Mountain refuge for (some) Greeks [#2]
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June Samaras
Oct 12, 2012, 2:48:37 PM10/12/12
to HELLAS-GREECE
Greece's biggest company, bottler CCH, quits for Switzerland
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/11/us-greece-coke-idUSBRE89A17P20121011
Thu, Oct 11 2012
Greece's biggest company flees, bottler CCH to Switzerland
By Harry Papachristou
ATHENS | Thu Oct 11, 2012 1:13pm EDT
(Reuters) - Greece's biggest company, Coca Cola Hellenic, is leaving
the country, the drinks bottler said on Thursday as its move to
Switzerland and a London listing for its shares dealt a blow to the
crippled Greek economy.
The immediate material impact on Greece is limited - its Greek plants
stay open and CCH (HLBr.AT) said the small portion of it activity that
the world's second-ranked Coke bottler has in Greece will be
unaffected. But analysts quickly saw it as bad news for a nation
struggling to compete inside the euro zone.
CCH, which has said it fears the Greek crisis could disrupt its
multinational business, said in a bourse filing in Athens that
shareholders, most of whom are abroad, will exchange their stock for
shares in Coca Cola HBC AG, based in Switzerland and effectively shorn
of the Greek tag "Hellenic".
That stock will be primarily quoted on London's LSE.
"A primary listing on Europe's biggest and most liquid stock exchange
reflects better the international character of Coca Cola Hellenic's
business activities and shareholder base," the company said in its
regulatory statement.
The firm, in which The Coca-Cola Co (KO.N) of the United States has a
23-percent stake, bottles Coke and other produce in 28 countries from
Russia to Nigeria. About 95 percent of its shareholders and business
activity are outside Greece.
"This transaction makes clear business sense," chief executive
Dimitris Lois told analysts in a conference call. An overwhelming
majority of shareholders have already accepted moving a company which
has long complained about Greek taxes.
Analyst Manos Hatzidakis of Beta Securities in Athens said that the
move made sense for the firm, which follows Greek dairy group FAGE
this month in seeking a low-tax, low-volatility haven for its
corporate base - in FAGE's case Luxembourg.
"The Greek bourse is losing a very good company and the London Stock
Exchange is gaining a very important group," said Hatzidakis. "It's
very bad news for the Greek economy and bourse."
For brokers on the stock exchange, losing a stock that made up 8
percent of daily turnover this year will be unwelcome - especially
since total volumes are down by half since last year.
For the Greek treasury, the loss of tax revenue is unclear. Though CCH
officials did not detail tax savings from moving the registered office
to Switzerland, it has complained of high - and increasingly
unpredictable - taxation in crisis-hit Athens.
But the move may further discourage investment in Greece.
Trade unionists saw the corporate exodus as immoral and one, Stathis
Anestis, spokesman for the biggest labor group GSEE, suggested a
boycott of Coke : "This is unacceptable," he said.
"CCH and FAGE are speculating at the most crucial moment for the Greek
economy and the Greek people. Consumers should use their power to
punish these companies."
COUNTRY RISK
One analyst said CCH, which rose to the top of corporate rankings as
the values of Greek banks collapsed, was out to rid its share price of
such risks associated with Greece; the country is mired in recession
and facing mass discontent as its leaders slash budgets to meet
international creditors' terms for loans intended to keep Athens
inside Europe's single currency.
"This is a healthy company that does not want to suffer from Greece's
high country risk," said the analyst, who spoke on condition of
anonymity.
Foreign investors have been steadily reducing their investment in the
Athens Stock Exchange .ATG since the country was engulfed by the
sovereign debt crisis in 2009. Greece's future in the 17-nation euro
zone still remains in doubt.
Aided by the fact that it is doing most of its business outside
Greece, CCH consistently outperformed the general Athens stock market
index, which has slumped to 20-year lows.
CCH has become the country's biggest firm by market value with a
capitalization of around 6 billion euros ($7.7 billion), representing
about a fifth of the Athens bourse's total.
The company, which last year made net profit of 330 million euros on
sales of 6.85 billion, has complained of taxes imposed under Greek
government austerity measures. A U.S. filing shows it paid about 20
million euros in both 2009 and 2010 for one-off "social
responsibility" levies in Greece.
Profits at operating units in other countries are generally taxed
locally. The Greek parent company reported 32 million euros in Greek
taxes in 2010 and none last year. New withholding tax on dividends in
Greece might have affected CCH in future.
In its U.S. filing for 2011, the company said: "Greece, which
accounted for approximately 6 percent of our unit case sales volume
and approximately 8 percent of our net sales revenue in 2011, is
currently facing a severe economic crisis resulting from significant
government fiscal deficits and high levels of government borrowing."
"The ... Greek government debt crisis may have impacts on our
liquidity that currently cannot be predicted."
CCH said it would delist from the Athens Stock Exchange and then seek
to re-enter that bourse with a secondary listing.
Coca Cola Hellenic shares closed down 4.9 percent at 15.66 euros in
Athens. Analysts explained the drop by the low cash price of 13.58
euros the company is offering to those shareholders who refuse the
offer of new Swiss shares. ($1 = 0.7751 euros)
(Additional reporting by Lefteris Papadimas, Matt Robinson and Renee
Maltezou in Athens and Tom Bergin in London; Writing by Alastair Ma
--
June Samaras
2020 Old Station Rd
Streetsville,Ontario
Canada L5M 2V1
Tel : 905-542-1877
E-mail : june.s...@gmail.com
--
June Samaras
2020 Old Station Rd
Streetsville,Ontario
Canada L5M 2V1
Tel : 905-542-1877
E-mail : june.s...@gmail.com
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/11/us-greece-coke-idUSBRE89A17P20121011
Thu, Oct 11 2012
Greece's biggest company flees, bottler CCH to Switzerland
By Harry Papachristou
ATHENS | Thu Oct 11, 2012 1:13pm EDT
(Reuters) - Greece's biggest company, Coca Cola Hellenic, is leaving
the country, the drinks bottler said on Thursday as its move to
Switzerland and a London listing for its shares dealt a blow to the
crippled Greek economy.
