Εργασίασ, καθώσ ανησυχούν οτι αυτÞ, θα έχει άµεση και αρνητική επίπτωση στην ποιÞτητα τησ ζωήσ τουσ. Πάντωσ, η ίδια η υπουργÞσ, Σωτηρούλα Χαραλάµπουσ, διαµηνύει, Þτι στÞχοσ, είναι σταµατήσει η εκµετάλλευση του συστήµατοσ, απÞ λήπτεσ δηµοσίου βοηθήµατοσ, και αιτητέσ πολιτικού ασύλου.

Στον τοµέα των ακινήτων το σύστηµα αυτÞ τησ συνεργασίασ και/ή καθιέρωση πολυεθνικών γραφείων δεν φαίνεται να πετυχαίνει στην Κύπρο, είτε λÞγω του µικρού µεγέθουσ τησ Κυπριακήσ αγοράσ και/ή τησ χαµηλήσ επικερδÞτητασ και/ή λÞγω τησ εδώ επικρατούσασ νοοτροπίασ στον τοµέα. Έτσι οι συνεργασίεσ γίνονται ευκαιριακά ανάλογα µε την υπÞθεση. Η µÞνη περίπτωση τησ εµφάνισησ πολυεθνικών γραφείων ήταν στην χρυσή εποχή των ακινήτων (2002/2007) µε διάφορα κυρίωσ Βρετανικήσ προέλευσησ γραφεία που ασχολούνται µÞνο µε την «εισαγωγή» αγοραστών και ίδιεσ πωλήσεισ. Τώρα ασφαλώσ έχουν εξαφανιστεί απÞ την Κύπρο κυνηγηµένοι απÞ διάφορεσ αγωγέσ απÞ ανυποψίαστουσ πελάτεσ τουσ. Είναι κρίµα που δεν έχουµε και στον δικÞ µασ τοµέα των ακινήτων την δυνατÞτητα τέτοιων πολυδιάστατων συνεργασιών που θα ωφελήσουν τον τÞπο και την βιοµηχανία των ακινήτων, προβάλλοντασ τα αξιÞλογα Κυπριακά έργα ανάπτυξησ επί διεθνήσ βάσησ. Ίσωσ στο µέλλον, µετά τουσ λογιστέσ/ελεγκτέσ και τώρα δικηγÞρουσ, να ακολουθήσουν και άλλεσ πολυεθνικέσ συνεργασίεσ σε άλλουσ τοµείσ των υπηρεσιών και σε τεχνικά θέµατα περιλαµβανοµένων και των ακινήτων. Στο στάδιο αυτÞ τα πολυεθνικά γραφεία ακινήτων παραχωρούνται ωσ «αντιπροσωπεία» κυρίωσ στην

Ελλάδα ή Ισραήλ, µε την Κύπρο να αποτελεί «µέροσ» τησ µιασ ή άλλησ χώρασ. Οι διαµαρτυρίεσ µασ προσ τουσ οίκουσ αυτούσ Þτι η Κύπροσ είναι άλλη χώρα, δεν φαίνεται να πείθουν (αν είναι δυνατÞν!).

Lidl: TÒÚ· Î·È ÛÙÔÓ ™ÙÚfi‚ÔÏÔ ∆ύο χρÞνια µετά την λειτουργία των πρώτων καταστηµάτων τησ στην Κύπρο, η Lidl καλύπτει σχεδÞν πλήρωσ το πλάνο δραστηριοτήτων τησ στη χώρα µασ, ωστÞσο, αποµένουν άλλα δυο-τρία καταστήµατα για υλοποίηση του ευρύτερου στρατηγικού σχεδίου ανάπτυξησ. Αυτή τη στιγµή ο γερµανικÞσ κολοσσÞσ λιανεµπορίου ετοιµάζει το υπ’ αριθµÞν 13 κατάστηµα στην Κύπρο και το 6 του στη Λευκωσία, αφού το νέο µαγαζί βρίσκεται στον ΣτρÞβολο δίπλα απÞ τον κινηµατογράφο K Cineplex (λεωφÞροσ Μακεδονιτίσσησ). Η λειτουργία του νέου καταστήµατοσ αναµένεται εντÞσ των επÞµενων εβδοµάδων. Η Lidl φαίνεται να επεξεργάζεται τισ επι-

λογέσ που έχει για λειτουργία νέου καταστήµατοσ και στη ΛεµεσÞ, στην οποία αυτή τη στιγµή δραστηριοποιείται µε µÞνο µία υπεραγορά. Η Lidl βρίσκεται στο ψάξιµο για την εξεύρεση τεµαχίου στον Άγιο ΝικÞλαο, περιοχή στην οποία είχε και παλαιÞτερα πλάνο για λειτουργία υπεραγοράσ, ωστÞσο, κάτι τέτοιο δεν κατέστη εφικτÞ λÞγω τησ κυκλοφοριακήσ συµφÞρησησ στην περιοχή.

31 OKTΩΒΡΙΟΥ, 2012

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¶ÚÔÛÔ¯‹ ÛÙËÓ ‰ËÌÔÛÈÔÔ›ËÛË ÙˆÓ ·ÔÙÂÏÂÛÌ¿ÙˆÓ ‰ËÌÔÛÎÔ‹ÛÂˆÓ Την προσοχή του κοινού και των Μέσων Μαζικήσ Επικοινωνίασ στον ορθÞ τρÞπο δηµοσιοποίησησ των αποτελεσµάτων δηµοσκοπήσεων, επισύρει ο ο Σύνδεσµοσ Επιχειρήσεων ∆ηµοσκοπήσεων και Ερευνών Αγοράσ Κύπρου (ΣΕ∆ΕΑΚ) - µέλοσ τησ Οµοσπονδίασ Εργοδοτών & Βιοµηχάνων (ΟΕΒ) εν Þψει των προεδρικών εκλογών. Η δηµοσιοποίηση των αποτελεσµάτων πρέπει να συνοδεύεται απÞ την ταυτÞτητα τησ δηµοσκÞπησησ καθώσ και τησ µεθοδολογίασ που ακολουθήθηκε, Þπωσ επιβάλλει ο κώδικασ δεοντολογίασ τησ ESOMAR (European Society of Opinion Poll and Marketing Research). Συγκεκριµένα, πρέπει απαραίτητα να γνωστοποιούνται τα ακÞλουθα στοιχεία: - Το Þνοµα τησ εταιρείασ που διεξήγαγε τη δηµοσκÞπηση.

- Το Þνοµα του οργανισµού / κÞµµατοσ ή ατÞµου για λογαριασµÞ του οποίου διεξήχθη η δηµοσκÞπηση - Η χρονική περίοδοσ διεξαγωγήσ τησ δηµοσκÞπησησ - ∆είγµα και µεθοδολογία τησ δηµοσκÞπησησ - Γεωγραφική κάλυψη (π.χ. παγκύπρια, αστικέσ / αγροτικέσ περιοχέσ κ.λπ.).

- Μέθοδοσ συλλογήσ στοιχείων (π.χ. προσωπικέσ συνεντεύξεισ µε τη χρήση κάλ-

πησ, τηλεφωνικέσ συνεντεύξεισ) - Μέγεθοσ του δείγµατοσ - ΤρÞποσ επιλογήσ του δείγµατοσ (π.χ. τυχαία πολυσταδιακή στρωµατοποιηµένη δειγµατοληψία) - Περιθώριο στατιστικού λάθουσ (π.χ. +/3%) - Στάθµιση αποτελεσµάτων δείγµατοσ (παράµετροι που σταθµίστηκαν) Η διεξαγωγή, επεξεργασία και ανάλυση των αποτελεσµάτων δηµοσκοπήσεων πρέπει να γίνεται µÞνον απÞ ειδικούσ, γι’ αυτÞ και η ορθή χρήση και παρουσίαση των αποτελεσµάτων τουσ είναι άκρωσ απαραίτητα στοιχεία επαγγελµατικήσ συµπεριφοράσ και δεοντολογίασ. Ο ΣΕ∆ΕΑΚ διαφοροποιεί τισ θέσεισ του απÞ έρευνεσ που διεξάγονται και αποτελέσµατα που αναλύονται απÞ µη µέλη του και υπενθυµίζει Þτι τα µέλη του ακολουθούν πιστά τον κώδικα επαγγελµατικήσ δεοντολογίασ τησ ESOMAR και εφαρµÞζουν διεθνώσ αναγνωρισµένεσ µεθοδολογίεσ. Τα µέλη του ΣΕ∆ΕΑΚ δηλώνουν Þτι στηρίζουν και αναγνωρίζουν αυτονÞητα τισ δηµοσκοπήσεισ ή έρευνεσ αγοράσ σαν εργαλεία καταγραφήσ των απÞψεων και τάσεων τησ κοινήσ γνώµησ και σαν τέτοια καλούν και τισ πολιτικέσ ηγεσίεσ και ΜΜΕ

να επιδείξουν την αναγκαία αναγνώριση. Αµφισβητούν Þµωσ πολλέσ φορέσ τισ κατά το δοκούν κακέσ ερµηνείεσ αποτελεσµάτων και περιπτώσεων ερευνών που η διεξαγωγή τουσ γίνεται απÞ µη επαγγελµατίεσ (Þπωσ call centers, ή οίκουσ που εµφανίζονται κατά τισ περιÞδουσ εκλογών). Μέλη του ΣΕ∆ΕΑΚ είναι οι εταιρείεσ CYMAR Market Research, CMR CYPRONET-

WORK Marketing Research, INSIGHTS Market Research (IMR), NIELSEN Audience Measurement, NOVERNA Consulting & Research, PULSE Market Research, RAI Consultants Public, Research & Consultancy Institute (RCI), SΥΜΜΕΤΡΟΝ Market Research, SΥNOVATE. Ο Σύνδεσµοσ είναι στη διάθεση του κοινού και των ΜΜΕ στο τηλέφωνο 22 66 51 02.

¶ÔÈÔÙÈ΋ Â͢ËÚ¤ÙËÛË ÙˆÓ ÂÈ‚·ÙÒÓ °ÂÓÈ΋ ÚÔÛ¤ÁÁÈÛË ÁÈ· ¯ÚÔÓÔı˘Ú›‰Â˜ ÛÙ· ·ÂÚÔ‰ÚfiÌÈ· Ù˘ ∂∂ ÂÈÙ‡¯ıËΠÛÙÔ ™˘Ì‚Ô‡ÏÈÔ ªÂÙ·ÊÔÚÒÓ Σε µια γενική προσέγγιση σε σχέση µε τουσ κοινούσ κανÞνεσ για την κατανοµή χρονοθυρίδων στουσ ευρωπαϊκούσ αερολιµένεσ, κατέληξε το Συµβούλιο Μεταφορών τησ ΕΕ. Η πρÞταση αυτή αποτελεί µέροσ του νοµοθετικού πακέτου αεροδροµίων. ΠρÞκειται για µια δέσµη µέτρων µε σκοπÞ την αύξηση τησ χωρητικÞτητασ των ευρωπαϊκών αερολιµένων, τη µείωση των καθυστερήσεων και τη βελτίωση τησ ποιÞτητασ εξυπηρέτησησ των επιβατών. Μετά απÞ αυτή την εξέλιξη, το Συµβούλιο έχει ολοκληρώσει την εξέταση και των τριών νοµοθετικών πρωτοβουλιών που συνιστούν την νοµοθετική δέσµη αεροδροµίων. Οπωσ ανέφερε ο προεδρεύων του Συµβουλίου, ΥπουργÞσ Συγκοινωνιών και Εργων Ευθύµιοσ Φλουρέντζου, «µέσα απÞ µια δύσκολη συζήτηση και αφού οι αντιπροσωπείεσ επέδειξαν εποικοδοµητικÞ πνεύµα, έχουµε

επιτύχει γενική προσέγγιση επί τησ πρÞτασησ κανονισµού σχετικά µε τουσ κοινούσ κανÞνεσ κατανοµήσ των χρονοθυρίδων (slots) στουσ αερολιµένεσ τησ ΕΕ». «Το Συµβούλιο εκφράζει την πλήρη ετοιµÞτητά του για εποικοδοµητική διαπραγµάτευση µε το Ευρωκοινοβούλιο αµέσωσ µετά την ψήφιση των σχετικών τροπολογιών µε σκοπÞ την επίτευξη συµφωνίασ», είπε ο κ.

Φλουρέντζου. Στον τοµέα των θαλάσσιων µεταφορών υιοθετήθηκε γενική προσέγγιση επί δύο νοµοθετικών προτάσεων σχετικά µε τισ αρµοδιÞτητεσ του κράτουσ λιµένα απÞ τη µια και του κράτουσ σηµαίασ απÞ την άλλη. «Οι θαλάσσιεσ µεταφορέσ δεν είναι δυνατÞν να υπάρξουν χωρίσ ναυτικούσ. Είναι συνεπώσ εξαιρετικά σηµαντικÞ για το βιώσιµο µέλλον τησ ναυτιλίασ να µπορέσουµε να προσελκύσουµε το κατάλληλο εργατικÞ δυναµικÞ σε ένα επάγγελµα το οποίο είναι συχνά δύσκολο, µερικέσ φορέσ επικίνδυνο και πάντα απαιτητικÞ», σηµείωσε κ. Φλουρέντζου. Αναφορικά µε τισ χερσαίεσ µεταφορέσ, το Συµβούλιο συζήτησε για την πρÞταση κανονισµού για τον περιοδικÞ τεχνικÞ έλεγχο των µηχανοκίνητων οχηµάτων και των ρυµουλκουµένων τουσ και για την κατάργηση τησ υφιστάµενησ οδηγίασ.

Η πρÞταση αποσκοπεί στο να συνεισφέρει στην επίτευξη του στÞχου µείωσησ των θανατηφÞρων δυστυχηµάτων κατά 50% µέχρι το 2020. Ο κ. Φλουρέντζου είπε Þτι το Συµβούλιο τοποθετείται θετικά στο γεγονÞσ Þτι ο περιοδικÞσ τεχνικÞσ έλεγχοσ µηχανοκινήτων οχηµάτων µπορεί να συµβάλει προσ αυτή την κατεύθυνση. ΠρÞσθεσε Þτι διαφάνηκε η πρÞθεση τησ πλειοψηφίασ των κρατών µελών για στήριξη προώθησησ νοµοθετικήσ πρÞτασησ υπÞ µορφή οδηγίασ αντί κανονισµού. Η Κυπριακή Προεδρία, είπε, θα συνεχίσει την εξέταση του θέµατοσ. Εξάλλου, στον ίδιο τοµέα το Συµβούλιο κατέληξε σε πολιτική συµφωνία επί τησ πρÞτασησ κανονισµού για την τροποποίηση του υφιστάµενου κανονισµού σχετικά µε τη συσκευή ελέγχου στον τοµέα των οδικών µεταφορών (ταχογράφοσ).

¶ÈÛÙÔÔÈËÙÈο CISI ÁÈ· Â·ÁÁÂÏ̷ٛ˜ ¢ÒÛÙ ΛÓËÙÚ· ÛÙËÓ ·ÁÔÚ¿ ·ÎÈÓ‹ÙˆÓ, fi¯È ÊÔÚÔÏÔÁ›Â˜ ÛÙÔÓ ÙÔ̤· ÙˆÓ ÂÂÓ‰‡ÛÂˆÓ Μετά την επιτυχηµένη συνεργασία του Cyprus International Institute of Marketing (CIIM) το 2012 µε το Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment στην Κύπρο, το CIIM προσφέρει το Certificate in Investment (Securities) και το Certificate in Investment Management (CertIM) τον Νοέµβριο στην Κύπρο. Τα πιστοποιητικά αναγνωρίζονται απÞ το FSA (Το Financial Securities Authority του Ηνωµένου Βασιλείου) και απÞ το FSSC (το Financial Services Skills Council του Ηνωµένου Βασιλείου), ωσ κατάλληλεσ εξετάσεισ για εκείνουσ που διαχειρίζονται και/ή παρέχουν συµβουλέσ σχετικά µε επενδύσεισ. Είναι ευρέωσ αναγνωρισµένα σε ένα αυξανÞµενο αριθµÞ των µεγάλων χρηµατοπιστωτικών κέντρων σε Þλο τον κÞσµο, καθώσ και απÞ το Υπουργείο Οικονοµικών τησ Κύπρου. Το Certificate in Investment Securities παρέχει ένα πρÞσθετο πλεονέκτηµα για Þποιον θέλει να αυξήσει το επίπεδο του επαγγελµατισµού και των γνώσεων του ωσ σύµβουλοσ επενδύσεων. Η εκπαίδευση για το Certificate in Investment: Securities θα διεξαχθεί στισ 16, 17 και 23 Νοεµβρίου στη ΛεµεσÞ και για το Certificate in Investment Management θα πραγµατοποιηθεί στισ 12, 13, 20, 21, 27 και 28 Νοεµβρίου στη Λευκωσία Για περισσÞτερεσ πληροφορίεσ σχετικά µε τα δύο µαθήµατα καλέστε το CIIM Executive Education στο 22462246, e-mail ή execedu@ciim.ac.cy ή επισκεφτείτε το www.ciim.ac.cy.

Τα προβλήµατα και τισ προοπτικέσ τησ κυπριακήσ αγοράσ ακινήτων συζήτησε µε τον ΠρÞεδρο τησ Βουλήσ των Αντιπροσώπων κ. Γιαννάκη Οµήρου αντιπροσωπεία του ∆ιοικητικού Συµβουλίου τησ FIABCI-Κύπρου υπÞ τον ΠρÞεδρο τησ Οµοσπονδίασ κ. Λάκη Τοφαρίδη. Ο κ. Τοφαρίδησ, ανέπτυξε τισ θέσεισ τησ Οµοσπονδίασ για την παρούσα φάση τησ κυπριακήσ κτηµαταγοράσ. Συγκεκριµένα, αναφερÞµενοσ στα µέτρα που προτείνει η ΤρÞικα και στισ πληροφορίεσ γύρω απÞ τισ αντιπροτάσεισ τησ κυπριακήσ κυβέρνησησ, τÞνισε Þτι η αγορά ακινήτων χρειάζεται κίνητρα για να ανακάµψει και κυρίωσ προσ την κατεύθυνση τησ ενθάρρυνσησ των επενδύσεων, τησ απλοποίησησ των διαδικασιών και τησ προσέλκυ-

σησ ξένων αγοραστών και Þχι πρÞσθετεσ φορολογίεσ. Αναφέρθηκε ιδιαίτερα στο θέµα τησ πρÞτασησ για εκποίηση εντÞσ 18 µηνών ενυπÞθηκων περιουσιών για µη εξυπηρετούµενα δάνεια, τονίζοντασ Þτι τυχÞν αποδοχή τησ θα είναι καταστροφική τÞσο για τον κλάδο Þσο και για χιλιάδεσ νοικοκυριά. Ο ΠρÞεδροσ τησ FIABCI-Κύπρου υπέδειξε επίσησ την ανάγκη επέκτασησ των υφιστάµενων κινήτρων που αφορούν τα µεταβιβαστικά τέλη και το µειωµένο συντελεστή ΦΠΑ. ΠρÞτεινε, µεταξύ άλλων, την παραχώρηση φορολογικήσ αµνηστίασ για Þσα κεφάλαια Κυπρίων πολιτών επιστραφούν απÞ το εξωτερικÞ, νοουµένου Þτι θα επενδυθούν για την αγορά ακινήτων.

