Athens, 22nd November 2001 · GERMANOS Group of companies announced the acquisition of a second chain of retail stores dealing in mobile telephony products and services in Poland, within the context of its strategic expansion and the enhancement of its presence internationally.

The Polish Company TCM, with a chain of 40 stores, was acquired, thus confirming the Group's positive view and expectations for the growth prospects of the Polish market, for the second time this year, in practice. The Group's active engagement in the Polish market began in February 2001, with the acquisition of the EKO-CONTEL chain, with a capacity of 54 stores. After the acquisition of TCM, GERMANOS Group of Companies has become the leader of the independent mobile telephony retailers in Poland, with a chain exceeding 90 stores in all.

The name of the TCM stores shall be changed in the near future and they shall be incorporated into the GERMANOS Chain of Stores, thereby completing the acquisition procedure.

The acquisition of the TCM chain, which collaborates with the top mobile telephony company in Poland, ERA GSM, is expected to fuel an especially swift growth of GERMANOS Group of companies fundamental figures in Poland within 2002. The fact that Poland is a market of 38 million where mobile telephony penetration does not exceed 23% is expected to affect this trend as well. This penetration rate grades the country at a much lower level than those of neighbouring countries such as Hungary and the Czech Republic, with penetration rates of 40% and 50% respectively and thereby offers the Group particularly favourable margins for growth.

Apart from Poland, GERMANOS Chain of Stores has already begun to claim a dynamic presence in other countries of the broader area as well, with 43 stores in Romania, 24 in Bulgaria and 11 in Cyprus, to date.

At the same time, the expansion of GERMANOS Chain of Stores in Poland constitutes a significant step in the implementation of the Group's plan with the objective of establishing the largest chain of stores in the wider market of Central and Eastern Europe, as well as in the markets of the eastern Mediterranean, which shall number 700 stores in Greece and abroad by 2003.