The immediate material impact on Greece is limited - its Greek plants
stay open and CCH (HLBr.AT) said the small portion of it activity that
the world's second-ranked Coke bottler has in Greece will be
unaffected. But analysts quickly saw it as bad news for a nation
struggling to compete inside the euro zone.
CCH, which has said it fears the Greek crisis could disrupt its
multinational business, said in a bourse filing in Athens that
shareholders, most of whom are abroad, will exchange their stock for
shares in Coca Cola HBC AG, based in Switzerland and effectively shorn
of the Greek tag "Hellenic".
That stock will be primarily quoted on London's LSE.
"A primary listing on Europe's biggest and most liquid stock exchange
reflects better the international character of Coca Cola Hellenic's
business activities and shareholder base," the company said in its
regulatory statement.
The firm, in which The Coca-Cola Co (KO.N) of the United States has a
23-percent stake, bottles Coke and other produce in 28 countries from
Russia to Nigeria. About 95 percent of its shareholders and business
activity are outside Greece.
"This transaction makes clear business sense," chief executive
Dimitris Lois told analysts in a conference call. An overwhelming
majority of shareholders have already accepted moving a company which
has long complained about Greek taxes.
Analyst Manos Hatzidakis of Beta Securities in Athens said that the
move made sense for the firm, which follows Greek dairy group FAGE
this month in seeking a low-tax, low-volatility haven for its
corporate base - in FAGE's case Luxembourg.
"The Greek bourse is losing a very good company and the London Stock
Exchange is gaining a very important group," said Hatzidakis. "It's
very bad news for the Greek economy and bourse."
For brokers on the stock exchange, losing a stock that made up 8
percent of daily turnover this year will be unwelcome - especially
since total volumes are down by half since last year.
For the Greek treasury, the loss of tax revenue is unclear. Though CCH
officials did not detail tax savings from moving the registered office
to Switzerland, it has complained of high - and increasingly
unpredictable - taxation in crisis-hit Athens.
But the move may further discourage investment in Greece.
Trade unionists saw the corporate exodus as immoral and one, Stathis
Anestis, spokesman for the biggest labor group GSEE, suggested a
boycott of Coke : "This is unacceptable," he said.
"CCH and FAGE are speculating at the most crucial moment for the Greek
economy and the Greek people. Consumers should use their power to
punish these companies."
COUNTRY RISK
One analyst said CCH, which rose to the top of corporate rankings as
the values of Greek banks collapsed, was out to rid its share price of
such risks associated with Greece; the country is mired in recession
and facing mass discontent as its leaders slash budgets to meet
international creditors' terms for loans intended to keep Athens
inside Europe's single currency.
"This is a healthy company that does not want to suffer from Greece's
high country risk," said the analyst, who spoke on condition of
anonymity.
Foreign investors have been steadily reducing their investment in the
Athens Stock Exchange .ATG since the country was engulfed by the
sovereign debt crisis in 2009. Greece's future in the 17-nation euro
zone still remains in doubt.
Aided by the fact that it is doing most of its business outside
Greece, CCH consistently outperformed the general Athens stock market
index, which has slumped to 20-year lows.
CCH has become the country's biggest firm by market value with a
capitalization of around 6 billion euros ($7.7 billion), representing
about a fifth of the Athens bourse's total.
The company, which last year made net profit of 330 million euros on
sales of 6.85 billion, has complained of taxes imposed under Greek
government austerity measures. A U.S. filing shows it paid about 20
million euros in both 2009 and 2010 for one-off "social
responsibility" levies in Greece.
Profits at operating units in other countries are generally taxed
locally. The Greek parent company reported 32 million euros in Greek
taxes in 2010 and none last year. New withholding tax on dividends in
Greece might have affected CCH in future.
In its U.S. filing for 2011, the company said: "Greece, which
accounted for approximately 6 percent of our unit case sales volume
and approximately 8 percent of our net sales revenue in 2011, is
currently facing a severe economic crisis resulting from significant
government fiscal deficits and high levels of government borrowing."
"The ... Greek government debt crisis may have impacts on our
liquidity that currently cannot be predicted."
CCH said it would delist from the Athens Stock Exchange and then seek
to re-enter that bourse with a secondary listing.
Coca Cola Hellenic shares closed down 4.9 percent at 15.66 euros in
Athens. Analysts explained the drop by the low cash price of 13.58
euros the company is offering to those shareholders who refuse the
offer of new Swiss shares. ($1 = 0.7751 euros)
(Additional reporting by Lefteris Papadimas, Matt Robinson and Renee
Maltezou in Athens and Tom Bergin in London; Writing by Alastair Ma
--
June Samaras
2020 Old Station Rd
Streetsville,Ontario
Canada L5M 2V1
Tel : 905-542-1877
E-mail : june.s...@gmail.com
--
June Samaras
2020 Old Station Rd
Streetsville,Ontario
Canada L5M 2V1
Tel : 905-542-1877
E-mail : june.s...@gmail.com
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