31 OKTΩΒΡΙΟΥ, 2012

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ΕΙ∆ΗΣΕΙΣ | 5/17

∏ ∂.∂ ‰ÂÓ ˘ÔÛÙËÚ›˙ÂÈ ÙËÓ Î˘Úȷ΋ ÚfiÙ·ÛË ÁÈ· ÙÔ ¶¢¶ Η ΚοµισιÞν εµµένει στην πρÞτασή τησ για το Πολυετέσ ∆ηµοσιονοµικÞ Πλαίσιο (Π∆Π) για την περίοδο 2014-2020, παρά το γεγονÞσ Þτι αυτÞ απορρίπτεται τουλάχιστον απÞ έξι κράτη µέλη µε καθαρή συνεισφορά στον προϋπολογισµÞ τησ ΕΕ.

H Ευρωπαϊκή Επιτροπή παίρνει θέση έναντι τησ Κυπριακήσ Συµβιβαστικήσ πρÞτασησ, τονίζοντασ Þτι δεν την υποστηρίζει, αλλά θα συνεχίσει να εργάζεται σκληρά για την επίτευξη συµφωνίασ στο ΕυρωπαϊκÞ Συµβούλιο µέχρι το τέλοσ του έτουσ. Η Επιτροπή φαίνεται να λαµβάνει υπÞψη τησ το διαπραγµατευτικÞ πλαίσιο που πρÞτεινε η Κυπριακή Προεδρία, αλλά δεν το υποστηρίζει, παραµένοντασ προσηλωµένη στη δική τησ πρÞτασή, προσθέτοντασ Þτι η πρÞτασή τησ επιτυγχάνει τη σωστή ισορροπία σε περίοδο κρίσησ, τÞσο σε σχέση µε το συνολικÞ ποσÞ Þσο και µεταξύ των διαφÞρων ευρωπαϊκών πολιτικών. Σύµφωνα µε την ΚοµισιÞν, το επÞµενο πολυετέσ δηµοσιονοµικÞ πλαίσιο πρέπει να είναι ένα εργαλείο για επενδύσεισ στην ανάπτυξη και την απασχÞληση. «Η Επιτροπή θα συνεχίσει να εργάζεται σκληρά για την επίτευξη συµφωνίασ στο ΕυρωπαϊκÞ Συµβούλιο του Νοεµβρίου και µε το ΕυρωπαϊκÞ Κοινοβούλιο πριν απÞ το τέλοσ του έτουσ. Η Κυπριακή Προεδρία παρουσίασε το νέο αναθεωρηµένο Π∆Μ, το οποίο προβλέπει

εξοικονοµήσεισ ύψοσ τουλάχιστον 50 δισ ευρώ. Η Κυπριακή Προεδρία προτείνει προσαρµογή προσ τα κάτω του συνολικού ύψουσ των δαπανών που προτάθηκε απÞ την Επιτροπή, συµπεριλαµβανοµένων Þλων των στοιχείων εντÞσ και εκτÞσ του Π∆Π Η πρώτη συζήτηση για το νέο ∆ιαπραγµατευτικÞ Πλαίσιο θα πραγµατοποιηθεί στην Επιτροπή Μονίµων Αντιπροσώπων (COREPER), σήµερα Τετάρτη, 31 Οκτωβρίου, Þπου τα κράτη µέλη αναµένονται να εκφράσουν τισ αρχικέσ τουσ αντιδράσεισ για τισ εισηγήσεισ τησ Προεδρίασ. Συνεπώσ, στη βάση του ∆ιαπραγµατευτικού Πλαισίου και στα αποτελέσµατα των σχετικών συζητήσεων, ο ΠρÞεδροσ του Ευρωπαϊκού Συµβουλίου θα πραγµατοποιήσει διµερείσ συναντήσεισ κατά τη διάρκεια τησ επÞµενησ εβδοµάδασ µε Þλα τα κράτη µέλη. Υπενθυµίζεται Þτι η πρÞταση τησ Επιτροπήσ που αποτελούσε µέχρι τώρα τη βάση τησ συζήτησησ καθορίζει τισ κοινοτικέσ πληρωµέσ στα 987 εκ. ευρώ για την περίοδο 2014-2020. Το προτεινÞµενο ποσÞ που ισοδυναµεί µε το 1,08% του ΑΕΠ είναι αυξηµένο κατά 5% σε σχέση µε τον προϋπολογισµÞ τησ περιÞδου 2007-2013. Η πρÞταση αυτή απορρίφθηκε τισ τελευταίεσ βδοµάδεσ απÞ έξι χώρεσ, τη Γερµανία, τη Γαλλία, το Ηνωµένο Βασίλειο, τη Φινλανδία, τη Σουηδία και την Αυστρία.

™ÙËÓ ∫‡ÚÔ ÙÔ 1Ô Û˘Ó¤‰ÚÈÔ Eastern Mediterranean Gas Conference H Noble Energy θα φιλοξενήσει το πρώτο «Eastern Mediterranean Gas onference (EMGC)» στην Κύπρο, και συγκεκριµένα στη Λευκωσία στισ 26-28 Μαρτίου 2013.

To συνέδριο διοργανώνεται απÞ την Gulf Publishing, µε την στήριξη τησ εταιρείασ Υπερίων (Hyperion Systems Engineering). Περίπου 35 τρισεκατοµµύρια κυβικά πÞδια ακαθάριστου φυσικού αερίου στουσ Κυπριακούσ και Ισραηλινούσ τοµείσ τησ Ανατολικήσ Μεσογείου, περιµένουν την ανάπτυξή τουσ. Υποθαλάσσια ανάπτυξη, παραγωγή και γεώτρηση, υποθαλάσσιοι αγωγοί και επεξεργασία φυσικού αερίου είναι µερικά απÞ τα µεγάλα έργα σε εξέλιξη ή υπÞ µελέτη. Με αυτέσ τισ εξελίξεισ, η Κύπροσ είναι έτοιµη να γίνει ο επÞµενοσ κÞµβοσ υγροποιηµένου φυσικού αερίου στην Ευρώπη. Το συνέδριο «Eastern Mediterranean Gas Conference» θα παρέχει στουσ συµµετέχοντεσ τη γνώση και τη διορατικÞτητα που χρειάζεται για να οικοδοµηθούν µε επιτυχία επιχειρηµατικέσ δραστηριÞτητεσ στην περιοχή.

Tο συνέδριο, θα προσφέρει επίσησ στουσ παρευρισκÞµενουσ ένα αποκλειστικÞ φÞρουµ και ευκαιρίεσ δικτύωσησ, µε σηµαντικά στελέχη, που προγραµµατίζουν ενεργά την ανάπτυξη τησ βιοµηχανίασ φυσικού αερίου στην ιδιαίτερη αυτή περιοχή.

«To Eastern Mediterranean Gas Conference είναι ένα πολύ συναρπαστικÞ γεγονÞσ για την παγκÞσµια βιοµηχανία ενέργειασ. Ξεκινώντασ απÞ το ενδιαφέρον που προκύπτει απÞ ένα απÞ τα πιο σηµαντικά νέα ευρήµατα στον κÞσµο, θα αναπτύξουµε συγκεκριµένα θέµατα που αφορούν τουσ ενεργειακούσ πÞρουσ, τα στάδια τησ ανάπτυξησ για διάφορουσ τοµείσ, τισ απαιτήσεισ υποδοµήσ και τα απαιτούµενα χρονοδιαγράµµατα για να δοθεί αυτÞσ ο σηµαντικÞσ πÞροσ στην αγορά», ανέφερε ο John Royall, ΠρÞεδροσ και ∆ιευθύνων Σύµβουλοσ τησ εταιρείασ Gulf Publishing Company, εκδÞτησ του World Oil and Hydrocarbon Processing. Το συνέδριο «Eastern Mediterranean Gas Conference» θα δώσει ιδιαίτερη έµφαση στισ τελευταίεσ τάσεισ και εξελίξεισ αναφορικά µε την γεωπολιτική, την αγορά και την τεχνολο-

γία, που σχετίζονται µε την εξερεύνηση, γεώτρηση, παραγωγή, µεταποίηση και εµπορία του φυσικού αερίου στην περιοχή. Το συνέδριο θα καλύψει κρίσιµα ζητήµατα Þπωσ τισ δυνατÞτητεσ των πÞρων, τη χρηµατοδοτική µίσθωση/άδεια, τα σχέδια ανάπτυξησ, τισ απαιτήσεισ υποδοµήσ, τα κυβερνητικά σχέδια και κανονισµούσ και πολλά άλλα. «Η αφθονία των φυσικών πÞρων και του φυσικού αερίου που ανακαλύφθηκε πρÞσφατα υπεράκτια τησ Κύπρου και του Ισραήλ, δίνει τη δυνατÞτητα, Þχι µÞνο για τεράστιεσ ευκαιρίεσ ανάπτυξησ επιχειρήσεων για τη βιοµηχανία πετρελαίου και φυσικού αερίου, αλλά και για να αλλάξει για πάντα την ενεργειακή ασφάλεια και το οικονοµικÞ τοπίο ολÞκληρησ τησ Ανατολικήσ Μεσογείου. Η Noble Energy είναι εξαιρετικά περήφανη που είναι µέροσ αυτήσ τησ διεθνούσ διάσκεψησ και είµαστε ενθουσιασµένοι που ο τοµέασ του φυσικού αερίου θα µασ βοηθήσει να ξεκλειδώσουµε αυτούσ τουσ ιστορικούσ και πραγµατικά µετασχηµατιστικούσ πÞρουσ για τον λαÞ τησ Κύπρου και του Ισραήλ.», δήλωσε ο Charles D. Davidson, πρÞεδροσ και ∆ιευθύνων Σύµβουλοσ τησ Noble Energy. Η Gulf Publishing Company είναι µια εταιρεία που ασχολείται διεθνώσ µε εκδÞσεισ και επιχειρηµατικέσ εκδηλώσεισ, αφιερωµένεσ στον τοµέα τησ ενέργειασ. Ιδρύθηκε το 1916 και απÞ τÞτε παράγει και διανέµει κορυφαία περιοδικά τησ βιοµηχανίασ (World Oil and Hydrocarbon Processing magazines) καθώσ και έρευνεσ, βάσεισ δεδοµένων, λογισµικÞ και εκδηλώσεισ που σχεδιάζονται για τισ ανάγκεσ τησ βιοµηχανίασ ενέργειασ.

ANAKOINΩΣΗ

31 OKTΩΒΡΙΟΥ, 2012

ΧΡΗΜΑ&ΑΓΟΡΑ

6/18 | ∆ΙΕΘΝΗ

ªÂ ÙÔ ‚ϤÌÌ· Û ∂˘ÚÒË Î·È ∏¶∞ ÙÔ Â˘ÚÒ ¡π∫√™ ªπÃ∞∏§π¢∏™ Foreign Exchange Analyst Email: michailidisn@aol.com

Σταθεροποιητικά κινήθηκε για άλλη µια εβδοµάδα η ισοτιµία Ευρώ – ∆ολαρίου παραµένοντασ για ακÞµα µια εβδοµάδα σε πολύ στενÞ εύροσ. Συγκεκριµένα η ισοτιµία απÞ τα 1.3000 τησ περασµένησ εβδοµάδοσ αν και αρχικά υποχώρησε µέχρι και τα 1.2870 στην συνέχεια ενισχύθηκε και πάλι κοντά στα 1.2950 Þπου και κινείται τισ τελευταίεσ ηµέρεσ. Η ισοτιµία συνεχίζει να κινείται για πέµπτη συνεχÞµενη εβδοµάδα σε πολύ στενÞ εύροσ, αναµένοντασ τισ κρίσιµεσ εξελίξεισ των επÞµενων εβδοµάδων που πιθανÞν θα είναι καταλυτικέσ για την περαιτέρω πορεία τησ ισοτιµίασ. ΑπÞ Ευρώπη έχουµε τισ κρίσιµεσ συνεδρίεσ του Eurogroup για το ελληνικÞ ζήτηµα ενώ απÞ ΗΠΑ έχουµε την αµφίρροπη εκλογική αναµέτρηση Þπου θα κριθούν πολλά για την περαιτέρω πορεία τησ οικονοµίασ και εδικά την νοµισµατική πολιτική τησ Fed. Το κύριο ερώτηµα είναι αν η νίκη του Ρεπουµπλικάνου υποψήφιου Mitt Romney ή του ∆ηµοκρατικού νυν προέδρου Barack Obama θα είναι το καλύτερο αποτέλεσµα για τισ χρηµατοοικονοµικέσ αγορέσ. Παρ’ Þλα αυτά, µακροπρÞθεσµεσ έρευνεσ έχουν δείξει Þτι η νίκη συγκεκριµένων κοµµάτων δεν ασκεί οριστική επιρροή στισ αγορέσ. Το πραγµατικÞ πρÞβληµα είναι αν ο νέοσ πρÞεδροσ και η νέα κυβέρνηση θα δηµιουργήσουν ελπίδεσ για την αντιµετώπιση σηµαντικών δηµοσιονοµικών ζητηµάτων τησ αµερικανικήσ οικονοµίασ το 2013. Οι ΗΠΑ έχασαν την πιστοληπτική αξιολÞγηση AAA απÞ τον οίκο Standard & Poor?s το 2011, υπÞ το επιχείρηµα Þτι «η αποτελεσµατικÞτητα, η σταθερÞτητα και η προβλεπτικÞτητα τησ αµερικανικήσ πολιτικήσ έχει αποδυναµωθεί σε µια περίοδο συνεχÞµενων δηµοσιονοµικών και οικονοµικών προκλήσεων». ∆εν υπάρχει µεγαλύτερη πρÞκληση

στον ορίζοντα απÞ το επονοµαζÞµενο «δηµοσιονοµικÞ κενÞ» (“Fiscal Cliff”) το 2013. Είναι κρίσιµο να δούµε αν τα εκλογικά αποτελέσµατα θα παρεµποδίσουν περαιτέρω τισ προσπάθειεσ να αποτραπεί µια νοµιµοποιηµένη απειλή τησ δηµοσιονοµικήσ σταθερÞτητασ και τησ αµερικανικήσ οικονοµίασ ευρύτερα το επÞµενο έτοσ. Ùτι και να γίνει Þµωσ τÞσο Þσο αφορά το ΕλληνικÞ ζήτηµα Þσο και τισ Αµερικάνικεσ εκλογέσ η κρίση χρέουσ στην Ευρωζώνη δεν δείχνει να εξοµαλύνεται. Η κρίση χρέουσ ξεκίνησε πριν απÞ τρία χρÞνια στην Αθήνα. ΑπÞ τÞτε οι χώρεσ τησ ευρωζώνησ αγωνίζονται να περιορίσουν τισ διογκούµενεσ δαπάνεσ χωρίσ Þµωσ ιδιαίτερη επιτυχία. Μια σκληρή και απάνθρωπη λιτÞτητα έχει υιοθετηθεί η οποία σε καµία περίπτωση δεν έχει περιορίσει το δυσβάστακτο χρέοσ τουσ αλλά αντιθέτωσ το έχει καταστήσει µη βιώσιµο. ΑπÞ το 1997 µέχρι σήµερα το δηµÞσιο χρέοσ στην ευρωζώνησ έχει υπερδιπλασιαστεί. Επειδή Þλεσ οι χώρεσ µπορούσαν να δανείζονται χρήµατα µε χαµηλά επιτÞκια, το χρέοσ διογκώνονταν συνεχώσ. Μέχρι που ξέσπασε η κρίση χρέουσ στην Ελλάδα. Ακολούθησαν 2 πακέτα βοήθειασ ύψουσ 240 δισεκατοµµυρίων ευρώ. Οι ιδιώτεσ δανειστέσ αποδέχθηκαν τη διαγραφή απαιτήσεων 100 δισεκατοµµυρίων. Και η Ελλάδα έθεσε σε εφαρµογή µια πολιτική λιτÞτητασ µε αποτέλεσµα το έλλειµµα του προϋπολογισµού να µειωθεί απÞ το 2009 γύρω στο 14% του ΑΕΠ. Ùµωσ το δηµÞσιο χρέοσ πλησιάζει παρ? Þλεσ τισ προσπάθειεσ και πάλι το 160% του ΑΕΠ. ΓεγονÞσ που οφείλεται στη συρρίκνωση τησ ελληνικήσ οικονοµίασ κατά 20% απÞ το 2008 µέχρι σήµερα. Σε σχέση µε το ΑΕΠ το ποσοστÞ του δηµοσίου χρέουσ αυξάνεται ακÞµα και Þταν το συνολικÞ χρέοσ παραµένει αµετάβλητο. Ùµοια είναι η κατάσταση και σε άλλεσ χώρεσ τησ ευρωζώνησ. Η οικονοµική ύφεση εξανεµίζει τισ προσπάθειεσ περιστολήσ των δαπανών. Οι 11 απÞ τισ 17 χώρεσ τησ ευρωζώνησ παρουσιάζουν ελλείµµατα που ξεπερνούν το 3%. Το Þριο του 60% για το συνολικÞ χρέοσ σε σχέση µε το ΑΕΠ µοιάζει να αποµακρύνεται Þλο και περισσÞτερο.

√È ÔÏÈÙÈΤ˜ ÂÍÂÏ›ÍÂȘ ·fi ∂˘ÚÒË Î·È ∞ÌÂÚÈ΋ ÎÚ·ÙÔ‡Ó Û ÛÙ¿ÛË ·Ó·ÌÔÓ‹˜ ÙËÓ ÈÛÔÙÈÌ›· ¢ÚÒ – ‰ÔÏ·Ú›Ô˘ Είναι πλέον αποδεδειγµένο µε τον πιο ξεκάθαρο τρÞπο πωσ η πολιτική διαχείριση τησ κρίσησ έχει αποτύχει παταγωδώσ. Και πιθανÞν η κατάσταση θα χειροτερέψει αφού η κρίση έχει µολύνει πλέον πολύ σοβαρά το ευρωπαϊκÞ τραπεζικÞ σύστηµα και εδώ θα πρέπει αναγκαστικά να παρέµβει το κράτοσ. Είναι ωστÞσο αδιάφορο αν το κράτοσ θα σώσει τισ τράπεζεσ ή αν θα τισ αφήσει να πτωχεύσουν. Τεχνικά η ισοτιµία συνεχίζει να βρίσκεται σε ένα στενÞ εύροσ 200 µονάδων γύρω απÞ τα 1,30 και ψάχνει τον καταλύτη που θα την οδηγήσει είτε προσ τα 1,25 είτε προσ τα 1,35. Ùσο Þµωσ η ισοτιµία κρατάει τα 1,28 Þπωσ έχουµε ξανά αναφέρει το ανοδικÞ momentum διατηρείται µε το εβδοµαδιαίο σπάσιµο του 1,32 να απαιτείται για να ενισχύσει την ανοδική αυτή τάση. ΑπÞ την άλλη το εβδοµαδιαίο σπάσιµο του 1,28 θα ανατρέψει την τάση αυτή και θα ανοίξει τον δρÞµο και πάλι για τα χαµηλά επίπεδα του περασµένου Μάιου.

