The step

Not one – not two…but thirty hotels are expected to change hands by spring, as April and May hold “tourist” electronic hammers.

Some bigger and some smaller are the hotels that cross the threshold of electronic auctions. The electronic hammer will strike for some hotel unit from Orestiada, the Ionian Islands, the North Aegean, Delphi, Nafplio, the Cyclades. In short, the hotel auction house extends from one end of Greece to the other.

With the electronic auction board listing amounts from 108,000 euros – which is also the lowest price for a hotel unit in Katerini – to 300,000,000 euros.

Of course, the hotels that stand out as their prices are dizzying are the two hotels of the Mantonanakis group with a first offer price of the dizzying amount of 300 million euros. These are the historic Elounda Beach Hotel & Villas and Elounda Bay Palace. The two hotels reappeared on the online platform after the cancellation of the previous auction on March 6 by the Court of First Instance of Athens as it was then judged that there had been two significant omissions in the formal procedure prescribed by law. The hasty Eurobank of course came back and announced a new auction for May 15th.

According to a relevant post on the e-auction, the hotel units “ELOUDA BEACH” and “ELOUDA BAY” present a functional unit and form a single hotel complex and are put up for public forced auction with a first bid price of 300,000,000.00 euros

Eurobank urgently appears as the representative of the bond lenders of the joint bond loan of 300 million euros issued by ILIOS S.A. from 22.03.2007. of the Mantonanakis family.

Data

Based on available data, the Elounda Beach Hotel & Villas is a 5* luxury hotel, originally built between 1968 and 1971 with several renovations since then. In the appraisal assignment order from the auctioneer, it is stated that the ELOUDA BEACH hotel has a building surface of a total area of ​​15,982.32 m2, swimming pools with an area of ​​3,010.64 m2 and fields/sports facilities with an area of ​​1,467 m2.

However, in the appraisal report, the appraiser’s reservation is expressed as to whether these surfaces correspond to the real state of the hotel today, as differences are found in aerial photographs as 16 years have passed since the measurement. According to the published financial statements of the year 2020, the hotel has 249 rooms, while the Hotel Chamber of Greece shows a capacity of 263 rooms.

The seaside hotel Elounda Bay is located on the north-east coast of Crete and beyond accommodation services it offers a number of additional benefits. Elounda Bay Palace, based on the available data, is a 5-star luxury, with a time of original construction between 1968 with several renovations carried out since then, as stated in the relevant appraisal report. According to the published financial statements of the year 2020, the hotel has 266 rooms, while the Hotel Chamber of Greece shows a capacity of 252 rooms.

Bra de fer with the State

However, the Mantantonaki group is also in open war with the Greek government over the Grand Resost Lagonissi hotel.

The dispute over the property in Lagonisi between the businessman Mantonanakis and the Greek State dates back to 1999, when the Cretan businessman entered into a lease agreement with the EOT for an area of ​​326 acres in Lagonisi, lasting 77 years, with the obligation to implement investments of 263.9 million .euros, all of which would remain for the benefit of EOT and the Greek State after the end of the concession. Nevertheless, the contract was amended in 2003, between ETAD and Attikos Helios, and the company’s plans were not completed.

The Mantonanaki group maintains that it has been vindicated by final decisions of the competent Courts and in fact has been awarded in its favor and against the subsidiary company of the Superfund, ETAD SA, an amount of more than 750 million euros.

Elounda Beach and Papandreou

Elounda and Elounda Beach had become the permanent place where Andreas Papapandreou combined the terpnon after the utilitarian and where political processes took place between long dives and fish eating.

First time in 1989

The unique layout, the decoration of the spaces, the exclusive facilities and the unique location of “Elounda Beach” made it a pole of attraction for prominent people from all over the world, among the rich and famous guests of the luxury hotel were many princes, famous artists, well-known businessmen, state leaders and Greek politicians, as well as the founder of PASOK. In 1989, while the heavy shadow of the Koskotas scandal loomed over the country and he had gone through a painful adventure with his health, Andreas Papandreou changed his hotel accommodation in Elounda choosing “Elounda Beach” by Kostas Mantonanakis to have a luxurious vacation with Dimitra Liani

In fact, on the first day of his stay at the iconic hotel together with many members of his staff, such as George Katsifaras and Antonis Livanis, the managers welcomed him to the sounds of his favorite song at the time, performed by the singer Martha, which sang to him privately in Athens. The movement of the hoteliers moved the then prime minister and since then it has been repeated every year.

Source OT

IOBE is in the process of changing its forecasts for the course of the Greek economy in 2024. According to what its head Nikos Vettas said today, he is “lowering” the growth bar to 2.1% and “raising” inflation to 3%.

The big bet for the Greek economy remains the increase in investments, with the IOBE estimating that they will increase this year by 7.8% (from 10.8% before), while the increase in Greek GDP…drops to 2.1%, from 2.4% which is the previous forecast.

Inflation is decelerating to 3% this year, while the immediate previous forecast set the bar at 2.8%, with unemployment continuing to decline but at a slower pace with a tendency to stabilize near 10%. IOBE estimates that this year it will decline to 10.3%. Regarding inflation, Mr. Vettas also referred to the domestic issues that exist, in addition to the international situation.

