PRESS RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE
OF ORDINARY GENERAL MEETING OF
ELLAKTOR SA
Extraversion was a strategic choice made by Ellaktor SA in order to tackle the crisis that hit the Greek economy and businesses and whose effects are still visible.
As the Management pointed out during the ordinary General Meeting, in order to confront these particular circumstances, the Group focused its efforts mostly on seeking projects abroad, very carefully selecting both the projects and the countries chosen.
AKTOR, the construction arm of the Ellaktor Group, is today active in more than 20 countries and an indication of the new orientation lies in the fact that over 50% of the total backlog stems from projects from abroad and the rest from projects in Greece.
The backlog of the Group's construction projects has reached 4.20 billion Euros, allowing for optimism for the future, while in addition about 500 million Euros worth of project contracts are waiting to be signed. AKTOR's turnover is expected to exceed 1.1 billion Euros in 2014. The leading project is of course the Qatar Metro, recently signed, with a budget of 3.3 billion Euros, the largest project undertaken by a Greek firm abroad, for the construction of which 6 tunnel boring machines will be used.
The economic downturn also affected the concessions sector, where in 2013 a 5% reduction in revenue was seen, compared with 2012, mainly due to a decrease in revenue from the ATTIKI ODOS. It must however be noted that in May 2014 a slight increase in traffic was noted for the first time in 52 months, in relation to the corresponding month in 2013. An important development in this field is the final agreement reached on the recommencement of major highway projects in December 2013, which will provide impetus both to the Group's activities as well as to the Greek economy. Indicatively, in the first three months of 2014 alone, more than 200 people were recruited for highway construction.
As far as other fields are concerned:
In the Environmental field, given the strategic emphasis placed on this sector in the context of further globalizing its activities, the Group, through its subsidiary ELEKTOR, is solidifying its position in Cyprus and Germany, is penetrating the Balkan markets and mainly Croatia, Bulgaria and Slovenia, while cautiously attempting to enter the markets of Jordan, Turkey and Italy.
Wind Farms have been affected by the financial situation to a lesser extent. In particular, high load wind farms still have a positive outlook in Greece, even though financing terms have significantly deteriorated. The imposition of the New Deal (Law 4254/14) eliminates uncertainty and is gradually resolving liquidity problems in the market, leaving the sector with growth prospects. Today the Group operates Wind Farms with a total installed capacity of 171 MW, while farms of a total capacity of 94 MW are currently under construction.
The Group has submitted a prospectus to The Securities and Exchange Commission and to Hellenic Exchanges SA for the approval of capital increase at ELTECH. WIND with the issue of new shares, and the final approval is pending. Flotation on the Athens Stock Exchange will be the first since 2009.
As regards the Group's administrative issues, the General Meeting elected a new Board of Directors and Audit Committee, with a five-year term of office.
The new Board of Directors is comprised as follows:
1. Anastasios Kallitsantsis, son of Parisis;
2. Dimitrios Kallitsantsis, son of Parisis;
3. Dimitrios Koutras, son of Athanasios;
4. Leonidas Bobolas, son of Georgios;
5. Maria Bobola, daughter of Georgios;
6. Angelos Giokaris, son of Christos;
7. Edouardos Sarantopoulos, son of Konstantinos;
8. Ioannis Tzivelis, son of Dimitrios;
9. Iordanis Aivazis, son of Stergios;
10. Theodoros Pantalakis, son of Nikolaos, Independent - Non-executive member;
11. Dimitrios Hatzigrigoriadis, son of Konstantinos, Independent - Non-executive member;
The new Audit Committee is comprised as follows:
1.Ioannis Tzivelis,
2.Iordanis Aivazis and
3.Theodoros Pantalakis, Independent - Non-executive member, with proven adequate knowledge of accounting and auditing.
Also, the Ordinary General Meeting of ELLAKTOR's shareholders decided not to distribute a dividend for the financial year 2013.
Finally, the General Meeting decided to offset the untaxed reserves accumulated up to 31/12/2013 according to Law 2238/1994 with the tax losses declared up to 31/12/2013. The balance of untaxed reserves remaining after offsetting will be taxed according to provisions in force.
Kifisia, 27/6/2014