™ÔÎ Î·È ‰¤Ô˜ ·fi ÙÔ ¤Ú·ÛÌ· Ù˘ ™¿ÓÙÈ Τουλάχιστον 16 νεκροί και αναρίθµητεσ υλικέσ ζηµιέσ και προβλήµατα αφήνει ο τυφώνασ Σάντι στο καταστροφικÞ πέρασµά του απÞ τισ ανατολικέσ ακτέσ των ΗΠΑ. Ο πρÞεδροσ Μπαράκ Οµπάµα κήρυξε την πολιτεία τησ Νέασ ΥÞρκησ σε κατάσταση «µέγιστησ καταστροφήσ», γειτονιέσ ολÞκληρεσ έχουν βυθιστεί στο σκοτάδι, ενώ ένα φράγµα στο Νιου Τζέρσεϊ έσπασε, πληµµυρίζοντασ τισ πÞλεισ Μούναχι, Λιτλ Φέρι και Καρλσταντ, Þπου η στάθµη των υδάτων έφτασε τα 1,2 µε 1,5 µέτρα. ΑυτÞπτεσ µάρτυρεσ ανέφεραν µάλιστα Þτι είδαν καρχαρίεσ στουσ δρÞµουσ του Νιου Τζέρσι. Η στάθµη των υδάτων στην πÞλη τησ Νέασ ΥÞρκησ έφτασε σε επίπεδα ρεκÞρ, προκαλώντασ πληµµύρεσ σε σταθµούσ του µετρÞ. Σοκαριστικέσ είναι και οι εικÞνεσ στα σου-

περµάρκετ Þπου ο κÞσµοσ άδειασε τα ράφια φοβούµενοσ τυχÞν αποκλεισµÞ στα σπίτια του. Πολλέσ γέφυρεσ και σήραγγεσ έχουν κλείσει, Þπωσ και Þλα τα αεροδρÞµια, ενώ το κÞστοσ των ζηµιών υπολογίζεται Þτι µπορεί να ξεπεράσει τα 50 δισ. δολάρια. Ένα απÞ τα µεγαλύτερα νοσοκοµεία τησ Νέασ ΥÞρκησ εκκενώθηκε και αρκετά άλλα βρίσκονται σε κατάσταση επιφυλακήσ. ΚλειστÞ παρέµεινε την ∆ευτέρα και χθεσ το χρηµατιστήριο τησ Νέασ ΥÞρκησ. Συνολικά περίπου 50 εκατοµµύρια άνθρωποι εκτιµάται Þτι επηρεάστηκαν απÞ τον κυκλώνα. «ΒρισκÞµαστε σε φάση διάσωσησ», είπε η Τζιν Μπαράτα, επικεφαλήσ των τοπικών αρχών στην κοµητεία Μπέργκεν. Μέχρι τώρα δεν υπάρχουν αναφορέσ για θύµατα, προσθέτο-

ντασ Þτι οι τρεισ αυτέσ πÞλεισ «αφανίστηκαν» απÞ τισ πληµµύρεσ. Η κατάσταση επιδεινώνεται απÞ τισ πολυάριθµεσ διακοπέσ ρεύµατοσ, που έχουν βυθίσει στο σκοτάδι ολÞκληρεσ γειτονιέσ στο νÞτιο τµήµα του Μανχάταν, Þπου περίπου 250.000 σπίτια είναι χωρίσ ρεύµα, σύµφωνα µε τισ τοπικέσ αρχέσ. Συνολικά σε Þλη την πολιτεία τησ Νέασ ΥÞρκησ σχεδÞν δύο εκατοµµύρια άνθρωποι είναι χωρίσ ηλεκτρικÞ ρεύµα, σύµφωνα µε την τελευταία ανακοίνωση του κυβερνήτη τησ πολιτείασ. Σε Þλη τη χώρα ο αριθµÞσ ξεπερνά τα 6,5 εκατοµµύρια. Για την αποκατάσταση τησ ηλεκτροδÞτησησ, ειδικά στισ πληµµυρισµένεσ περιοχέσ, εκτιµάται Þτι θα χρειαστούν αρκετέσ µέρεσ.

™Â ‰ÈÔÚıˆÙÈ΋ ÔÚ›· Ë ÈÛÔÙÈÌ›· ¢ÚÒ - ‰ÔÏ·Ú›Ô˘ ∞¡¢ƒ∂∞™ ∆™√§∞∫∏™ Alpha Bank Cyprus Ltd, Treasury Division.

Σε διορθωτική πορεία παραµένει η ισοτιµία ευρώ/δολάριο µετά το υψηλÞ 4 µηνών που κατέγραψε στισ 17 Σεπτεµβρίου 2012 στο 1,3172 δολάρια ανά ευρώ.Τη ∆ευτέρα 29 Οκτωβρίου η ισοτιµία υποχώρησε µέχρι τα 1,2883, που αποτελεί χαµηλÞ απÞ τισ 11 Οκτωβρίου. Θετικά επηρεάστηκε το αµερικανικÞ δολάριο απÞ τα καλύτερα των αναµενοµένων µακροοικονοµικά αποτελέσµατα Σεπτεµβρίου στη χώρα. Συγκεκριµένα, η προσωπική κατα-

νάλωση κατέγραψε το Σεπτέµβριο τη µεγαλύτερη ενίσχυση σε µηνιαία βάση απÞ το Φεβρουάριο. Επίσησ, τα προσωπικά εισοδήµατα κατέγραψαν το Σεπτέµβριο τη µεγαλύτερη αύξηση σε µηνιαία βάση απÞ το Μάρτιο. Ενισχυµένοσ παρουσιάστηκε και ο δείκτησ µεταποίησησ Dallas Fed για τον Οκτώβριο. Εν τω µεταξύ, αναµένεται Þτι στο επÞµενο διάστηµα θα πραγµατοποιηθούν τρεισ συσκέψεισ των Υπουργών Οικονοµικών τησ Ευρωζώνησ µε θέµατα συζήτησησ το ελληνικÞ πρÞγραµµα οικονοµικήσ προσαρµογήσ και την εξέλιξη του δηµοσίου χρέουσ. Συγκεκριµένα, αναµένεται να πραγµατοποιηθεί µια τηλεδιάσκεψη στισ 31 Οκτωβρίου, µια έκτακτη σύσκεψη στισ 8 Νοεµβρίου και ένα τακτικÞ Eurogroup στισ 12 Νοεµβρίου. Ο ΠρÞεδροσ τησ Γαλλίασ δήλωσε Þτι επιθυµεί την εξεύρεση βιώσιµησ λύσησ στο θέµα τησ διαχείρισησ του δηµοσίου χρέουσ τησ Ελλάδοσ στισ συσκέψεισ των Υπουργών

Οικονοµικών εντÞσ του Νοεµβρίου. Σε µια άλλη εξέλιξη, η τράπεζα τησ Ιαπωνίασ διατήρησε αµετάβλητα το επιτÞκιο αναφοράσ (0-0,1%) και το ύψοσ του προγράµµατοσ παροχήσ ρευστÞτητασ (25 τρισ γιεν), ενώ προέβη σε αύξηση του προγράµµατοσ αγοράσ τίτλων. Η Τράπεζα τησ Ιαπωνίασ προέβλεψε επίσησ, Þτι το Ακαθάριστο Εγχώριο ΠροϊÞν θα διαµορφωθεί το δηµοσιονοµικÞ έτοσ 2012 στο 1,5% (προηγούµενη εκτίµηση: 2,2%) και το 2013 στο 1,6% (προηγούµενη εκτίµηση: 1,7%). Σχετικά µε το επίπεδο των τιµών εκτίµησε Þτι ο δοµικÞσ δείκτησ τιµών καταναλωτή το τρέχον δηµοσιονοµικÞ έτοσ θα παρουσιάσει υποχώρηση κατά 0,1% ενώ το 2013 θα ενισχυθεί κατά 0,4%. Τέλοσ, ο δείκτησ βιοµηχανικήσ παραγωγήσ στην Ιαπωνία κατέγραψε το Σεπτέµβριο τη µεγαλύτερη µηνιαία υποχώρηση (4,1%) απÞ το Μάρτιο του 2011.

31 OKTΩΒΡΙΟΥ, 2012

ΧΡΗΜΑ&ΑΓΟΡΑ

ΕΛΛΑ∆Α | 7/19

™·Ì·Ú¿˜: ∞ÔÊ·Û›ÛÙÂ, Ë ‰È·Ú·ÁÌ¿Ù¢ÛË ÙÂÏ›ˆÛ «Ολοκληρώσαµε τη διαπραγµάτευση για τα µέτρα και τον ΠροϋπολογισµÞ. Κάναµε Þ,τι ήταν δυνατÞν», τÞνισε ο έλληνασ πρωθυπουργÞσ Αντώνησ Σαµαράσ, συµπληρώνοντασ Þτι «εξαντλήσαµε Þλα τα περιθώρια πιέσεων και χρÞνου. Πετύχαµε σηµαντικέσ βελτιώσεισ, ακÞµα και την τελευταία στιγµή». Ο πρωθυπουργÞσ υποστηρίζει Þτι εφÞσον εγκριθεί η συµφωνία αυτή και ψηφιστεί ο ΠροϋπολογισµÞσ, η Ελλάδα θα παραµείνει στο ευρώ. Και θα βγει απÞ την κρίση. Ο κ. Σαµαράσ θέτει ευθέωσ τα κÞµµατα προ των ευθυνών τουσ, αλλά και καθένα βουλευτή ξεχωριστά, προτάσσοντασ ουσια-

στικά το γνώριµο εδώ και δυÞµιση χρÞνια διακύβευµα, ή ναι στο µνηµÞνιο, δηλαδή στο νέο πακέτο µέτρων, ή έξοδοσ απÞ το ευρώ και επιστροφή στη δραχµή. «Πέρα απÞ τη συµφωνία», αναφέρει ο κ. Σαµαράσ, «ήδη προσπαθώ να δοθούν στην Ελλάδα περισσÞτερα απÞ 31 δισ ευρώ, ώστε να υπάρξει αισθητÞ αποτέλεσµα στην πραγµατική οικονοµία. Το πρÞβληµα απÞ δω και στο εξήσ δεν είναι εκείνο ή το άλλο µέτρο. Το πρÞβληµα είναι το ακριβώσ αντίθετο: τι θα µπορούσε να συµβεί, αν δεν περάσει η συµφωνία και οδηγηθεί η χώρα στο χάοσ». Τέλοσ, ο πρωθυπουργÞσ κάνει έκκληση

στα κÞµµατα και τουσ βουλευτέσ δηλώνοντασ πωσ «εναπÞκειται πια στην υπευθυνÞτητα Þλων των κοµµάτων και του καθενÞσ βουλευτή ξεχωριστά». Την έντονη αντίδραση του προέδρου του ΠΑΣΟΚ, Ευάγγελου Βενιζέλου, προκάλεσε η ανακοίνωση του πρωθυπουργού, Αντώνη Σαµαρά, για το τέλοσ τησ διαπραγµάτευσησ µε την τρÞικα για το νέο πακέτο µέτρων, µε την οποία καλεί τουσ πάντεσ να αναλάβουν τισ ευθύνεσ τουσ. «Η ανακοίνωση Σαµαρά συνιστά υπονÞµευση και απρέπεια», δήλωσε ο Ευάγγελοσ Βενιζέλοσ.

I‰Ô‡ ÔÈ ÈÔ ÎÂÚ‰ÔÊfiÚ˜ ÂÏÏËÓÈΤ˜ ÂÙ·ÈÚ›˜ Έξι δισ ευρώ αύξηση πέτυχαν συνολικά οι 500 πιο κερδοφÞρεσ ελληνικέσ εταιρείεσ το 2011 παρά την οικονοµική κρίση σύµφωνα µε τα στοιχεία τησ ICAP Group. ΕιδικÞτερα η ICAP Group, αξιοποιώντασ τα στοιχεία τησ ICAP Databank, ανέδειξε για 5η χρονιά τισ 500 πιο κερδοφÞρεσ επιχειρήσεισ στην Ελλάδα, καθώσ και τουσ 200 πιο κερδοφÞρουσ οµίλουσ εταιρειών, βάσει δηµοσιευµένων ισολογισµών για τη χρήση του 2011. Το κριτήριο µε βάση το οποίο γίνεται η κατάταξη των επιχειρήσεων (και οµίλων αντίστοιχα) είναι τα κέρδη EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortization), δηλαδή τα κέρδη τησ επιχείρησησ απÞ λειτουργικέσ δραστηριÞτητεσ πριν την επίδραση των χρηµατοοικονοµικών και έκτακτων εσÞδων-εξÞδων, καθώσ και των αποσβέσεων επί των παγίων στοιχείων. Στον σχετικÞ πίνακα κατανέµονται οι είκοσι πιο κερδοφÞρεσ εταιρείεσ. Στισ συνθήκεσ συνεχούσ ύφεσησ, η συµµετοχή των 500 επιχειρήσεων τησ κατάταξησ στα συνολικά µεγέθη των ελληνικών επιχειρήσεων ξεπέρασε κάθε προηγούµενο. Οι επιχειρήσεισ αυτέσ, παρÞλο που υπέστησαν σηµαντική µείωση σε επίπεδο καθαρών κερδών, ωστÞσο διατήρησαν τισ εργασίεσ τουσ σε ικανοποιητικά επίπεδα και κατάφεραν να ανταπεξέλθουν µε πολύ λιγÞτερεσ απώλειεσ τισ επιπτώσεισ τησ κρίσησ, σε αντίθεση µε το

σύνολο των ελληνικών επιχειρήσεων. Πράγµατι, οι 500 πιο κερδοφÞρεσ εταιρείεσ: - κάλυψαν µε τον κύκλο εργασιών τουσ ποσοστÞ 49,2% του συνολικού κύκλου εργασιών Þλων των εταιρειών (Επί συνÞλου 22.376 εταιρειών που εξέδωσαν ισολογισµÞ τÞσο για το 2011 Þσο και για το 2010)

- εµφάνισαν κέρδη EBITDA τησ τάξησ των 10 δισ ευρώ, ενώ τα τελικά κέρδη EBITDA του συνÞλου των επιχειρήσεων κατέστησαν αρνητικά (σηµειώθηκε ανατροπή, απÞ κέρδη το 2010 σε υψηλέσ ζηµίεσ το 2011, γεγονÞσ που σε µεγάλο βαθµÞ προέρχεται απÞ τα αρνητικά αποτελέσµατα του τραπεζικού τοµέα).

- εµφάνισαν κέρδη προ φÞρου τησ τάξησ των 1,9 δισ ευρώ το 2011, ενώ το τελικÞ καθαρÞ αποτέλεσµα του συνÞλου των εταιρειών ήταν για δεύτερη χρονιά ζηµιογÞνο, µε ζηµίεσ πολλαπλάσιεσ έναντι του 2010. Βέβαια, οι συνθήκεσ κρίσησ που επεκράτησαν το 2011 επηρέασαν αρνητικά και τισ κερδοφÞρεσ εταιρείεσ και οµίλουσ. Επισηµαίνεται Þτι το κατώτατο Þριο κερδών EBITDA προκειµένου να συµπεριληφθεί µία επιχείρηση στισ 500 πιο κερδοφÞρεσ εταιρείεσ το 2011 διαµορφώθηκε σε 3,37 εκ. ευρώ, Þριο µειωµένο κατά 11% συγκριτικά µε εκείνο των 3,79 ευρώ τησ έκδοσησ του 2010. Είναι αξιοσηµείωτο Þτι η πτώση του ορίου προκύπτει για τέταρτη συνεχή χρονιά. Είναι επίσησ ενδεικτικÞ Þτι το Þριο αυτÞ ήταν 5,9 εκ. ευρώ το 2007. Πιο έντονα επηρεάστηκαν οι Þµιλοι, αφού το κατώτατο Þριο κερδών EBITDA, προκειµένου να συµπεριληφθεί ένασ Þµιλοσ εταιρειών στην κατάταξη των 200 πιο κερδοφÞρων οµίλων το 2011 διαµορφώθηκε σε 2,47 εκ. ευρώ, µειωµένο κατά 33% σε σχέση µε το Þριο των 3,68 εκ. ευρώ του 2010. Τέλοσ, το γεγονÞσ Þτι απÞ τισ 500 κερδοφÞρεσ εταιρείεσ του 2011, µÞνον 61 είναι εισηγµένεσ στο Χρηµατιστήριο Αθηνών, δείχνει το πÞσο µακρύ δρÞµο έχει αυτÞ να διανύσει ώστε να καταστεί πÞλοσ έλξησ των σηµαντικÞτερων Ελληνικών εταιρειών.

∏ πÛ·Ó›· ¤¯ÂÈ ¯ÚfiÓÔ, Ë ∂ÏÏ¿‰· fi¯È Η Ισπανία µπορεί να έχει την πολυτέλεια να καθυστερήσει το αίτηµα για τη λήψη βοήθειασ αλλά το χρονοδιάγραµµα για την Ελλάδα είναι περισσÞτερο επείγον, δήλωσε σε συνέντευξή του, το στέλεχοσ τησ ΕΚΤ, Ewald Nowotny. Ο ΑυστριακÞσ κεντρικÞσ τραπεζίτησ στισ δηλώσεισ του επανέλαβε πωσ η Ισπανία δεν χρειάζεται άµεσα βοήθεια σηµειώνοντασ πωσ δεν τον εκπλήσσει η καθυστέρηση του αιτήµατοσ.

ΑναφερÞµενοσ στο νέο πρÞγραµµα αγοράσ οµολÞγων τησ ΕΚΤ (OMT) ο Nowotny τÞνισε πωσ έχει πολύ αυστηρούσ Þρουσ σηµειώνοντασ πωσ ίσωσ αυτÞσ είναι ένασ απÞ τουσ λÞγουσ τησ καθυστέρησησ. ΩστÞσο, ο Nowotny εξέφρασε την αισιοδοξία του για την ισπανική οικονοµία λέγοντασ πωσ οι προοπτικέσ βελτιώνονται. «Κανείσ δεν µπορεί σοβαρέσ προβλέψεισ για το 2013.Τουλάχιστον κατά την άποψή µου,

καταλαβαίνω πωσ η κυβέρνηση θέλει να διατηρήσει µία συγκεκριµένη ευελιξία.» Αντίθετα, ο ΑυστριακÞσ κεντρικÞσ τραπεζίτησ ήταν λιγÞτερο αισιÞδοξοσ για τισ βραχυπρÞθεσµεσ προοπτικέσ τησ Ελλάδασ, τονίζοντασ πωσ υπάρχει επείγουσα ανάγκη για την εξεύρεση χρηµάτων έωσ τα µέσα Νοεµβρίου. ΑναφερÞµενοσ στο ενδεχÞµενο νέουσ κουρέµατοσ του ελληνικού χρέουσ, τη γερµανική άρνηση αλλά και τησ ΕΚΤ ο Nowotny τÞνι-

∞ÓıÚˆÈÛÙÈ΋ ‚Ô‹ıÂÈ· ·fi G. Soros ΕιδικÞ ταµείο ώστε να δηµιουργηθούν κέντρα αλληλεγγύησ στην Ελλάδα για τουσ αστέγουσ και τουσ µετανάστεσ προωθεί ο διάσηµοσ εκατοµµυριούχοσ επενδυτήσ, George Soros, µε σκοπÞ να µην επιδεινωθεί η ανθρωπιστική κρίση στη χώρα. Ο διάσηµοσ επενδυτήσ ανέφερε Þτι η πολιτική ασύλου τησ ΕΕ έχει κλονιστεί. Οι πρÞσφυγεσ στην Ελλάδα δεν µπορούν να ενσωµατωθούν, ενώ απειλούνται απÞ τισ επιθέσεισ του νεο-φασιστικού κÞµµατοσ τησ Χρυσήσ Αυγήσ. Θα πρέπει το συντοµÞτερο δυνατÞ, να αποσταλεί κλιµάκιο στην Ελλάδα

για να επικοινωνήσει µε τισ αρχέσ και τισ οργανώσεισ που βοηθούν ήδη τουσ άπορουσ, και να τεθεί σε εφαρµογή ένα σχέδιο για τη στήριξη αυτών των οµάδων. Ο στÞχοσ είναι να αναβιώσει η ιδέα τησ ΕΕ ωσ µέσο αλληλεγγύησ, Þχι µÞνο πειθαρχίασ. Σύµφωνα µε τον ίδιο, η Ελλάδα είναι αιχµάλωτη του Συµφώνου ∆ουβλίνο 2 που δεν επιτρέπει σε ξένουσ που πρωτοµπήκαν σε αυτή να µεταβούν σε άλλεσ ευρωπαϊκέσ χώρεσ. Έτσι προκαλείται ένασ απερίγραπτοσ συνωστισµÞσ ξένων που δεν µπορεί να αντιµετωπιστεί απÞ το ελληνικÞ κράτοσ.