The challenges

Regarding the challenges for Greece, Mr. Vettas noted that there was a negative surprise from the path of investments in 2023, their increase was considerably lower than the forecasts which affected the growth. Labor market fatigue is evident with the rate of unemployment falling. If the unemployment rate stabilizes at 10% this will coexist with many businesses and industries saying they cannot find workers. There is also a fatigue in the economic climate, according to IOBE.

Fiscal policy challenges remain, despite positive developments. In recent years, the interventionist policy of the state had intensified in all markets, from subsidies such as during the pandemic and interventions in the market due to accuracy.

Positive image

Among the positives of our country, according to Mr. Vetta, is the significant reduction in the country’s lending spread as a result of obtaining the investment grade, but also its better course in relation to the Eurozone, the increase in tourism that allows balancing the balance current account, the good business climate, and the good course of the fiscal, as was seen with the deficit.

Referring to inflation at the eurozone level, the head of the IOBE said that the monetary work done had an effect, but it will continue to remain at the level of 2% for some time.

Beyond that, Mr. Vettas that there is a reduction in the dynamics of the Greek economy, the rate of which however remains higher than the average of the Eurozone, where it is expected to grow by just 0.6% from 0.5% last year. According to Mr. Vetta, this slowdown of the Greek Economy began in the second half of 2023.

As the IOBE points out, the slowdown of the Eurozone economy, the gradual de-escalation of inflation and interest rates, geopolitical instability, fiscal figures and the execution of the revised Recovery and Resilience Plan, are now determining factors for the evolution of GDP in 2024.

The dangers

• Further geopolitical instability and economic uncertainty at regional and international level (war in Ukraine, Middle East, US elections, European Parliament).

• Slower reduction of interest rates in Europe in 2024, especially in an alternative scenario of a large increase in international energy prices.

• High deficit in the external balance, with structural characteristics.

• Labor market: Slower de-escalation of the unemployment rate, partly due to high structural unemployment.

• Progressively tighter fiscal targets. The tax base in Greece remains narrow.

• Loss of competitiveness due to higher m.o. of Eurozone inflation after mid-2023. Persistent inflation in essential goods such as food, higher than a.d. of EZ in 2024.

• High loan-deposit interest rate spread and systematically negative household savings rate.

• Risk of a new flare-up of overdue debts and NPLs, due to rising interest rates and cost of living. An obstacle to the redistribution of resources are bad loans on and off bank balance sheets.

• Investment mix: Investments in Housing/Construction and transport equipment, decrease in other sectors.

Positive prospects

• The acceleration in the implementation of the revised Recovery and Resilience Plan combined with the expansion of its loan arm and REPowerEU, can “unlock” international funds for productive and more long-term investments.

• The reduction of interest rates, if it starts earlier in the middle of the year, will be an opportunity to accelerate investments.

• Bet on the strengthened extroversion of the economy, with a gradual improvement of the external balance.

• Reforms with a medium-term horizon of 2024-2027 may increase productivity which deviates from the average in Europe.

• The reduction of NPLs at the level of the entire economy will free up productive resources for more efficient distribution.

• Significant backlog of construction projects.

Source OT

A significant increase in its turnover was recorded by Wella Hellas the first year of its autonomous activity in the domestic market after the “divorce” from Sarantis groupalthough its profitability did not show equally “shiny” results.

Specifically, in the previous fiscal year (07/01/2022 to 06/30/2023), the turnover of Wella Hellas increased by 46% to 23.3 million euros from 15.9 million euros in the previous year.

Retail made the difference

The increase in the turnover of the company, compared to the previous year, comes from the marketing of consumer products, such as dyes, hair care and styling (Retail Hair Products), an activity that was taken over from July 2022 by the company Sarantis ABEE. This activity constitutes 24.4% of its total turnover, it is pointed out in the company’s financial statements.

Let us recall here that the traffic of hair care products through retail stores and supermarkets from 2018 until the end of June 2022 was owned by the Sarantis group, while the Wella salons and professional products sector remained the responsibility of the French Coty group.

The “divorce” of Wella Hellas with Sarantis was the result of another “divorce”, that of Wella with Coty, as the well-known hair products company became independent from December 2020, passing to the control of the investment company Kohlberg Kravis and Roberts (KKR).

Profitability did not follow

However, an 80% increase in cost of goods sold was recorded, reflecting inflation and the pressures on the global supply chain. This large increase significantly affected the profitability of the company.

Profits before taxes amounted to 443,832 euros, reduced by 28.47% compared to 620,511 euros of the previous year, while profits after taxes amounted to 346,348 euros from 620,511 euros in the 2021-2022 financial year.

The company, whose parent company is Switzerland-based Wella International Operations Switzerland Sarl, will not distribute profits.

Optimism for this year

For the current financial year 2023-2024 the company, which cooperates with over 20,000 businesses, hairdressers, barbershops and beauty and extremity care institutes in Greece, states in its financial report that it “aims to further improve sales by value, expanding capabilities of the network and making use of the quality and technology of its products, while aiming to expand its market share”.

He also notes that “she is optimistic and plans the future plans behind the strategic priorities of the group. Specifically, management will continue to remain committed to the company’s long-term goals, pursuing further sales growth, further improvement in profit margins, free cash flow generation and continued value creation.”