Corporate development

Announcing increased profitability for the first half of the year Friday, Alpha Bank also reported the first dividend to shareholders since 2007, as well as plans to increase the size of the dividend as a percentage of profits in subsequent years. 

National Bank of Greece announced first-half profits of €670 million, up 26% from the same period last year, on Thursday.

Almost as importantly for shareholders, CEO Pavlos Mylonas announced plans to significantly increase dividends in the near future, with the target being 70% of the profits. 

The National Bank posted a significant improvement in profitability in the first half of the year, continuing with strong performance across all sectors.

According to the announcement by the National Bank of Greece :

Today’s (7/29) session was a session of tight trading and lack of risk appetite on the Athens Stock Exchange, which returned to negative territory under the “weight” of dividend cuts, mainly from National Bank. Despite the losses, contact was maintained with 1,470 points, with the General Index closing off the daily lows.

The Athens Stock Exchange returned to an upward “channel” and coordinated with the recovery effort of foreign stock markets, ending the three-day downward streak that preceded it.

Investors in the Greek stock market were content with selective moves today (10/7), correcting measuredly after a five-day rally that had yielded gains of +3.14%. The General Index was again below 1,450 points, but did not move far enough away from this psychological threshold.

The shareholders of Piraeus Port Authority (OLP) approved by majority vote all items on the agenda, including the distribution of a dividend at 1.34 euros gross per share for fiscal year 2023, a 29% increase compared to 2022, OLP said in a statement on Thursday.

The VivaWallet group showed operating losses of 31.7 million euros for 2023, extending the negative results from 2022, according to the financial statements published.

The board of directors will recommend to the general meeting of shareholders that no dividend be distributed for last year.

Greek banks are starting to adjust their dividend policy to the European average, with the approval of the European Central Bank's Single Supervisory Mechanism of the dividend distribution for last year, for the first time in 16 years.

The payment of dividends to the shareholders of banks for the first time in 16 years constitutes yet another milestone that certifies the Greek economy's return to normalcy. It also signifies the success of the financial institutions' restructuring.