σε πωσ η απÞφαση για την αποδοχή εκ µέρουσ τησ κεντρικήσ τράπεζασ απωλειών είναι πολιτική. «Η ΕΚΤ έχει κανÞνεσ και πρέπει να τουσ ακολουθήσει. Είναι µία πολιτική απÞφαση η οποία πρέπει να ληφθεί και πρέπει να προσθέσω πωσ πρέπει να ληφθεί σύντοµα. Η Ελλάδα θα χρειαστεί νέα χρηµατοδÞτηση έωσ τα µέσα Νοεµβρίου. ∆εν έχουµε πολύ καιρÞ στη διάθεσή µασ για να το συζητήσουµε.»

°ÈÔ‡ÓÎÂÚ: ™Ù·Ì·Ù‹ÛÙ ٷ ÂÚ› ·Ô¯ÒÚËÛ˘ Να µπει φρένο στα σενάρια περί αποχώρησησ τησ Ελλάδασ απÞ το ευρώ, ζητά ο πρÞεδροσ του Eurogroup, J. C. Juncker. Ùπωσ χαρακτηριστικά διεµήνυσε, οι συζητήσεισ περί εξÞδου τησ Ελλάδασ απÞ το ευρώ πρέπει να σταµατήσουν. Η Ελλάδα δεν θα αποχωρήσει απÞ την Ευρωζώνη, αυτÞ δεν θα συµβεί, έσπευσε να επισηµάνει ο πρÞεδροσ του Eurogroup.

Η επισήµανση αυτή του Juncker µÞνο τυχαία δεν µπορεί να θεωρηθεί τη δεδοµένη στιγµή, αν αναλογιστεί κανείσ πωσ εν µέσω ασφυκτικά πιεσµένων χρονικών ορίων, σήµερα συνεδριάζει το Euro Working Group για την Ελλάδα, µε στÞχο την οριστική προετοιµασία για την τηλεδιάσκεψη των υπουργών Οικονοµικών τησ Ευρωζώνησ (Eurogroup) την ερχÞµενη Τετάρτη 31 Οκτωβρίου.

31 OKTΩΒΡΙΟΥ, 2012

ΧΡΗΜΑ&ΑΓΟΡΑ

8/20 | ΑΓΟΡΑ

Etihad: ¶Ù‹ÛÂȘ ¢Â˘Ù¤Ú·, ∆ÂÙ¿ÚÙË Î·È ¶·Ú·Û΢‹ ÁÈ· ∫‡ÚÔ Η Etihad Airways, ο εθνικÞσ αεροµεταφορέασ των Ηνωµένων Αραβικών Εµιράτων, έχει προχωρήσει στην ανανέωση και βελτίωση του πτητικού τησ προγράµµατοσ µεταξύ Λάρνακασ και Άµπου Ντάµπι. ∆ιατηρώντασ το πρÞγραµµα πτήσεων τησ σε τρεισ φορέσ την εβδοµάδα προσ τον κÞµβο τησ εταιρείασ στο Άµπου Ντάµπι, η διαφοροποίηση εστιάζεται στη µεταφορά τησ κυριακάτικησ πτήσησ στη ∆ευτέρα. Ο κ. John Rees Evans, Country Manager τησ Etihad Airways στην Κύπρο ανέφερε: «Η βελτίωση των επιλογών ταξιδιού είτε για επαγγελµατικούσ σκοπούσ, είτε για αναψυχή προσ το Άµπου Ντάµπι αλλά και προσ τουσ υπÞλοιπουσ 80 και πλέον προορισµούσ που περιλαµβάνονται στο δίκτυο τησ εταιρείασ και ειδικÞτερα προσ περιοχέσ του Αραβικού κÞλπου, τησ Ινδικήσ υποηπείρου, τησ ΒÞρειασ Ασίασ και τησ Αυστραλίασ, ήταν ο βασικÞσ λÞγοσ για τον οποίο επιλέξαµε τη διαφοροποίηση του πτητικού µασ προγράµµατοσ απÞ την Κύπρο. Η πτήση τησ ∆ευτέρασ, αναµένουµε πωσ θα δώσει τη δυνατÞτητα στουσ ταξιδιώτεσ αναψυχήσ απÞ την Κύπρο να πραγµατοποιήσουν σύντοµέσ αποδράσεισ στην πρωτεύουσα των ΗΑΕ, το Άµπου Ντάµπι και να απολαύσουν τη ζεστασιά και φιλοξενία τησ σύγχρονησ Αραβίασ». Για δροµολÞγια και κρατήσεισ επισκεφτείτε την ιστοσελίδα www.etihad.com/cy ή οποιοδήποτε ταξιδιωτικÞ πράκτορα.

TÔ Smirnoff Midnight Circus ÛÙËÓ ∫‡ÚÔ Μετά το παγκÞσµιο λανσάρισµα του Smirnoff Midnight Circus στο ΜεξικÞ και στην ΜπανγκÞκ, η διασκέδαση συνεχίζεται µε µία σειρά καινοτÞµων εµπειριών µέσα στουσ επÞµενουσ µήνεσ σε περισσÞτερα απÞ 25 µέρη του πλανήτη, συµπεριλαµβανοµένου και τησ Κύπρου. Στισ 3 Νοεµβρίου, στο Occhio Lounge Bar στη Λευκωσία, η Smirnoff δίνει ραντεβού µε τουσ fans τησ νυχτερινήσ διασκέδασησ για µια πρώτη γεύση απÞ τη µαγεία του Smirnoff Midnight Circus µε guest DJs τουσ Αlex Cle, John Kimi και Andy von Emmanuel. Η κορύφωση του Smirnoff Midnight Circus θα γίνει στισ 21 ∆εκεµβρίου σε ένα party που δεν έχει ξαναγίνει ποτέ στο νησί µασ. Για περισσÞτερεσ πληροφορίεσ για το Smirnoff Midnight Circus και τισ πολλέσ εκπλήξεισ και ξεχωριστέσ εµπειρίεσ που αναµένονται στην Κύπρο τουσ επÞµενουσ µήνεσ µπορείτε να επισκεφτείτε την επίσηµη σελίδα τησ Smirnoff στο Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/SmirnoffFamily . Επίσηµοσ αντιπρÞσωποσ τησ Smirnoff στην Κύπρο είναι η εταιρεία Φώτοσ Φωτιάδησ ∆ιανοµείσ Λτδ.

ªÂ ¤Ó· ¿ıÔ˜, ¤Ó· Like ÁÈ· GALAXY Η σοκολάτα είναι πειρασµÞσ και ηδονή. Η GALAXY Þµωσ είναι ένα πάθοσ που δεν κρύβεται, ένα πάθοσ χωρίσ Þρια και συµβιβασµούσ. Πάθοσ Þµωσ, εκτÞσ απÞ την GALAXY έχουµε και για άλλα πράγµατα! Γι’ αυτÞ, η GALAXY διοργανώνει απίστευτουσ διαγωνισµούσ στο facebook.com/GalaxyCyprus: Passion for Shopping, Passion for Technology, Passion for Fashion και Passion for Travel! Ο διαγωνισµÞσ Passion for Fashion θα έχει διάρκεια απÞ τισ 15 µέχρι τισ 26 Νοεµβρίου µε δώρο τι άλλο; Μια µέρα στα καταστήµατα µε personal stylist και δωροεπιταγή 500 ευρώ! Το Passion for Travel έχει διάρκεια απÞ τισ 27 Νοεµβρίου µέχρι τισ 4 ∆εκεµβρίου. Ο νικητήσ θα ικανοποιήσει το πάθοσ του για ταξίδια µε ένα διήµερο ταξίδι στην Αθήνα µε αεροπορικά εισιτήρια και διαµονή πληρωµένα! Οι χρήστεσ του Facebook θα πρέπει αρχικά να κάνουν like τη σελίδα τησ GALAXY στο Facebook και έπειτα να βγάλουν µια φωτογραφία που να επικοινωνεί το πάθοσ τουσ για GALAXY και το πάθοσ τουσ για τον εκάστοτε διαγωνισµÞ. Έπειτα µοιράζονται τη φωτογραφία τουσ µε τουσ φίλουσ τουσ για να λάβουν Þσεσ περισσÞτερεσ ψήφουσ µπορούν. Ο νικητήσ του κάθε διαγωνισµού, ο χρήστησ δηλαδή µε τισ περισσÞτερεσ ψήφουσ, θα κερδίζει ένα µεγάλο δώρο!

Laiko Cosmos: ¢È·ÓÔÌ‹ Ù˘ Heinz Η εταιρεία Laiko Cosmos Trading Ltd ανακοίνωσε ακÞµη µια µεγάλη συµφωνία η οποία ενδυναµώνει την παρουσία τησ και τισ δραστηριÞτητεσ τησ στην κυπριακή αγορά. Η εταιρεία Heinz έχει εµπιστευτεί στη Laiko Cosmos Trading Ltd την πώληση και διανοµή των προϊÞντων retail στην κυπριακή αγορά στα µεσαία και µικρά καταστήµατα. Η Heinz διαθέτει µια µεγάλη γκάµα προϊÞντων Þπωσ, Heinz Tomato Ketchup and Mayonnaise, Heinz Salad Creams and Dressings, Heinz Baked Beans, Heinz Sauces, Heinz Farley’s Rusks, Heinz Pasta Meals and Soups, HP Sauces, Lea & Perrins Sauces, Amoy Range of Asian Cooking Sauces and Products. Η Laiko Cosmos Trading Ltd πρωταγωνιστεί στο χώρο διανοµήσ προϊÞντων ευρείασ κατανάλωσησ µε µια εκτενή γκάµα προϊÞντων υπÞ τη διαχείριση τησ, µετά τη συγχώνευση των εταιρειών Cosmos Trading Ltd και του Omilos Laikou Distributors Ltd.

Badoit: ∏ÁÂÙÈ΋ ÌÔÚÊ‹ Ùταν η διακεκριµένη µαγειρική ικανÞτητα του διάσηµου Γάλλου σεφ Thierry Max συνδυάστηκε µε τη µοναδική σύνθεση του Νο.1 ανθρακούχου νερού στη Γαλλία Badoit, το αποτέλεσµα δεν θα µπορούσε παρά να γίνει µια αξέχαστη εµπειρία. ΑυτÞ ακριβώσ συνέβη και στισ 21 Σεπτεµβρίου. O σεφ Thierry Max εξέπληξε ευχάριστα πάνω απÞ 400 επιβάτεσ ενÞσ τρένου στη Γαλλία, προσφέροντάσ τουσ ένα 25λεπτο ταξίδι γεµάτο µε µεθυστικέσ µυρωδιέσ και απολαυστικέσ γεύσεισ, συνοδευÞµενο απÞ τη δροσιά του φυσικού ανθρακούχου νερού Badoit. Η επιλογή του Badoit δεν ήταν φυσικά τυχαία, καθώσ αποτελεί εδώ και 60 χρÞνια τον ηγέτη των ανθρακούχων νερών στο γαστρονοµικÞ κÞσµο τησ Γαλλίασ. Κι αυτÞ, λÞγω τησ ιδιÞτητάσ του να συνδυάζεται µε διάφορα γεύµατα ενισχύοντασ τη γεύση τουσ. Στην Κύπρο, το Badoit εισάγεται και διανέµεται απÞ την εταιρεία Iakovos Photiades Foodstuff Suppliers Ltd (ipH).

∫˘Úȷο ÎÚ·ÛÈ¿ Û ¤ÎıÂÛË ÛÙÔ ∆ÔÚ›ÓÔ Με σύνθηµα «Τροφέσ που µπορούν να αλλάξουν τον κÞσµο» άνοιξε τισ πύλεσ τησ στο κοινÞ η µεγαλύτερη διεθνήσ έκθεση γαστρονοµίασ του Slow Food µε τίτλο Salone del Gusto και Terra Madre (ΣαλÞνι τησ Γεύσησ και Μητέρα Γη) στο Τορίνο τησ Ιταλίασ. Το Salone del Gusto, θεωρείται ωσ µια απÞ τισ σηµαντικÞτερεσ διεθνείσ διοργανώσεισ µε θέµα το φαγητÞ. Στην έκθεση έλαβαν µέροσ πέραν των χιλίων εκθετών απÞ εκατÞν διαφορετικέσ χώρεσ. Η Κύπροσ συµµετείχε µε δικÞ τησ περίπτερο µε κεντρική ιδέα τα κυπριακά κρασιά απÞ τισ γηγενείσ ποικιλίεσ Ξυνιστέρι και Μαραθεύτικο καθώσ και προϊÞντα µούστου που παράγονται απÞ αυτά Þπωσ σουτζιούκο, κιοφτέρια, έψηµα, σταφυλοκούφετα, µαρµελάδεσ και γλυκά σταφυλιού. Την αποστολή συνδιοργάνωσαν νώνουν απÞ κοινού το Slow Food Κύπρου και το δίκτυο cyprusfood&drinks µε την υποστήριξη του Κ.Ε.Β.Ε.

31 √ÎÙˆ‚Ú›Ô˘: ¶·ÁÎfiÛÌÈ· ̤ڷ ·ÔÙ·Ì›Â˘Û˘ «Η αποταµίευση συµβάλλει στο ατοµικÞ και γενικÞ καλÞ» είναι το µήνυµα τησ ΠαγκÞσµιασ Μέρασ Αποταµίευσησ που εορτάζεται στισ 31 Οκτωβρίου κάθε χρÞνου σε ανάµνηση τησ ίδρυσησ του ∆ιεθνούσ Ινστιτούτου Ταχυδροµικών Ταµιευτηρίων, στο Μιλάνο, το 1924. ΣτÞχοσ είναι η προβολή τησ αποταµίευσησ ωσ πολιτισµικού στοιχείου, το οποίο, - σε ατοµικÞ επίπεδο, βοηθά τον άνθρωπο να αντιµετωπίζει απρÞβλεπτα προβλήµατα, να υλοποιεί τα Þνειρά του στον πνευµατικÞ και επαγγελµατικÞ στίβο, να αντεπεξέρχεται ευκολÞτερα στισ δυσκολίεσ τησ ζωήσ και κατ’ επέκταση να αποκτά αποταµιευτική συνείδηση και παιδεία.

- και σε κοινωνικÞ επίπεδο συµβάλλει στην οικονοµική ανάπτυξη και κατά συνέπεια στην αναβάθµιση του βιοτικού επιπέδου του λαού.

FinancialMirror.com

October 31 - November 6, 2012

PROPERTY NEWS | 21

Price trends in Cyprus real estate Real estate prices are following a downhill trend and this boils down to the following basic reasons: (a) A substantial number of owners are in a difficult financial position and are forced to sell properties. This, of course, generates an oversupply of properties with all its repercussions. (b) Buyers looking to acquire property cannot realise their dreams either because they cannot secure the necessary funds (bank loans) or are guided by the market’s negative psychology and are reluctant to do so. This consequently chokes demand for properties. (c) Even though we believe that investing in real estate makes for a more stable financial reward, compared to other investments like stocks, bonds, etc, investors are hesitant due to the state and future of the economy, as well as the direction real estate prices will take and are playing a waiting game.

All the above lead us to a simple conclusion that if all factors remain unchanged real estate prices will surely follow a downward trend.

Which brings us to the question: when can we expect a

reversal of this downward trend?

The answer is simple enough. A stabilisation and upward trend can be expected when substantial funds are injected into the economy, something which will boost liquidity, ie. cash availability.

By GEORGE MOUSKIDES President, Association for the Promotion of Property Development and Manager, FOX Smart Estate Agency

So, who and how will these funds be injected?

This can be achieved by: - The loan from Russia - if a deal is reached (although we disagree in principle); - The funds to be borrowed by the Troika - which will require steps to put state finances in order;

- The funding by various European organisations to bail out the banks; - Foreign investors (eg the rumoured Chinese investment at the old Larnaca Airport); - Cypriot, both mid-range as well as high-calibre, investors; - Funds generated by the prospects regarding our natural resources (gas, petrol etc).

If we take the necessary steps to put our house in order, this will help reassure the Cypriot investor that the state of the market and the future of the economy will be supportive of any investment.

It is, of course, a matter of opinion as to which of these funds will push the economy out of its current state and to what degree they will achieve that.

In conclusion, if all concerned (lenders and investors) are convinced that measures will be taken to tighten state finances, then we are sure that funds will flow in, market interest for real estate will be boosted and price trends, both in the short-run and in the long-run, will be reversed.

Sale and leasebacks dropped in Eastern Europe, revival expected l

An alternative to generate capital from commercial real estate

Sale and leaseback (SLB) activity accounts for 10% of all European commercial real-estate investment transactions reported since 2007, while transactions in Eastern Europe represent a meager 4,5% of the historic investment turnover, according to the latest research by Colliers International, the third-largest commercial real estate services company in the world.

Investment market transactions across Europe since 2007 show that SLBs, as a proportion of all transactions, increased during the post-Lehman crisis, reaching around 13% of all market activity in 2008, while falling back to 7.2% in the more buoyant investment period of 2011. As of mid-2012, the volume of SLB deals in proportionate terms has again started to trend-up, as overall deal-flow and market conditions tighten.

SLB transactions have figured less prominently in Eastern Europe over the last decade or so, subject to a caveat regarding owner-funded leaseback structures and the lack of transparency or reporting of transactions, representing only 4.5% of all deals in the area, half of all deals conducted across Europe.

Although no SLB transactions have been recorded during

2012 to date, the current market conditions comprising a combination of restricted credit, muted economic growth and subdued debt provision provide a strong platform for sale and leaseback investment transactions to occur.

In Greece, SLBs reached their peak in the period 2005 – 2007 because of the economic prospects, market trends and momentum for reinvesting capital. The current reality of the commercial real estate market is that it has become an investment market driven by equity players.

“If the current market conditions in Greece persist, SLBs could be a growing source of capital raising and investment deals over the short and medium term. SLB’s as an investment tool can benefit both the corporate entities and the investors, the first group by allowing them to raise cash and the other one to secure long term income streams with attractive returns,” said Ana Vukovic, Managing Director of Colliers International in Greece.

The industrial/logistics sector, the busiest in the region,

No real estate bubble in Germany The price increase in Germany’s residential real estate market, the homeownership rate and lending policies are all within the normal range and do not indicate a bubble in the making, a study has found.

Researcher Christian Dreger referred to recent data from the bubble early warning system developed by the DIW German Institute for Economic Research, warning, however, that if apartment prices in a given metropolis are subject to speculative exaggerations is any investor’s guess.

Compared to the year before, condominium prices were up by 3.1%, and rent rates by 2.3%. The price hikes in cities, especially in prime locations in the conurbations, were far steeper. For instance, condominiums in cities with populations of more than 500,000 cost 9% more today than they did a year ago, and 20% more in Munich.

Jürgen Kelber of Conwert believes that the bubble is at worst a hunch, whereas the facts on the ground paint a different picture.

“At present, buyers, including those coming from abroad, are not interested in speculative business but focus on a long-term horizon.” Investors, he added, favour plausible products, and few things are more plausible than housing.

