Coca - Cola HBC

Coca-Cola HBC on Wednesday announced higher organic revenue growth of 22.2% in the first quarter, excluding Russia and Ukraine.

The company said that a price mix led revenue growth as it took decisive actions to mitigate cost inflation.

Volume growth in sparkling, energy and coffee drinks was offset by declines in stills, driven by an anticipated weakness in water.

Wednesday's session at the Greek stock market bore a great resemblance to Tuesday's, only with significantly greater gains upon closing after the late rally that banks staged in the closing auctions. Once again the benchmark closed higher and the majority of stocks suffered losses, given also the drop recorded by mid-caps. The 1,100-point mark is now within reach for the main index.

Olympic Brewery, the Greek subsidiary of the Carlsberg Group, is planning for investments of 20 million euros in 2023-24.

Mid- and small-caps on Wednesday served to maintain the upward trajectory of the Greek bourse benchmark, which completed its sixth consecutive session of expansion, albeit marginally, despite blue chips and bank stocks heading south.

The late decline mainly by bank stocks led the benchmark of the Greek bourse to moderate losses on Wednesday, although the majority of stocks posted gains. The low turnover revealed that many investors chose to sit the session out in anticipation of the decisions by the central banks of the US and Britain.

The only way was up on Thursday for most banks after Wednesday's decline, with the credit sector (although not Piraeus Bank) carrying the rest of the stock market to significant gains - albeit not as impressive as some highs recorded during the course of the session. Turnover also headed higher - another encouraging sign.

Greece's stock market matched the picture on most other eurozone bourses on Monday with gains secured on relatively thin trade. The Greek market will try to benefit from the desire of certain investors to take some calculated risks as Europe tries to emerge from the health crisis and Italy is close to forming a new government.

The Greek stock market's lowest trading volume of the last 13 sessions saw the benchmark suffer moderate losses on Thursday after three days of gains, as traders again appear reluctant to commit themselves to purchases until the picture regarding the coronavirus tempest clears.

Underperforming its European peers, Athinon Avenue was virtually flat at the end of the week's first session as it failed to catch the wave of gains observed in the rest of the eurozone, partly due to concerns about the course of the pandemic in Greece. Losing stocks narrowly edged out the gainers, but most indexes closed with slight growth.

The Greek stock market took last Friday's positive report by Fitch Ratings in its stride. Still, the new strain of the coronavirus has put fresh pressure on stock prices across the continent and most local blue chips took fresh losses on Monday.