Greek-listed profitable companies surpassed loss-making in H1
- Written by E.Tsiliopoulos
The number of profitable companies listed in the Athens Stock Exchange surpassed the number of loss-making in the first half of 2016, for the first time since the end of the third quarter of 2010, Beta Securities said on Monday.
In an analysis of half-year financial reports, Beta Securities said that the rate between profitable and loss-making turned from 40/60 to 54/46 and attributed this development to the fact that companies managed to balance demand with operating costs, improving operating margins. They have learned to live without the contribution of bank liquidity and taken advantage of the closure of small – or weak - companies during the prolonged crisis, gaining healthy market shares, the report said.
The report stressed that first half results were affected by provisions taken on Marinopoulos’ bad debt (35 million euros), while an extraordinary spending in PPC (48.3 million) was another negative factor which lowered the end result. Also, OPAP’s gross earnings were taxed on a different basis, depriving 25 million from operating earnings.
A 5.4 pct decline in turnover was attributed exclusively to the refinery industry (-21 pct) because of a decline in international oil prices. Excluding the oil sector, turnover eased 0.1 pct helped by a +19 pct increase in constructions and a +9.0 pct rise in the retail commerce sector.
Operating profits grew 4.8 pct with operating margins rising to 13.26 pct from 11.97 pct last year, the highest figure recorded since the first half of 2009.
A 3.03 billion loss from the sale of Finansbank in National Bank’s balance sheet affected total results. Excluding National Bank, listed companies recorded a net profit of 992.5 million euros, of which 873 million were commercial and industrial companies. The addition of Jumbo, based on estimated results, will push this figure above 1.0 billion euros, the highest recorded since 2009.
Net profit margin rose to 2.88 pct from 1.62 pct last year.
The leaders in this year’s half-year results were FF Group, Motor Oil, Coca Cola HBC, GEK Terna and Hellenic Petroleum, while satisfactory results were announced by OTE, Intralot, OPAP and Karelias.
Among medium-sized companies, Sarantis, Crete Plastics, Thrace Plastics, Quest, Kleeman, Avax, Minoan Lines and Athens Water led the list of most profitable companies, while in small categories, MLS, Elton, Kanakis, Karatzis, Flexopack, Kyriakidis, Autohellas and Petropoulos scored big gains, followed by Kloukinas-Lappas, Korres, Nakas and FG Europe.
On the other hand, Aegean Airlines were the negative surprise of the six-month period, followed by PPC, MIG and Ellaktor. Frigoglass, Pireaus Port, Thessaloniki Port and Plaisio Computers also announced lower results