According to Rackham Schröder of the Engel & Völkers Commercial estate agency, Berlin remains Germany’s most interesting residential real estate market. This is explained by the city’s high level of liquidity and the persistently low prices. “Berlin is the only market in Germany in which foreigners will invest, too,” said Einar Skjerven of Industrifinans. With an annual turnover of 4 bln euros, the German capital is home to Europe’s largest residential real estate market.

conducted close to 35% of all SLB transactions, such as the sale of Kuehne & Nagel’s portfolio of Polish properties in 2008 from Goodman’s European Logistics Fund for 220 mln euros.

Retail accounted for 22% of the market as multi-let retail schemes are far more complex than single-let covenants.

Finally, the office sector accounts for 27% of all deals.

The Czech Republic leads the way having conducted 15 SLBs, comprising over 27% of all activity. Hungary and Poland have seen an equal amount of deals, nine apiece and account for 17% of all activity. Russia saw a total of eight deals, followed

by Romania with seven.

Antoniades+Eleftheriou UDS win property awards Antoniades+Eleftheriou UDS was among the winners at the European Property Awards 2012 held at London’s Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square on the sidelines of the annual Property Summit last month.

The Cypriot architectural firm won prizes in the following categories: Architecture Single Residence – for a house in Mesovounia; Office Architecture – for the Imperio Office Block; and, High-rise Architecture – for the DELMAR Residences.

The European Property Awards are part of the long established International Property Awards and its award winners’ logo is recognised as a symbol of excellence throughout the global industry.

Antoniades+Eleftheriou UDS Architects was founded in 1996 by Pavlos Antoniades and Andreas Eleftheriou in Limassol. The firm provides full architectural services and has worked with a number of international design firms for residential and commercial projects in Cyprus. www.udsarchitects.com

FinancialMirror.com

October 31 - November 6, 2012

24 | MARKETS

Gold ticks lower, economic concerns return Gold edged down on Tuesday, heading for its biggest monthly loss since May, after disappointing corporate earnings prompted investors to sell holdings to cover losses in other markets, which have been hurt by global economic uncertainty.

This week’s focus will be Friday’s U.S. non-farm payrolls report, which could shed light on the nascent labor market recovery and influence an increasingly tight election between Republican Mitt Romney and Democrat Barack Obama.

Spot gold hit a low around $1,704 an ounce. It hit an 11-month high above $1,795 in early October after the U.S. Federal Reserve announced its third round of aggressive economic stimulus in September. “It isn’t much of a surprise that it is still moving within this trading band. People are more cautious in view of the U.S. elections and the euro problems,” said Brian Lan, managing director of GoldSilver Central Pte Ltd in Singapore. “Some of the support for this price level, I believe, comes from India as Diwali is coming up. $1,700 is not a very strong support. Once it’s broken, we expect to see the support level at $1,675,” said Lan, who pegged resistance at $1,720.

Bullish bets on U.S. commodities by hedge funds and other big speculators have fallen to a near 2-1/2-month low, trade data showed on Friday, as oil and gold saw heavy selling for a second straight week.

Uncertainty over global economic recovery and questions on the future of U.S. monetary policy, which has been ultra-loose under Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, was weighing on gold’s appeal as an inflation hedge.

Brent slips as Sandy damps oil demand Brent crude slipped to near $109 a barrel on Tuesday as Sandy, one of the biggest storms ever to hit the United States, shut East Coast refineries, roads and airports, reducing crude and fuel demand in the world’s largest oil consumer.

Fuel supply into the region ground almost to a halt as the storm forced the closure of two-thirds of the region’s refineries, its biggest pipeline, and most major ports.

Brent crude for December slipped for a second session, to stand down 40 cents at $109.04 a barrel. U.S. crude for December edged down 17 cents to $85.37.

“People can’t go out, they can’t use, they can’t consume,” said Jonathan Barratt, chief executive of Barratt’s Bulletin, a Sydney-based commodity research firm. “Crude inventories are running pretty high, 11-12% above a 5-year average.”

“The only area of concern is if the refineries are going to be knocked out for a period of time,” Barratt said, but added this would be a rare event as operators were prepared for the storm. The American Petroleum Institute said on Monday it had not yet delayed the release of its weekly petroleum stocks report, but would continue to assess conditions.

Speculators have cut net long positions in Brent crude oil and gasoil futures and options after three weeks of increases, data from the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) showed, as an impending restart at Britain’s largest oilfield Buzzard cooled prices.

But Buzzard’s restart has again slipped by a few more days from Monday and this could delay shipments.

US closures contain gain by Asian shares Asian shares rose modestly but momentum was curbed by a giant, powerful storm that kept U.S. markets shut, while the dollar slid to an intraday low against the yen after the Bank of Japan unveiled further easing steps.

The yen jumped to the day’s high against the dollar of 79.275 yen, driven by an unwinding of positions built on excessive expectations for the BOJ, traders said.

The BOJ’s move was largely in line with expectations, increasing its asset purchase scheme by 11 trln yen ($138 bln) including 1 trln yen in risk assets such as exchange-traded funds (ETF).

The weakness of the Japanese economy will likely keep the yen’s underlying bear trend intact.

Data underscored the risk that the world’s third-largest economy may slip into a mild recession.

More in line with a global trend of weaker corporate results, Baidu Inc, China’s largest search engine company, posted its slowest quarterly revenue growth in over two years. It forecast softer-than-expected growth this quarter, hurt by weaker sales as China’s economic engine loses steam.

FOREX COMMENTARY TECHNICAL ANALYSIS The yen rose to a one-week high on Tuesday as the Bank of Japan’s easing steps were perceived as unspectacular, likely putting the currency back into a familiar trading range.

The Bank of Japan increased its assets purchase by 11 trillion yen ($138.5 billion), including one trillion yen in risk assets such as stock ETFs, though analyst say some in the market had been hoping for an even bigger buying spree.

The dollar fell to as low as 79.25 yen, down about 0.6 percent from late U.S. levels, breaking below an important chart support from its 200-day moving average at 79.52.

It also slipped further from a four-month peak of 80.38 hit on Friday, which is likely to prove to be a near-term peak as the dollar’s rally driven by BOJ speculation has run its course, said Ayako Sera, senior market economist at Sumitomo Trust Bank.

The dollar is likely to stay trapped in its well-worn trading range around 77.50-80 yen, analysts said.

Chartists say the next support for the dollar is seen at 78.90, kijun line on the daily Ichimoku chart.

The BOJ’s easing also came as Japan’s industrial production fell 4.1 percent, the largest fall since the aftermath of last year’s tsunami and nuclear disaster and worse than economists’ forecast, raising worries the country may be slipping into a recession.

The euro stood at $1.2910, unchanged on the day and near last week’s low of $1.28825, as the news from crisishit southern European countries was not inspiring.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy kept financial markets guessing on Monday, saying he would seek a credit line from the euro zone’s rescue fund “when I think it is in the interests of Spain”.

His comments came even after data showed retail sales in the country fell at their fastest pace on record, further darkening the outlook for an economy already mired in recession.

Yet, expectations that the European Central Bank can start a bond buying programme as soon as Madrid cries for help limited speculative euro selling, keeping the currency in a range of $1.2800/3200 in the previous few weeks.

Its 200-day average, at $1.2835 on Tuesday, is seen as a strong support as well.

Also showing no inclination to break new ground, the Australian dollar was at $1.0359, up a tad on the day but still within Monday’s directionless trading range.

Last week, it fell to $1.0230 and then quickly rebounded to $1.0398 in moves likely to keep Aussie-dollar bears cautious.

But the Canadian dollar hit a fresh threemonth low, breaking through key chart levels including parity against the U.S. dollar as falling oil prices due to Hurricane Sandy added spice to the Canadian currency’s downtrend on worries about the global slowdown.

The U.S. dollar rose to as high as C$1.0020, having broken above its 200-day moving average around C$0.9995 and closing above parity on Monday for the first time since early August on Monday.

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.

FinancialMirror.com

October 31 - November 6, 2012

MARKETS | 25

An Interconnected World boost the economy, analysts were predicting that Japan’s Nikkei index would continue to rise. Yet, even that has now fallen short.

Japanese shares dropped from a four-week high, influenced by China, after the disappointing corporate results.

Economics alone proves that this really is a small world: everything interrelates. Indeed the key to understanding the financial markets and profiting from them lies in the ability to successfully interpret the global cause and effect of more localized events.

Last week, we saw the fall of Asian stocks. The regional index dropped enough in days to counterbalance the month’s gains, as various companies reported that their earnings had missed estimates. Why? Global growth concerns. Analysts largely agree that external factors present the biggest risks for the Asian markets.

Let us consider the key influencing factors: the European debt crisis and America’s slow economic progress.

The Asian region has a strong export sector. Notably, exports represent 25% of China’s economy and account for millions of jobs. As a result of the weak global growth and austerity measures in Europe, exports have slowed sharply in recent months, and the consequences are being felt. Company earnings, so dependent on macroeconomic factors, have been reported as lower than expected. China Unicom, the nation’s second mobile phone company, sank 5.8% in Hong Kong, while Fanuc, a maker of industrial robots, slid 5.4% in Tokyo.

In light of the weakening yen last week, as the Bank of Japan was expected to implement monetary easing to raise exports and

BY OREN LAURENT President, Banc De Binary

Amid the lingering turmoil in Europe and the slow pace of recovery seen in the US, there is little chance that Asian exports will rebound in the near future. It remains hotly debated whether the implemented austerity measures in Europe will prove effective. As long as the continent still awaits closure to its debt crisis, it remains unable to stimulate and contribute to wider global growth.

The US too faces uncertainty at the current time, ahead of the upcoming elections and the fiscal cliff. Elections add tension to the markets. While it is unclear as to what extent the markets will be affected after the election, the current speculation and uncertainty are reflected in price movements. It is possible that if

Romney is elected, he would fire Fed Chair Bernanke, affecting the country’s future financial policy. The Republican candidate is known to disagree with Bernanke’s pro- easing stance.

The fiscal cliff also looms ahead. Democrats and Republicans are in disagreement about whether to cut Government spending and raise taxes, a decision which will impact strongly on the job market and the US economy as a whole. This comes at a critical time for the country. The S&P 500 fell 1.5% as companies reported disappointing quarterly results and forecasts. Weaker earnings, including from some of America’s biggest businesses, have shaken investor confidence and added to doubts about the growth rate of its economy. The repercussions are felt globally, with Asia profoundly affected. After all, the US is China’s largest export partner.

To take any of the above considerations alone is to misunderstand the deep relationship between countries and economies that exists in today’s world. Traders should look out for the reaction of different currencies and indices in the coming weeks and months, which together will paint a picture of the developing state of global affairs. For the time being, until new events unfold, I’d continue to sell the Asian stocks. See you on the trading platform! www.bbinary.com

UK Economy Is Still A Sick Man quarter. This year, however, the output lost in June was only recovered in July. On top of that, July and August were boosted by the Olympics—and these produced a new distortion that was not expected and which largely accounted for the upside surprise in yesterday’s +1% figure, relative to market expectations of +0.7%. It turns out that government accounting conventions required Olympic tickets sale revenues to be deferred until the events actually happened.

According to the statisticians, this Olympic accounting effect added 0.2% to third quarter GDP—on top of which there were further boosts to tourist and service spending which have yet to be properly quantified. The upshot is that ex-Olympic GDP growth in the third quarter was very close to market expectations of roughly 0.7%—and these expectations were in turn seriously distorted by the working day anomalies created by the Jubilee holiday in June.

The most plausible way of allowing for these special factors is simply to combine -0.4% contraction in Q2 with yesterday’s report of +0.8% ex-Olympic Q3 growth. This calculation suggests an underlying quarterly growth of +0.2% averaged across Q2 and Q3. Thus, the double-dip recession of 2011-12 probably ended in the second quarter; but it has been followed by nearstagnation, rather than the strong rebound yesterday’s figures might naively suggest. This picture of weak but slightly positive growth accords with other indicators such as employment.

What it does not do is alter the broad picture of a British economy whose post-crisis recovery lags the US, Germany, France, Japan and even the euro-zone as a whole.

Neither does last week’s “strong” GDP figure tell us whether Britain’s economic performance actually improved between the spring and summer, or merely stagnated. Recent manufacturing indicators and business surveys suggest that underlying economic conditions may even be deteriorating, rather than improving. The bottom line is that nobody should have bought sterling or demand-sensitive British assets on the basis of yesterday’s GDP figures. The economic and fiscal problems for Britain remain as daunting as ever—and Britain’s political situation is likely to get more unstable in the months ahead.

Marcuard’s Market update by GaveKal Research The British economy rebounded strongly in the third quarter, shedding the memory of a double-dip recession as it soared to the stratosphere with 4% annualised GDP growth. That, at least, might be the view of a Martian economist who knew nothing about earthling life. Such creatures seemed to be operating in the financial markets yesterday, to judge by gains in sterling and losses in the gilt market in what was otherwise a mildly “risk-off” day. For those traders still based on Earth, it should have been clear that the 3Q data bears little relation to the UK economy’s true growth rate.

While the worst period of austerity is probably over for the British economy there is little hope of a rapid improvement. It is quite possible, in fact, that Britain’s underlying growth rate actually weakened over the summer, despite the acceleration reported yesterday from -0.4% QoQ in Q2 to +1% in Q3. The reasons for this anomaly have long been obvious, as we first noted back in February and have repeated since. The four-day Jubilee holiday in early June, followed by the Olympics in July and August, were guaranteed to create major distortions in this year’s pattern of quarterly GDP. The Jubilee removed one working day from the second quarter. But UK statisticians decided not to compensate for this lost working day in their seasonal adjustment, on the reasonable grounds that the Jubilee was a “special event”, comparable to a hurricane or industrial dispute, rather than a regular occurrence. For this reason alone, the number of working days in the second quarter was reduced by 1.5%. That reduction did not, of course, translate into a 1.5% loss of output, since much activity continues on public holidays and weekends. But the 2011 Royal Wedding suggested that an extra holiday could create month to month output fluctuations in industrial production and retail sales of well over 1%.

Last year, this distortion did not affect quarterly GDP statistics because the Royal Wedding occurred in April and the related output losses were recouped in May, which was in the same

www.marcuardheritage.com Disclaimer: This information may not be construed as advice and in particular not as investment, legal or tax advice. Depending on your particular circumstances you must obtain advice from your respective professional advisors.

Investment involves risk. The value of investments may go down as well as up.

Past performance is no guarantee for future performance. Investments in foreign currencies are subject to exchange rate fluctuations. Marcuard Cyprus Ltd is regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySec) under License no. 131/11.

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

CODE

RATE

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

8510 1.6053 1.5126 19.354 5.7689 12.101 1.2929 1.653 220.33 0.53803 2.6703 0.332 12.26 5.7581 3.2096 3.5119 31.5202 6.6741 0.9346 8.1652

AUD CAD HKD INR JPY KRW NZD SGD

1.0365 1.0008 7.7499 54.09 79.47 1091.3 1.2171 1.2212

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

0.3770 6.1033 12104.90 3.9012 0.7047 0.2812 1501.00 0.3850 3.6407 3.7502 8.6719 3.6728

AZN KZT TRY

0.7839 150.73 1.8038

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

MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

The Financial Markets

Interest Rates

Base Rates

LIBOR rates

CCY USD GBP EUR JPY CHF

0-0,25% 0.50% 0.75% 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

0.21 0.50 0.06 0.14 0.01

0.26 0.51 0.10 0.15 0.01

0.31 0.53 0.13 0.19 0.03

0.54 0.71 0.28 0.31 0.13

0.88 1.10 0.55 0.52 0.33

USD GBP EUR JPY CHF

0.37 0.65 0.45 0.23 0.06

0.49 0.72 0.57 0.23 0.09

0.63 0.83 0.74 0.25 0.15

0.82 0.99 0.94 0.29 0.25

1.24 1.35 1.33 0.43 0.52

1.74 1.88 1.76 0.73 0.88

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

Opening Rates

1 USD 1 EUR 1 GBP 1 CHF 1.2931 0.7733

100 JPY

1.6052

1.0701

1.2585

1.2414

0.8275

0.9732

0.6230

0.8056

0.9345

1.2084

1.5001

79.46

102.75

127.55

0.6666

0.7840 1.1761

85.03

ASIA

Weekly movement of USD

CCY\Date

02.10

09.10

16.10

23.10

30.10

CCY

Today

USD GBP JPY CHF

1.2863

1.2946

1.2926

1.3020

1.2868

0.7967

0.8070

0.8044

0.8131

0.8025

100.34

101.38

101.85

103.91

102.20

1.2049

1.2087

1.2042

1.2060

1.2034

GBP EUR JPY CHF

1.6052 1.2931 79.46 0.9345

Last Week %Change 1.6010 1.3046 79.88 0.9280

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

-0.26 +0.88 -0.53 +0.70

Azerbaijanian Manat Kazakhstan Tenge Turkish Lira Note:

* USD per National Currency

October 31 - November 6, 2012

FinancialMirror.com

26 | WORLD MARKETS

Companies looking to IPO in Europe Spanish telecoms firm Telefonica has narrowed the indicative price range for the listing of its German unit, sources close to the process said on Friday.

The following are some of the largest IPOs underway or expected in the coming months in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, as well as those already completed this month.

02 Germany (Oct 30: Frankfurt - $2 bln) Spain’s Telefonica plans to list as much as 23.17% of its German unit as part of its plans to raise cash and trim its large debt. It is offering the shares at between 5.50 euros and 6 euros each.

MegaFon (Nov: London - $2 bln) Russia’s second-largest mobile phone operator plans to list around 15% of its shares in London, but has postponed the roadshow for the offering until after its third-quarter results in early November.

PointPark Properties (Nov: London - $400 mln) The warehouse owner and developer plans to list its shares to help fund the purchase of a property portfolio and reduce debt.

Moleskine (Nov: Milan – TBA) The Italian notebook maker has filed listing documents with the Italian regulator, and could float as early as November.

PHN (Nov: Warsaw – TBA) Poland’s state-owned real estate group has revived its plans to list later this year, but has said selling a majority stake to a strategic investor would be the best solution.

COMPLETED

BACIT (Oct 26: London - $334 mln) The Battle Against Cancer Investment Trust (BACIT), which plans to invest 1% of its funds per year in cancer research projects, priced its offering at 100 pence per share.

ZE PAK (Oct 23: Warsaw - $217 mln) The Polish government sold its 50% stake in the power firm as part of its privatisation programme, pricing the offering at 26.2 zlotys per share, near the lower end of its earlier range. Its shares will begin trading around Oct 30.

EFG Financial (Oct 19: Zurich - $157 mln) Swiss bank EFG International reduced its stake in its investment arm EFG Financial Products to 25%, pricing the shares at 45 Swiss francs per share.

Borregaard (Oct 18: Oslo - $302 mln) Norwegian conglomerate Orkla priced the float of its specialist chemicals arm at 21 crowns per share, towards the bottom end of its original 20 to 25 crowns per share range.

MD Medical Group (Oct 12: London - $311 mln) The Russian firm raised $150 mln to fund the expansion of its hospital network, pricing its offering of global depositary receipts in the lower half of its original guidance range. The sale also included some existing shares sold by MD Medical Holding.

Direct Line (Oct 11: London - $1.3 bln) Royal Bank of Scotland sold 30% of its insurance arm, pricing the offering near the middle of its original range and has seen its shares trade up since.

Talanx (Oct 2: Frankfurt - $600 mln) Germany’s third biggest insurer priced its offering at the lower end of its range and has seen its stock trade higher since debuting. The sale, which was announced, then cancelled, only to be revived again within days, was smaller than originally planned.

CANCELLED

Promsvyazbank (Oct: Moscow/London - $500 mln) One of Russia’s largest non-state lenders postponed its plans to list a 20% stake due to weak investor demand.

KSPG (H2: Frankfurt – TBA) German defence group Rheinmetall cancelled plans to list its automobile parts division because of political and market uncertainty in the euro zone.

Hong Kong shares hit 2-week low Hong Kong shares sank to their lowest in almost two weeks on Tuesday, with most local developers slipping further in the wake of fresh curbs on real estate purchases in the territory.

Investors also took profits on Chinese banks, recent outperformers after strong third-quarter earnings from three of China’s “Big Four” banks. The largest, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), was due to post its results later on Tuesday.

The Hang Seng Index ended down 0.4% at 21,428.6 points, its third-straight loss, pushing the benchmark to its lowest close since October 17.

It is now down 1.8% from last Thursday’s 2012 closing high, but still up 2.8% in October.

The China Enterprises Index of the top Chinese listings in Hong Kong shed 0.8%. In the mainland, the Shanghai Composite Index and CSI300 Index of the top Shanghai and Shenzhen listings each rose 0.2%, their first daily gain in about a week.

Shanghai volume remained below its 30-day moving average, but improved 13% from Monday partly after the Chinese central bank injected a single-day record amount of cash into the banking system in its regular open market operations, sending China’s short-term lending ratings tumbling.

Losses in Hong Kong came in the weakest bourse turnover since September 15, partly because massive storm Sandy shut U.S. markets on Monday, dealers said.

Beijing is due to post its official PMI on November 1. The report is expected to show factory activity accelerated in October to its fastest pace in five months, strengthening hopes that growth is recovering in the world’s second-largest economy.

Shares of Warren Buffett-backed Chinese automaker BYD Co Ltd slumped 4.1% in Hong Kong and 1.2% in Shenzhen after it posted a 94% slide in third-quarter net profit due to a slumping domestic market and its money-losing solar energy business. Asia-focused Standard Chartered closed flat, paring losses after reporting at midday that operating profit grew by a mid-single digit rate in the first nine months of the year, keeping it on track for a 10th straight year of record earnings.

Random House and Penguin merge to take on Amazon, Apple Britain’s Pearson and Germany’s Bertelsmann plan to merge their publishers Penguin and Random House, aiming to gain the upper hand in their relationship with Amazon and Apple, the leaders in the ebook revolution.

Education and media publisher Pearson said the joint venture would be named Penguin Random House.

Confirmation of a deal came after months of Pearson board discussions and despite an informal approach from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, which was interested in combining Penguin with its own Harper Collins publishing unit. “The consumer publishing industry is going through a period of tumultuous change, propelled by digital technologies and the giant companies that dominate them,” Pearson Chief Executive Marjorie Scardino said in an email to staff.

Under the plan, Bertelsmann will own 53% of the venture and nominate five directors to the board, while Pearson would own the rest and nominate four. Both must retain their stakes in the venture for at least three years.

Penguin chairman and CEO John Makinson will be chairman of the new venture, and Random House CEO Markus Dohle will be its chief executive.

Analysts said they would have preferred a bid from a group such as News Corp, which would have brought cash into the company and enabled Pearson to quit a market that has been hit by the rapid growth of the ebook and the control it has given to major distributors such as Amazon, Apple and Google. The two groups said they would save money on joint warehousing, distribution, printing and central functions. They gave no details but UBS estimated possible savings of 10% of their combined cost base.

A joint venture will also allow Pearson to retain a link between its education division and the world-renowned Penguin brand. It also avoids a large tax bill in the U.S. which would have been incurred had Penguin Books been sold. In the first nine months of 2012, Random House was the biggest book publisher in the two major English language markets of the United States and Britain.

It was buoyed by the huge success of the “Fifty Shades” trilogy of novels, which sold more than 30 mln copies between March and June, evenly divided between the trade paperback and ebook editions. Penguin was second in the U.S. and third in Britain, behind Hachette.

On October 3 Scardino said she would step down at the end of 2012 after 16 years, prompting analysts to wonder if the group would sell off its last remaining media assets and focus on its dominant education arm. Many, however, had focussed on whether Pearson would sell the FT Group, which publishes the Financial Times newspaper.

Random House is strong in Britain and the United States, while Penguin - founded in 1935 by publisher Allen Lane, who decided the mass market needed cheap paperbacks after finding nothing to read at a railway station - is the world’s most famous publishing brand, with a strong presence in fast-growing developing markets.

Apple sacks software, retail chiefs Apple CEO Tim Cook has pushed out the powerful head of the company’s mobile software products group in a major management shake-up that also claimed the recently hired chief of the retail stores division.

Scott Forstall, a long-time lieutenant of late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, was asked to leave following years of friction with other top executives and his recent refusal to take responsibility for the mishandling of the Apple’s much-criticized mapping software.

Sources said Forstall refused to sign a public apology after Apple’s mapping product, which displaced the popular Google Maps on the iPhone and the iPad in September, contained embarrassing errors and drew fierce criticism. The executive changes are the biggest at Apple in more than a decade, and mark the first major move by Cook to shape his own management team since Jobs’ death a year ago. John Browett, who was hired as the company’s retail chief just seven months ago after serving as CEO of U.K. electronics retailer Dixon’s, will also leave Apple.

His efforts to improve profits at the stores had alienated employees and sources close to Apple said Cook had concluded he was simply the wrong person for the job.

In Google, Amazon.com Inc, Microsoft and Samsung Electronics, Apple faces an array of powerful competitors who are determined to own a piece of the exploding mobile-computing market.

The executive changes hand substantially more responsibility to Jonathan Ive, Apple’s celebrated industrial design chief, who will now oversee both hardware and software design.

Shares of Apple, the world’s largest publicly traded company by market value, have declined 14% in the past month since reaching a 52-week high of $705.07 in September.

Star Silicon Valley analyst felled

by Facebook IPO fallout The firing of Citigroup stock analyst Mark Mahaney on Friday in the regulatory fallout from Facebook’s IPO was greeted with shock and dismay in Silicon Valley, where Mahaney was a wellknown and well-liked figure.

In addition to firing Mahaney, Citigroup paid a $2 mln fine to Massachusetts regulators to settle charges that the bank improperly disclosed research on Facebook ahead of its $16 bln IPO in May. The settlement agreement said Mahaney failed to supervise a junior analyst who improperly shared Facebook research with the TechCrunch news website. The settlement agreement also outlined an incident in which Mahaney failed to get approval before responding to a journalist’s questions about Google — and told a Citigroup compliance staffer that the conversation had not occurred — even after being warned about unauthorized conversations with the media.

FinancialMirror.com

October 31 - November 6, 2012

WORLD MARKETS | 27

FinancialMirror.com

October 31 - November 6, 2012

28 | WORLD MARKETS

Fiscal cliff could hit economy harder than expected ANALYSIS The United States runs the risk of a recession far deeper than many investors and policymakers may think if lawmakers fail to avert looming tax hikes and cuts to public spending.

Absent action by Congress, the country will face the socalled fiscal cliff at the start of next year, a combination of lower spending and higher taxes that is expected to extract about $600 bln from the economy.

Many economists think every dollar of deficit reduction will subtract nearly the same amount from economic growth.

By that measure, the current course could cause the economy to contract by 0.5% in 2013, according to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) that have been largely embraced by Wall Street and the U.S. Federal Reserve.

But research by economists in academia and at the International Monetary Fund suggests a dollar of deficit reduction could drain as much as $1.70 from the economy, making the prospective belt tightening much more dangerous.

“You can take that 0.5% contraction and double it,” said Barry Eichengreen, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley.

These researchers suspect fiscal contractions take a biggerthan-normal bite from economies when interest rates are very low, as is the case at the moment in the United States and in much of the developed world.

One explanation, Eichengreen said, is that when rates are higher, central banks can easily lower them to provide a counterweight to austerity. But when rates are near zero, as they are in the United States, it’s harder to ease the pinch.

Historical data suggests higher taxes or lower government spending normally lead households to cut back on purchases only modestly. In the three decades through 2009, a dollar in government austerity would suck only half that from the economy, according to IMF research published this month which examined fiscal policy in 28 countries.

But economies around the world appear to be acting differently since the Great Recession. The IMF said it appeared that every dollar of recent fiscal consolidation has drained anywhere from $0.90 to $1.70 from economies.

The IMF said this suggested central banks have been having difficulty offsetting the impact from tighter budgets.

That could well be the case in the United States as well. The Fed pushed overnight rates to near zero in December 2008 and has resorted to the unconventional policy of purchasing government and housing-related bonds to revive the economy.

The central bank’s chairman, Ben Bernanke, has acknowledged he would not be able to fully offset the pain if the economy runs into the “fiscal cliff.”

With the U.S. jobless rate at 7.8% and the recovery still shaky, the possibility of a greater-than-expected hit to activity might be food for thought for lawmakers, who will be looking to cut some sort of deal on the budget before year end.

LET’S MAKE A DEAL

There’s little room for error. Forecasters expect economic growth next year of just 2.1%, with the jobless rate edging down only slightly.

As it is, economists believe even the level of danger outlined by the nonpartisan CBO will be enough to propel lawmakers,

who are deeply divided over taxes and spending, to reach an accord, although signs have yet to emerge that a deal is starting to gel.

“No political party wants to go down in history as the one that triggered the second half of the worst recession since the Great Depression,” said Paul Dales, an economist with Capital Economics in London.

Capital Economics expects Congress will allow just under $100 bln in fiscal tightening, which it thinks would knock the same amount off GDP. Yields on U.S. government debt suggest investors as a whole are betting on even less tightening next year, according to research by ana-

lysts at Bank of America.

Bank of America itself expects lawmakers will allow much of the fiscal cliff to transpire, leading to about $325 bln in budget tightening, enough in their view to stall job growth.

Like Capital Economics and many other research units in the financial world, Bank of America presumes every dollar of tightening would drain the economy by about the same amount, although it says a bigger effect is possible.

“The economic impacts could be worse than our baseline assumptions,” said Michael Hanson, an economist with the bank in New York.

Eichengreen and others who have studied economic data from the Great Depression, another time central banks were constrained, found the drag from a tightening of fiscal policy was much higher at the time. Eichengreen thinks currently the so-called multiplier is about 1.7, in line with the upper range of the IMF’s estimate.

If he is right, even avoiding just half of the fiscal cliff would not be enough to steer the economy clear of recession.

BP oil spill settlement before election seen unlikely l

More downside than upside seen for Obama politically

For a president locked in a tough re-election fight, it may look like political gold: a settlement between the U.S. Justice Department and BP Plc over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill that could send billions of dollars to Florida, one of a handful of politically divided states that could decide the November 6 contest.

Yet a last-minute settlement with London-based oil giant BP is unlikely before the election, experts say. Neither the Justice Department or President Barack Obama, whose race with challenger Mitt Romney is deadlocked in most polls, want to appear to politicize a deal. And Obama appears to face more potential risks than benefits from any settlement at this point.

BP has been locked in a year-long legal battle with the U.S. government and Gulf Coast states to settle billions of dollars in civil and potential criminal liability from the April 20, 2010, explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig that killed 11 workers and soiled the shorelines of four Gulf Coast states in the worst offshore spill in U.S. history.

BP and the Justice Department have had protracted closed-door negotiations on a settlement to avoid a potentially years-long court battle. But experts say that any settlement with BP would be complex enough to allow Obama’s critics to attack him. And as they say in Washington: If you’re explaining, you’re losing.

“No matter what the President does, he can’t win on this one because it’s not going to be good enough for someone,” said James Lucier, managing director at Capital Alpha Partners LLC in Washington.

“A TERRIBLE IDEA”

To date, the spill’s profile in the 2012 presidential campaign has been slim. And inking a settlement with BP at this point could open Obama up to attacks as someone who buckles to Big Oil. A pre-election settlement of the Justice Department’s biggest ongoing case could also be seen as playing politics with the law, said David Uhlmann, a University of Michigan law professor and former head of

the Justice Department’s environmental crimes section.

“It would be a terrible idea for the Justice Department to announce a settlement over the last two weeks before the election,” Uhlmann said, predicting instead a deal before the civil trial next year.

U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans, presiding over a sprawling three-part non-jury hearing to decide BP’s liability for the spill, said on Friday the trial will begin on February 25, 2013. The trial, which had been delayed by nearly a year already due to a pending $7.8 bln BP settlement with private plaintiffs, had been set to start on January 14. The delay leaves more time for a pre-trial deal.

In big settlements, the Justice Department has striven to avoid the taint of politics, and the BP case is no different, Uhlmann said.

But politics has run through the BP spill from the day it happened. Gulf Coast states stand to reap billions of dollars in funds from a potential BP settlement, thanks to a law passed by Congress that would route 80% of funds to the states from violations of the Clean Water Act. That amount could approach $17 bln if BP is found grossly negligent in the disaster, experts say. The well spewed 4.9 mln barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over a period of 87 days. The torrent fouled shorelines from Texas to Alabama and eclipsed in severity the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska.

FLORIDA’S ELECTORAL VOTES

Florida and its potential 29 electoral votes are one of the key prizes seen as tipping the November 6 presidential election. So the temptation may be great for Obama’s advisers to gain favor with voters there by agreeing to a jumbo settlement before the election, said Kevin Book, managing director at ClearView Energy Partners LLC in Washington.

“We know the Administration wants one, and the best political timing for a final deal is probably right about now,” Book said.

But any political good will from the deal could be over-rated. Of

the Gulf Coast states affected by the spill, Florida is the only one that appears to be within Obama’s reach, with polls in others leaning heavily toward Romney.

A pre-election settlement could also expose Obama to criticism for selling out Gulf Coast politicians and environmental groups.

Rumors have been flying.

Gulf Coast lawmakers recently and loudly protested press reports that BP and the Justice Department have discussed shifting settlement payments based on the Clean Water Act - with their promised billions of dollars to Gulf state coffers - instead to payments based on natural resource statutes, which would not only go to the U.S. Treasury but also be tax-deductible for BP. “BP, who is responsible for this, would also get a tax deduction that could write off millions,” Representative Jo Bonner, an Alabama Republican, told Reuters. “The audacity of giving BP a tax write-off!”

Environmentalists are also worried about press reports that peg BP’s settlement offer is as low as $18 bln — far short of penalties demanded by U.S. environmental and criminal statutes.

“We believe a full throated debate over the settlement amount needs to happen before any deal is done,” said John Kostyack, a vice president at the National Wildlife Federation, who estimates BP’s potential liability at more than $50 bln.

Given the prolonged and secretive negotiations, state officials have also warned the Obama administration not to rush headlong into a deal with BP. “Personally I believe the Administration does have a desire to make an announcement, which has the potential to cloud their judgment,” said Garret Graves, senior environmental advisor to Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal.

After paying nearly $4 a gallon for gasoline over the summer, potential voters would also likely have no patience seeing Obama let a big oil company off the hook with a spill settlement that stops short of maximum potential penalties.

FinancialMirror.com

October 31 - November 6, 2012

GREECE | 29

Banks seek part-recap via shares l To face 9% Core Tier 1 capital requirement; at least 6% from new common equity, rest by CoCos, warrants Greek banks will have to issue shares to meet more than half of a 9% capital adequacy requirement to be set as part of their recapitalisation in a move that could help them avoid nationalisation.

The banks, whose capital base was almost wiped out by a combination of huge bond swap writedowns and rising loan impairments amid a deep five-year recession, will raise the rest through convertible bonds.

Greece and its international lenders have earmarked money from the country’s 130 bln euro bailout to recapitalise viable banks. Shareholders must take up at least 10% of the new shares to be issued to keep the lenders privately run.

“Banks will have to issue common equity to meet a 6% Core Tier 1 capital ratio. The private sector will have to cover at least 10% of this for the bank recapitalisation fund (HFSF) to have restricted voting rights on the shares,” a source told Reuters.

The HFSF, funded from the country’s EU/IMF bailout, has already injected 18 bln euros into the four biggest lenders as part of the recapitalisation.

The fund expects to be allocated about 23 bln euros out of the next 31.5 bln euro aid tranche which has yet to be disbursed as the government and international lenders have still to seal a crucial austerity package.

After a meeting between Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras and the top brass of the bank association, the ministry said Greek banks would report already-delayed six-month results a month later at the end of November.

A banker present at the meeting said banks would make use of a so-called deferred tax asset to help reduce their need for fresh capital, without going into details.

Should the private investor initiative fail, HFSF will end up with common shares with full voting rights, which would be tantamount to nationalisation.

The remaining 3% of the required Core Tier 1 capital ratio can be addressed by issuing convertible bonds, such as socalled contingent convertible bonds (CoCos) that will be bought up by HFSF and count as regulatory capital.

“CoCos will mature in five years. After that they will be either

paid back or convert into common equity. They will pay an annual 7% coupon, with a step-up feature of 0.5%, provided banks are profitable,” a source said.

If banks’ Core Tier 1 ratio falls below a 5.125% threshold in the next five years, this would trigger the conversion of CoCos into common equity.

“If banks achieve a stronger-than-required capital adequacy, a Core Tier 1 ratio above 9%, and the central bank concurs, they will be able to repay the CoCos earlier,” the source said.

Under the plan, current shareholders or new investors participating in the forthcoming share offerings will be offered warrants as an incentive, enabling them to buy shares from HFSF at a later date.

“The warrants will be listed. The capacity to exercise them will not be continuous, they will be exercisable every six months,” the source said.

If private sector investors cover 10% of the share offering, they will be given warrants enabling them to buy back the remaining 90% of the common shares from the HFSF.

Russia’s Sintez eyes Greek gas Russian energy firm Sintez Group sees Greece as a good investment opportunity and plans to bid for energy assets to benefit from an expected shift to natural gas, its CEO said.

Sintez also hopes Greece will develop into a gas transit hub, CEO Andrey Korolev said in an interview.

Sintez, controlled by Russian tycoon Leonid Lebedev, is to bid for Greece’s state-owned gas provider DEPA along with the natural gas grid operator DESFA. If successful, the assets would add to its portfolio which includes power-generating facilities in Russia, oil and gas field development and real estate. The two assets could be valued at around 1.5 bln euros. Non-binding bids are due by November 6.

“The current moment is a very lucky one for investment,” Korolev said. “It seems to me that the crisis situation simply makes the government take the proper decisions - to move to the state of transparency, introducing market conditions and raising competitiveness.”

Greece is launching a privatisation drive as part of efforts to pay down debt and return from the brink of bankruptcy.

Athens aims to raise 19 bln euros by the end of 2015 and about 50 bln euros by 2020 under its asset sale programme.

ENERGY HUB

With its potential wealth, Greece could become a transit hub for gas to Europe if it establishes an exclusive economic zone allowing it to legally extract hydrocarbons south of Crete and in other areas.

Korolev also forecasts that the structure of energy generation in the region is going to change in favour of gas. Carbon-conscious countries are trying to move away from coal-fired generation to more efficient gas-fired generation.

Greece’s domestic gas market is still in its infancy, with relatively few households and industries consuming the fuel. The

Socialists back austerity cuts

Electricity demand falls

Greece’s PASOK party on Monday gave its strongest hint yet that it intends to provide the support the government needs to get cuts of 13.5 bln euros demanded by foreign lenders approved in parliament. A final agreement to secure aid to save it from bankruptcy has been held up by the refusal of the Democratic Left party, the smallest partner in the threeparty coalition, to back some private-sector wage cuts included in the package.

But the Socialist PASOK, the second-biggest coalition partner, will not be swayed by the Democratic Left’s refusal, a senior party official said. The party has so far been sharply critical of labour reforms but has not explicitly said if it will vote for or against the measures, in the clearest suggestion so far that PASOK will stick to the deal that Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has agreed with lenders.

Meanwhile Greeks have been riveted by the case of a prominent journalist who is to stand trial for violating data privacy laws by publishing the names of more than 2,000 wealthy Greeks with Swiss bank accounts. French authorities gave Athens the list in 2010, dubbed the “Lagarde List”, so account holders could be investigated for any possible tax evasion.

Starting with a vote on a privatisations bill this week, Samaras must win a string of parliamentary votes by November 12, when euro zone finance ministers meet to approve disbursing more than 30 bln euros in bailout funds the country needs to avoid bankruptcy next month.

The latest package includes some tax increases as well as new wage and pension cuts to reduce public spending and make businesses more competitive.

Net electricity demand in the interconnected system, representing about 90% of total domestic demand, fell by 10.6% YoY in September to 3.8 mln MWh, with a year-to-date figure of 38.3 mln MWh, down 1.4% from the year-earlier figure, according to the Hellenic Transmission System Operator (HTSO).

Demand from high voltage (HV) industrial customers in September retreated by 1.6% YoY, while excluding the HV customers, net electricity demand decreased by 12.3% YoY. In terms of the supply mix, hydro and natural gas registered the largest decline.

On a 9-month basis, demand from high voltage customers was down by 2.8% YoY, while excluding HV customers, demand was down by 1.3% YoY. In terms of supply mix, lignite and renewables were up by 1.4% and 28%, respectively, from last year, while natural gas and hydro were down by 3.4% and 3.0%, respectively.

“The double digit decline is mainly due to the mild weather conditions while economic recession continues to take its toll on demand,” explained Vassilis Roumantzis, research analyst at the Investment Bank of Greece, part of Laiki Bank Group.

“Going forward, the outlook for electricity demand remains mediocre on continuation of economic recession and planned tariff increases, mitigated by a switch from heating gasoil to air conditioning during winter which under current conditions appears to be cheaper,” Roumantzis added.

country imports all its natural gas from abroad and about 80% of its imports come via pipeline from Russia.

GAZPROM RIVAL

Sintez, which is pursuing the Greek assets through its Negusneft division, will be competing against Russian gas giant Gazprom and a number of other firms from Europe and elsewhere in the world.

Gazprom, which provides most of the natural gas DEPA uses and supplies about a quarter of Europe’s gas demand, is fighting a competition investigation by Brussels into its gas sales.

The European Commission started the inquiry in September, into suspicions that Gazprom, which is more than 50% owned by the Russian state, was hindering the free flow of gas across the EU and imposing unfair prices on its customers by linking the cost of gas to oil prices.

Some critics have said Gazprom’s pursuit of Depa clashes with EU efforts to diversify gas supplies away from Russia by bankrolling new import corridors from the Caspian Sea via Azerbaijan and Turkey. Europe’s so-called Third Energy Package restricts Gazprom’s control over its European pipeline assets.

HELEX defends CCHBC move, volume unchanged Hellenic Exchanges (HELEX) has defended the move announced by Coca Cola Hellenic (CCHBC) to proceed with a primary listing of its shares on the London Stock Exchange, while also undertaking a parallel listing on the Athens Stock Exchange, adding that the bourse will continue to benefit from fees because of the dual listing.

Although CCHBC accounts for 20% of the ASE market capitalisation and 8.5% of the traded value in the first nine months of 2012, the revenue that HELEX will earn from the tendering of the shares and from a possible squeeze out amounts to 8 mln euros.

Revenue currently contributed by CCHBC amounted to 3% of the total operating revenue of HELEX for the fiscal year 2011, or 1.3 mln euros.

The HELEX Group expects to collect its usual trading and post-trading fees on any trading activity that takes place at the ASE, as well as the usual custody fees charged to members which are based on the value of the CCHBC shares held by their client-investors in their portfolios registered at HELEX (CSD).

“Given our conservatives estimates for FY13 average daily turnover, we do not foresee any material impact from Coca Cola Hellenic decision on our numbers for HELEX,” explained Konstantinos Manolopoulos, research analyst at the Investment Bank of Greece, part of the Laiki Bank Group, adding that IBG maintains a ‘Buy’ recommendation on the HELEX stock and a target price of 4.00 euros a share, from current trade of 3.68 euros.

October 31 - November 6, 2012

FinancialMirror.com

30 | CSE PRICES CSE CODE OASIS Index performance CSE General Index FTSE/CySE 20 FTSE/XA & XAK Banking MAIN MARKET MAIN MARKET INDEX BANK OF CYPRUS CYPRUS POPULAR BANK HELLENIC BANK LOGICOM A. TSOKKOS HOTELS LOUIS LTD ORPHANIDES SECTOR TOTAL / OΛIKO PARALLEL MARKET PARALLEL MARKET INDEX WOOLWORTH (CYPRUS) PROP VASSILIKO CEMENT A&P (ANDREOU&PARASKEV.) ERMES DEPARTMENT STORES LAIKI CAPITAL PUBLIC CO K. ATHIENITIS CONTR. - DEV. G.A.P VASSILOPOULOS MITSIDES PHIL. ANDREOU LORDOS HOTELS HOLDINGS LIBERTY LIFE INSURANCE LORDOS UNITED PLASTIC SECTOR TOTAL / OΛIKO ALTERNATIVE MARKET ALTERNATIVE INDEX A. PANAYIDES CONTRACTING ALKIS HADJ. (FROU-FROU) A.L. PROCHOICE FIN. SERV. AMATHUS PUBLIC LTD ASTARTI DEVELOPMENT ATLANTIC INSURANCE BLUE ISLAND FISH FARMING CCC TOURIST ENT. CHARILAOS APOSTOLIDES CHRIS JOANNOU LTD CLARIDGE INVESTMENTS CLR INVESTMENT FUND CONSTANTINOU BROS. CPI ENTER. DEVELOPMENT C.T.O. PUBLIC CO CYPRINT LTD. CYPRUS CEMENT CYPRUS FOREST IND. CYPRUS TRADING CORP. CYVENTURE CAPITAL DIMCO PLC DISPLAY ART LTD ELLINAS FINANCE ELMA HOLDINGS EUROPROFIT CAPITAL EXELIXIS INVESTMENT FILOKTIMATIKI K & G COMPLEX KARAOLIS GROUP KARKOTIS MANUFACTURING KEO LTD KOSMOS INSURANCE KRONOS PRESS DIST. JUPITER PORTFOLIO INV. L.P. TRANSBETON LEPTOS CALYPSO HOTELS MALLOUPAS & PAPACOSTAS MINERVA INSURANCE MODESTOU SOUND & VISION O.C. OPTIONS CHOICE PANDORA INVESTMENTS PIPIS FARM PETROLINA HOLDINGS PIERIDES HOLDINGS PRIMETEL PLC PROODOS AGROS RENOS HADJIOANNOU FARMS ROYAL HIGHGATE LTD SALAMIS TOURS SFS GROUP PUBLIC CO. STADEMOS HOTELS TOP KINISIS TRAVEL TOXOTIS INVESTMENTS UNIFAST FIN. & INV. VISION INTL PEOPLE GROUP SECTOR TOTAL / OΛIKO

ΟΑΣΗΣ

Kωδ.

Number

Nominal

Market

Shares ('000) Aριθµός µετοχών

Value euro Aξία EUR

Cap. ('000) Kεφαλ.

EUR

Book Value Price to Per Share euro Λογιστική αξία

Profit/(Loss)

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

2010 BOCY CPB HB LOG TSH LUI ORF

ΤΡΚΥ ΛΑΙΚ ΕΛΗΤ ΛΟΤΖ ΤΣΟΚ ΛΟΥΗ ΟΡΦΑ

1 795 141 3 411 086 595 436 74 080 246 214 460 547 80 966

1.00 0.10 0.43 0.35 0.35 0.17 0.35

556 494 191 021 110 751 20 002 12 311 9 211 4 858 904 647

1.25 0.00035 0.78 0.76 0.52 0.24 1.68 0.75

0.25 160.00 0.24 0.35 0.10 0.08 0.04 23.01

FWW VCW APE ERME LI ACD GAP MIT PHIL LHH LIB LPL

ΓΟΥΛ ΤΣΙΒ ΑΝΠΑ ΕΡΜΕ ΛΕΠΕ ΑΘΗΕ ΒΑΣΙ ΜΙΤΣ ΦΙΛΑ ΛΟΞΕ ΛΙΠΕ ΛΟΡ∆

114 252 71 936 182 725 175 000 282 213 13 416 38 750 8 200 45 000 35 000 122 804 48 006

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

114 320 29 494 29 236 21 700 15 804 13 818 5 076 4 428 4 275 3 710 4 544 2 400 248 805

1.76 3.07 0.28 0.45 0.26 4.69 0.30 3.16 0.09 1.91 0.05 0.53 1.38

0.14 0.13 0.57 0.28 0.21 0.22 0.43 0.17 1.06 0.06 0.79 0.10 0.35

APC FBI PROP ANC AST ATL BLUE CCCT CHAP CJ CLA CLL CBH CPIH CTO CYP CCC CFI CTC EXE DES DISP ELF ELMA ERP EXIN PES KG KARA KARK KEO COS KRO ARI TRB LCH MPT MINE MSV OPT PND PIPF PHL PGE PTL AGRO FRH ROY SAL SFS SHL TOP COV UFI VIP

ΑΠΑΝ ΦΡΟΥ ΠΡΟΠ ΑΜΑΘ ΑΣΤΑ ΑΤΑΣ ΜΠΛΕ ΣΙΤΟ ΧΑΡΙ ΙΟΑΝ ΚΛΑΡ ΣΛΕΠ ΚΩΝΣ ΚΕΑΕ ΣΤΟ ΣΑΙΠ ΚΕΤΣ ∆ΒΚ∆ ΣΤΣ∆ ΒΕΝΤ ΝΤΙΜ ΝΤΙΑ ΕΛΛΗ ΕΛΕΠ ΓΙΟΥ ΕΞΕΠ ΦΙΛΟ ΚΚΟΜ

36 572 98 861 158 660 110 358 99 925 39 109 15 438 141 692 50 000 10 070 108 163 288 141 1 950 24 379 208 700 5 140 137 611 3 059 92 079 14 973 80 999 13 506 16 000 348 333 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 46 355 424 435 9 660 87 500 22 100 382 440 3 590 297 915 33 000 36 529 66 520 32 500 12 212 20 700 9 788 75 000

0.35 0.26 0.09 0.35 0.35 0.35 0.17 0.43 0.35 0.35 0.35 0.08 0.35 0.17 0.87 0.43 0.43 1.73 0.85 0.43 0.09 0.35 0.62 0.09 0.09 0.29 0.87 0.17 0.34 0.35 0.43 0.31 0.43 0.20 0.35 0.35 0.35 0.17 0.14 0.17 0.17 0.35 0.35 0.34 0.17 1.73 0.03 0.17 0.43 1.00 0.69 0.34 0.03 0.05 $ 0.10

5 852 17 795 1 587 6 621 4 996 26 203 3 242 5 668 3 000 201 5 408 2 881 137 7 314 6 261 1 388 23 394 3 793 27 624 2 096 7 290 810 5 600 6 967 627 4 760 2 114 10 000 447 956 12 701 1 619 12 036 4 996 1 971 6 101 7 778 1 568 149 464 29 710 773 63 000 1 768 22 946 5 421 2 979 1 650 2 557 3 991 7 475 3 175 414 196 75 000 465 470

0.88 0.49 0.02 0.49 0.02 0.73 0.80 0.49 0.12 0.42 0.39 0.07 -3.03 0.65 0.09 0.27 2.20 6.13 1.84 0.47 0.28 0.29 0.67 0.04 0.20 0.32 2.55 0.97 -0.05 0.09 3.55 0.41 0.68 0.36 0.41 0.80 0.64 0.10 0.02 0.004 0.20 0.18 1.31 0.40 0.01 3.35 0.04 0.12 0.48 1.59 2.36 0.41 0.04 0.11 0.20 0.67

0.18 0.36 0.56 0.12 2.27 0.91 0.26 0.08 0.50 0.05 0.13 0.14 -0.02 0.46 0.33 1.00 0.08 0.20 0.16 0.30 0.32 0.20 0.52 0.52 0.10 0.43 0.17 0.10 -0.43 1.28 0.12 0.22 0.87 0.22 0.56 0.08 0.28 0.20 0.43 2.50 0.35 0.44 0.55 0.20 4.88 0.45 0.25 0.42 0.15 0.04 0.10 0.64 0.50 0.18 5.08 0.56

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

2010 8 848 1 310 4 108 6 309 -47 25 987 -1 903 2 574 -1 453 456 -8 419 71 37 841

2010

ΚΑΡΚ ΚΕΟ ΚΟΣΑ ΚΡΟΝ ΤΖΕΠ ΤΡΑΝ ΛΕΠΤ ΜΑΠΑ ΜΙΝΕ ΜΟ∆Ε ΟΚΑΣ ΠΑΝ∆ ΠΙΠΗ ΛΙΝΑ ΠΙΕΡ ΠΤΕΛ ΑΓΡΟ ΡΕΝΟ ΡΟΧΑ ΣΑΛΑ ΕΣΕΦ ΣΤΑ∆ ΤΟΚΙ ΤΟΕΠ ΦΑΣΤ ΒΙΖΝ

1 767 4 363 -5 724 -1 339 -11 422 4 108 257 -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 -980 1 048 614 -1 668 -844 -738 -3 358 -760 969 -2 094 -501 -3 469 -1 746 -4 952 -594 -9 573 -9 238 313 8 617 11 -5 231 362 14 344 131 -9 983 1 165 -181 -25 -43 -330 -61 148

6M 2011 EUR ('000) Kέρδη 2011

6M 2012 EUR ('000) Kέρδη 2012

6M '11 161 000 -202 400 -36 618 2 904 -4 278 -28 751 1 062 -107 081

6M '12 -214 000 -1 308 800 14 898 2 697 -5 955 -26 641 -5 040 -1 542 841

6M '11 3 010 1 038 448

6M '12 1 535 1 906 386

-27 2 069 -1 021 258 -727 -414 -398 -383 3 853

-2 638 3 665 -570 -919 -448 -691 -1 747 -981 -502

6M '11 840 1 121 -332 -2 979 -5 391 2 240 417 -3 664 -493 -189 -2 493 -2 739 -522 -6 805 -234 -3 125 -463 1 448 1 239 940 -210 215 -2 944 -111 -161 1 028 3 742 -940 -89 -6 279 323 276 -1 396 -173 -4 233 36 -761 -191 -419 -8 696 -426 4 281 -631 -2 464 -191 -347 234 1 094 -3 875 -787 -151 -16 -22 2 280 -35 584

6M '12 111 887 -325 -3 979 -16 719 1 457 455 -2 768 -1 487 -184 -3 871 -2 043 -665 -6 -186 -282 -2 970 -1 653 -1 778 43 597 -208 -684 -3 487 -75 -1 223 -210 -1 012 -1 393 -160 -2 674 -233 -1 095 -840 -196 -4 478 -964 -302 -140 6 -8 419 -311 2 536 -171 -2 165 -396 -372 -1 427 -1 506 -4 416 -1 074 -132 -133 -13 1 661 -71 072

Profit/(Loss)

2011 EUR ('000) Κέρδη µετά φορολ.

P/E ratio 2011

Earnings Per

Dividend Per

Dividend Yield

Share 2011 Cents

%

Results

Share 2011 Cents

2011 -1 371 000 -3 650 380 -100 658 3 585 -6 894 -82 674 -8 648 -5 216 669

n/a n/a n/a 5.58 n/a n/a n/a 0.12

2011 6 674 -1 174 4 122 245 -1 734 2 133 -1 600 -947 -1 333 759 -2 667 -1 302 3 176

2011 373 2 334 -2 594 -2 121 -6 400 2 306 570 -3 519 -7 900 -375 -3 942 -7 654 -4 006 -65 -3 921 -513 -4 630 -4 127 5 693 1 104 1 604 -526 -257 -212 -15 562 1 608 5 130 -2 198 -110 -3 948 -804 100 -1 392 -438 -6 299 1 345 -3 185 -281 -2 192 -16 880 -1 314 10 753 -868 -6 352 73 151 546 964 -19 100 1 577 -689 11 -37 2 753 -95 416

4.28 n/a 7.09 88.57 n/a 6.48 n/a n/a n/a 4.89 n/a n/a 9.53

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

84.53 34.56 116.68

138.85 52.84 228.63

295.94 104.60 196.84

-53.08 -49.48 16.15

377.70 0.755 0.390 0.356 0.340 0.080 0.037 0.120

75.13 0.160 0.030 0.165 0.240 0.046 0.020 0.058

128.52 0.310 0.056 0.186 0.270 0.050 0.020 0.060

286.83 0.61 0.30 0.36 0.27 0.05 0.04 0.12

-55.19 -49.18 -81.14 -48.48 0.37 -1.96 -45.95 -50.41

Cents -76.37 -107.02 -16.90 4.84 -2.80 -17.95 -10.68

Cents

%

2.50

9.26

Cents 5.84 -1.63 2.26 0.14 -0.61 15.90 -4.13 -11.55 -2.96 2.17 -2.17 -2.71

Cents 5.80

% 23.20

704.24 0.340 0.570 0.200 0.167 0.070 1.100 0.180 0.650 0.099 0.120 0.047 0.070

573.37 0.230 0.350 0.150 0.120 0.047 0.280 0.130 0.540 0.090 0.080 0.020 0.050

610.00 0.250 0.410 0.160 0.124 0.056 1.030 0.131 0.540 0.095 0.106 0.037 0.050

656.6 0.32 0.35 0.18 0.167 0.06 1.00 0.18 0.63 0.10 0.08 0.05 0.06

-7.10 -21.63 18.84 -10.61 -25.75 -11.11 3.00 -27.22 -14.29 -3.06 27.71 -21.28 -16.67

Cents 1.02 2.36 -1.63 -1.92 -6.40 5.90 3.69 -2.48 -15.80 -3.72 -3.64 -2.66 -205.44 -0.27 -1.88 -9.98 -3.36 -134.91 6.18 7.37 1.98 -3.89 -1.61 -0.68 -45.77 33.47 5.13 -9.84 -1.38 -12.74 -4.47 0.49 -2.23 -5.11 -6.19 3.11 -4.06 -1.89 -4.73 -3.98 -13.60 12.29 -3.93 -1.66 2.03 0.05 1.65 2.64 -28.71 4.85 -5.64 0.05 -0.38 3.67

Cents

%

740.44

653.85

0.91

5.06

7.00 1.20

10.45 5.71

1.90

2.64

2.00

8.70

654.04 0.16 0.18 0.01 0.06 0.05 0.67 0.21 0.04 0.06 0.02 0.05 0.01 0.07 0.30 0.03 0.27 0.17 1.24 0.30 0.14 0.09 0.06 0.35 0.02 0.02 0.14 0.44 0.10 0.02 0.12 0.41 0.09 0.59 0.08 0.23 0.06 0.18 0.02 0.01 0.01 0.07 0.08 0.72 0.08 0.06 1.51 0.01 0.05 0.07 0.06 0.23 0.26 0.02 0.02 1.00

738.87 0.17 0.16 0.02 0.10 0.05 0.83 0.21 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 0.03 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 0.01 0.11 0.08 0.52 0.06 0.06 1.62 0.01 0.08 0.09 0.10 0.23 0.26 0.02 0.02 1.00

-11.48 -5.88 12.50 -50.00 -40.00 0.00 -19.28 0.00 -42.86 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 -22.22 -3.23 -40.00 -15.63 -5.56 -61.25 -6.25 -17.65 0.00 0.00 -7.89 0.00 -33.33 -6.67 -8.33 -16.67 -33.33 -14.29 -41.43 0.00 -9.23 -11.11 0.00 -25.00 -5.26 -50.00 0.00 0.00 -36.36 0.00 38.46 33.33 0.00 -6.79 0.00 -37.50 -22.22 -40.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

FinancialMirror.com

October 31 - November 6, 2012

CSE PRICES | 31 CSE CODE OASIS

ΟΑΣΗΣ

Kωδ.

APPROVED INVESTMENTS / EΠEN∆YTIKOI OPΓAN. INVESTMENT INDEX ACTIBOND GROWTH FUND ACT ΑΚΕΠ APOLLO INVESTMENT FUND APOL ΑΠΕΠ FINIKAS AMMOCHOSTOU CONF ΚΟΕΠ CYTR ΣΑΕΠ CYTRUSTEES INV. PUBLIC CO DEMETRA INV. PUBLIC CO. DEM ∆ΗΕΠ DODONI PORTFOLIO DOD ∆ΩΕΠ HARVEST CAPITAL HCM ΧΑΕΠ INTERFUND INVESTMENTS INF ΙΝΕΠ ISCHIS INVESTMENT ISXI ΙΣΕΠ REGALLIA HOLD. & INV. REG ΡΕΕΠ TRIENA INV. INCOME TINC ΤΕΕΠ TCAP ΤΚΕΠ TRIENA INV. CAPITAL TRIENA INTERNATIONAL TINT Τ∆ΕΠ UNIGROWTH INVESTMENTS UNI ΓΙΕΠ SECTOR TOTAL / OΛIKO SHIPPING COMPANIES SECTOR SPECIAL CATEGORY / AIANTAS INVESTMENTS AD SHOPPING GALLERIES CEILFLOOR CYPRUS AIRWAYS D.H. CYPROTELS D&M TELEMARKETING DOME INVESTMENTS EFREMICO HOLDINGS EMPIRE CAPITAL INV. FIRSTDELOS GROUP KANIKA HOTELS KARYES INVESTMENTS KNOSSOS INV. K. KYTHREOTIS HOLDINGS LASER INVESTMENT GROUP LIBRA GROUP NEMESIS CONSTRUCTIONS OCEAN TANKERS ROLANDOS ENTERPRISES SAFS HOLDINGS SEA STAR CAPITAL STARIO INVESTMENTS SUPHIRE HOLDINGS USB BANK SECTOR TOTAL / OΛIKO

Number

Nominal

Market

Book Value

Shares ('000) Aριθµός µετοχών

Value euro Aξία EUR

Cap. ('000) Kεφαλ.

EUR

Per Share euro Λογιστική αξία

Price to

Profit/(Loss)

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

NAV

Disc/Prem

0.0379 0.2771 0.0100 0.2665 0.7501 0.0072 0.0667 0.1633 0.0682 0.0308 1.0430 2.1427 0.6125 0.2300

-47.23 -58.50 100.00 -58.35 -65.07 -30.56 33.43 -70.61 -34.02 -35.06 -23.30 -6.66 -15.10 8.70

2010 58 430 56 147 49 385 44 494 200 000 282 483 14 000 56 545 11 000 20 247 2 729 2 729 1 364 13 468

0.17 0.27 0.10 0.30 0.87 0.02 0.17 0.51 0.51 0.09 0.85 0.85 0.85 0.17

1 169 6 457 988 4 939 52 400 1 412 1 246 2 714 495 405 2 183 5 458 709 3 367 83 942

-760 -3 213 -2 533 -10 875 -15 581 -5 227 -6 -12 850 -112 -195 389 -446 -7 -127 -51 543

6M 2011 EUR ('000) Kέρδη 2011

6M 2012 EUR ('000) Kέρδη 2012

6M '11 -59 -1 207 -284 -3 086 -826 -2 488 -12 -3 619 -72 -75

6M '12 -43 -316 -705 -2 885 2 100 -1 489 -12 -873 -136 -82

ΑΙΕΠ ΑΘΩΣ ΣΙΦΛ ΚΑΕΡ ∆ΡΟΥ ΤΕΛΕ ΝΤΟ∆ ΕΦΡΕ ΕΜ ΑΒΑΚ ΚΑΝΙ ΚΑΕΠ ΚΝΕΠ ΚΥΘΡ ΛΕΕΠ ΛΙΠΡ ΝΕΜΕ ΤΑΝΚ ΡΟΛΑ ΣΑΦΣ ΣΕΑΣ ΣΤΕΠ ΣΑΠΦ ΤΡΑΓ

81 202 128 936 5 055 391 155 157 138 7 700 25 000 11 385 47 853 72 562 60 250 2 000 21 827 42 450 61 739 189 377 67 770 296 665 54 166 70 220 629 785 38 581 124 009 60 674

0.21 0.17 0.03 0.086 0.17 0.12 0.43 0.43 0.87 0.34 0.35 0.43 0.17 0.17 0.06 0.01 0.17 $0.20 0.17 0.17 0.04 0.17 0.09 0.57

MARKET TOTAL / OΛIKO AΓOPAΣ

812 12 894 202 7 823 1 571 385 16 250 228 39 239 9 433 7 833 440 218 5 519 9 261 1 894 14 232 2 967 4 875 702 6 298 386 1 240 34 584 179 285

0.1763 0.06 -1.21 -0.12 -0.20 -0.05 1.30 0.086 0.05 0.29 0.67 0.2208 0.11 0.45 0.06 -0.38 0.50 -0.27 0.28 0.000 -0.06 0.05 -0.12 0.43

-94.33 1.67 -0.03 -0.16 -0.05 -1.09 0.50 0.23 16.40 0.44 0.19 1.00 0.09 0.29 2.65 -0.03 0.42 -0.04 0.33 33.33 -0.16 -0.08 1.33

1 882 149

-214 -3 960 -1 353 232 -31 800 -335 -1 938 221 -504 -2 203 -703 -180 774 999 -2 378 -7 100 5 981 -50 257 93 -173 -50 598 -1 062 -764 -6 534 -153 756 152 345

2011 EUR ('000) Κέρδη µετά φορολ.

P/E ratio 2011

-737 -4 301 -1 465 -10 771 -14 687 -6 357 -255 -9 493 -165 -150 331 -136 -36 -303 -48 525

-241 -4 682

6M '11

6M '12

28

-464

-70 -29 288 -4 033 -79 -449

-106 -32 125 -4 345 -132 -588

-977 -75

-1 226 -57

369

-919

-2 708 1 121

-2 452 888

64

-111

-12 257

-12 535

-137 -3 801 -52 292

-322 616 -53 878

-27 -12 265 -1 856 -23 885 -9 100 -245 -701 35 -551 -2 754 -77 -180 87 612 -2 656 -11 700 2 076 -32 272 -328 -320 -16 501 -1 737 -60 -6 248 -120 653

-202 875

-1 672 975

-5 478 087

Earnings Per

Dividend Per

Dividend Yield

Share

Share 2011 Cents

%

Cents

%

11.00

13.75

Results Cents

2011

-43 -11 771

2010 AIAS AD CFL CAIR DHH TLM DOME EFR EMP ACS KAN KAR KNO KYTH LAS LHG NEM OCT ROL SAFS SEAS STAR SUP USB

Profit/(Loss)

Cents -1.26 -7.66 -2.97 -24.21 -7.34 -2.25 -1.82 -16.79 -1.50 -0.74 12.13 -4.98 -2.64 -2.25

2012 High Low EUR EUR Aνώτατο Kατώτατο

619.02

441.63

Last Close EUR Kλείσιµο

Price 31/12/2011 EUR Tιµή 31/12/2011

31/12/2011 Ποσ. Μετ.

31/12/2011

564.60 0.020 0.115 0.020 0.111 0.262 0.005 0.089 0.048 0.045 0.020 0.800 2.000 0.520 0.250

454.51 0.02 0.09 0.03 0.14 0.19 0.01 0.10 0.10 0.04 0.02 0.80 2.00 0.60 0.25

24.22 0.00 27.78 -33.33 -20.71 37.89 -50.00 -11.00 -52.00 12.50 0.00 0.00 0.00 -13.33 0.00

0.01 0.10 0.04 0.02 0.01 0.05 0.65 0.02 0.82 0.13 0.13 0.22 0.01 0.13 0.15 0.01 0.21 0.01 0.09 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.57

0.01 0.11 0.04 0.06 0.01 0.05 0.65 0.02 0.62 0.16 0.11 0.27 0.01 0.13 0.14 0.01 0.21 0.02 0.10 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.60

-9.09 -66.67 32.26 -18.75 18.18 0.00 0.00 -

% Change

since

0.00

2011

n/a

-0.03 -9.51 -36.72 -6.11 -5.79 -3.18 -2.80 0.31 -1.15 -3.80 -0.13 -9.00 0.40 1.44 -4.30 -6.18 3.06 -10.88 -0.61 -0.46 -2.62 -4.50 -0.05 -10.30

1.12

4.00

0.06

0.03

0.14

0.10

1.72

19.05

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 EPILEKTOS ENERGY S.A. KERVERUS IT (CYPRUS) LTD C.O. CYPRUS OPPORTUNITY ENERGY BROZOS IVY PUBLIC INTERLIFE GENERAL INSURANCE SA TOTAL

CSE Code EXTE/EXTE ΚΩΑΜ/CBAM ΛΙΜΝΗ/LIMNI PHONE/PHONE ΙΤΤΛ/ITTL INLE ΟΡΚΑ/ORCA ΠΚΣΓ/PCSW ΓΚ/WG EXMI/ΕΗΜΙ ΕΠΙΕΝ/EPIEN ΚΕΡΒ/KERV ΓΚΑΖ/GAS ΜΠΡΟ/BRO ΙΝΛΙ/INLI

No. of Shares (000) 1 690 1 950 300 000 1 575 100 000 8 057 1 200 35 052 3 400 321 10 906 1 810 8 390 6 500 18 568

Market Cap EUR (000) 11 830 36 855 300 000 5 513 75 000 21 834 14 280 42 062 3 400 1 611 43 624 2 552 14 683 10 010 76 129 647 553

Latest price EUR 7.00 18.90 1.00 3.50 0.75 2.71 11.90 1.20 1.00 5.02 4.00 1.41 1.75 1.54 4.10

Nominal Value EUR 0.30 0.01 0.10 0.30 0.50 1.00 0.01 0.25 0.10 1.00 0.32 1.00 0.01 0.20 0.59

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 28/06/12 29/06/12 17/07/12 11/09/12 17/10/12

WARRANTS ALKIS HADJ. FROU-FROU (WAR. 2015) AMATHUS NAVIGATION (WAR.07-2013) TOTAL EMERGING MARKET (N.E.A.) GreenTea SA

Ignores weighted number of shares in circulation Forecasted profits are liable to change without notice and responsibility

No. of warrants (000) 24831 17606

Mkt Cap (00) 25 176 224

CSE Code No. of Bonds

Exercise Period

Exercise Price euro cents

Expiry Date

20-30 Jun 2001-2015 1-15 May & 1-15 Nov 07-13

173 20c or EUR 35c

30-06-2005 15-11-2013

Latest Close 0.001 0.010

GRTEA

1 040

Market Cap EUR 104 000 000

Latest price EUR 100 000

Listing Date 8 Nov 2011

Latest NAV N/A

Kappasquare Ltd Nugreat Ltd Zetadynamic Ltd

KPSQ NGRT ZETA

17 000 23 000 9 000

1 700 000 2 300 000 900 000

100 100 100

30 Mar 2012 30 Mar 2012 30 Mar 2012

N/A N/A N/A

Akcern Ltd

AKCN

2 001

200 100

100

9 May 2012

N/A

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.

FinancialMirror.com

October 31 - November 6, 2012

32 | BACK PAGE

Jobs data, election may overshadow earnings WALL ST WEEKAHEAD Earnings season may be only half over, but the focus on profits should subside this week as investors turn their attention to the coming election and Friday’s jobs data - the last major economic indicator before the November 6 contest.

More bellwether companies are set to report results in what will be another “peak week” of the earnings season. Such a flurry of numbers normally holds Wall Street’s attention, and it can lead to market swings. But volume and volatility may be slight this week, with market participants opting to remain on the sidelines ahead of the jobs data and the election.

The U.S. government’s October jobs report will give a snapshot of the current labor market. It could also give a bit of a lift to President Barack Obama, should it come out better than anticipated, or help Republican candidate Mitt Romney – if it is worse than forecast.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 1.5% last week, largely because of a spate of earnings disappointments. The Dow Jones industrial average slid 1.8% last week, and the Nasdaq composite index dropped 0.6%. What is notable, however, is that rebounds have been brief and quick to attract sellers.

Some investors cited the approaching election as a barrier to committing new capital to the market. “Not many people have the stomach to plop down their bets when polling is so close,”

said Hayes Miller, the Boston-based head of asset allocation in North America at Baring Asset Management. “For the most part, investors will wait and see what happens.”

Miller, who helps oversee more than $50 bln in assets, said the trend of caution would be especially pronounced in the health care, financial and energy sectors - three areas that may face different regulatory outlooks, depending on the election’s outcome.

Expectations for the nonfarm payrolls report, set for release on Friday, are by no means certain, either. Analysts expect 124,000 jobs were added in October - up 10,000 from September. However, the unemployment rate is also seen ticking higher - to 7.9% from 7.8%.

A payroll surprise in either direction could further cloud expectations for the election’s outcome.

EARNINGS IN PLAY, IF NOT IN FOCUS

While the market at large may be waiting on news events on

Hurrican Sandy and its path of destruction across the East Coast of the U.S., individual stocks could still be volatile as earnings season grinds along. More than half of the S&P 500 components have reported results so far. This week, though, will bring reports from some marquee names such as Dow components Chevron and Pfizer, as well as S&P 500 stalwarts Visa, Ford Motor and Starbucks.

This earnings season, a number of high-profile companies have missed estimates, including sour notes last week from Apple, United Technologies and DuPont.

With 54% of the S&P 500 companies having reported results so far, 62.5% have topped earnings expectations, under the 67% average over the past four quarters. Just 37% have topped revenue forecasts, well under the 55% over the past four quarters.

The earnings disappointments led to some intensive selling, driving the Dow industrials down 243.36 points last Tuesday.

The S&P 500 ended down in five of the past seven trading sessions. Those declines have pushed the benchmark S&P under its 50-day moving average of around 1,434, leading some analysts to believe it may be ready for a bounce.

U.S. presidential race is all about Ohio - or is it? l Electoral math still favors Obama, but Romney is gaining ANALYSIS With one week left in the tight battle for the White House, it’s all about the vital swing state of Ohio. Unless it’s about Colorado or Iowa, or tiny New Hampshire.

Democratic President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney both have clear paths to the 270 electoral votes needed for victory - and they don’t all go through Ohio, the state that both sides have long viewed as key to capturing the White House.

Obama still has a slight electoral map advantage fueled by his slim lead in Ohio, but Romney has steadily closed the gap or moved slightly ahead in some other battleground states. Eight states remain relative toss-ups.

Both candidates can construct multiple winning scenarios, with or without Ohio. And it’s now possible that the tipping point could emerge from another battleground, such as Colorado, where Obama and Romney are deadlocked in the polls. “At this point, there are probably more electoral map scenarios than there are undecided voters,” said Lee Miringoff, a pollster at Marist College, which is conducting surveys in key swing states. “In a 50-50 race ... everything and everywhere is going to matter,” he said.

National polls show the race is a virtual dead heat, but Obama still has a lead of at least 4 percentage points in states that account for 237 electoral votes, according to averages compiled by RealClearPolitics. Romney has a lead of at least that size in states that represent 201 electoral votes.

That gives Obama slightly more leeway in the fight for the remaining 95 electoral votes available in the eight tossup states, all won by Obama in the 2008 election - Colorado (9 electoral votes), Florida (29), Iowa (6), Nevada (6), New Hampshire (4), Ohio (18), Virginia (13) and Wisconsin (10).

Obama is clinging to slight poll leads - which typically are less than the polls’ margins of error - in five of those states with a combined 44 electoral votes: Ohio, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and Wisconsin. That would be enough to put him over the top.

Even if he loses Ohio, Obama could still get to 270 electoral votes - and clinch the election - by winning Colorado instead.

Obama won Colorado by 9 percentage points in 2008, aided by support from young and suburban voters and the growing Hispanic vote, but he is virtually tied with Romney there now.

Romney’s path is tougher without Ohio, but still possible.

The former Massachusetts governor has a slight lead over Obama in Florida and has pulled even with the president in Virginia. If Romney sweeps those two states and adds Colorado, he

would still need to win Iowa, New Hampshire and Wisconsin to capture the White House.

NEVADA SLIPPING AWAY FROM ROMNEY?

Of the eight toss-up states, Nevada appears the least competitive, with analysts and some strategists in both parties saying it is moving toward Obama.

An NBC/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll gave Obama a 3-point edge in Nevada, and the last six public polls have shown Obama ahead.

Republican-led House of Representatives.

Another possibility: one candidate wins the nationwide popular vote, while the other wins the electoral vote - and walks away with the presidency.

The most heavily contested prize remains Ohio, and both campaigns are concentrating their time and resources there. Obama has an average lead in polls there of 1.9 percentage points, according to RealClearPolitics. Six of the last nine public polls showed Obama with a slight edge.

The other three showed a tie, including a poll by the Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper and the Ohio News Organization.

“The electoral map tilts slightly to Obama, but only because Ohio is so important and that’s one state where he has kept a very small lead,” said Thomas Riehle, a pollster at the market research firm YouGov, which also is surveying swing states. “The polling is so much closer than it was in 2000 or any other close election year, so everything is hard to predict,” he said.

‘AN ILLUSION OF VOLATILITY’

Romney appears to have an advantage in Florida, where six of the last seven public polls have shown him with a small lead, symbolic of a trend toward the Republican, analysts say.

“Once an incumbent loses a grip on the race, it’s very hard to get it back,” said Florida-based pollster Brad Coker of MasonDixon. “Florida is gone for Obama, from what I’m seeing on the ground here. The map seems to be expanding for Romney and shrinking for Obama.”

The multiple electoral scenarios have sparked speculation about alternative outcomes such as a 269-269 tie in electoral votes, which would leave the presidency to a vote by the

Romney’s poll gains since his strong performance in the first debate on October 3 have been powered by growing voter confidence in his ability to handle the economy, an increase in his favorability ratings and gains among women and independents.

But Romney’s early and mid-October momentum seems to have slowed or stopped since Obama’s strong performances in the final two debates. National tracking polls have ebbed and flowed in a narrow range during the past week, with Romney keeping a slight lead in most.

But in a Reuters/Ipsos national online tracking poll on Sunday, Obama opened a slight lead on Romney, 49% to 46%, among likely voters.

On the state level, Romney’s surge put him slightly ahead in Florida and Virginia, but has not been enough for him to overtake Obama in the Midwestern battlegrounds of Ohio, Iowa and Wisconsin.

Those three states alone, added to the states where Obama already has solid leads, would be enough for the president to win with 271 electoral votes.

Obama’s support level falls short of the magic 50% mark in most national and swing state polls, a danger sign for an incumbent who is well known to voters and therefore could be unlikely to win the support of a majority of those who make late decisions.

But Romney’s campaign says early voting among Republicans in the toss-up states is running ahead of the party’s pace in 2008, when Obama defeated Republican John McCain. In Ohio, Republicans are out-performing their share of registered voters in absentee ballot requests and early votes, the campaign said.