Construction group Ellaktor has asked Greece's capital markets watchdog to look into transactions on its stocks last Thursday when the share plummeted amidst rumors that management at the company was getting ready to step down.
In comments to analysts in a conference call on Monday, Ellaktor chairman Giorgos Provopoulos said the share came under heavy selling pressure due to "baseless" and "unethical" rumors that were circulated by certain investors. The chairman repeated that he has no intention to step down from the board. He went on to refer to changes that have taken place in the last 18 months from the time that the Kallitsantis brothers took control of the company.
Chief executive Anastassios Kallitsantis spoke about Ellaktor's six pillar strategy, which was initially presented in the summer of 2018 when the management of the company changed. Ellaktor's management also denied rumors of an imminent share capital increase, saying it would sign the Alimos Marina concession in March and expects to close a deal with banks to finance the 100 million euro investment.
Kallitstantis acknowledged that the situation at AKTOR was more difficult than he expected when he took on the loss-making business. He reiterated that a reasonable goal is to raise the volume of its construction business to nearly one billion euros, but only if there are significant profit margins and no high-risk contracts, as was the case with the construction of solar power energy parks in Latin America and Australia. Specifically in Australia, AKTOR has recorded significant losses that will be fully disclosed upon the completion of three projects at the end of the semester.
Kallitsantis said the group would focus on concessions, renewable energy (RES) and environmental projects, without giving up on constructions. In the area of concessions, he pointed out that the company's holding on Attica Odos has increased to more than 65 percent, while the company is participating in new tenders on projects such as Egnatia Odos, Crete's North Road and several private-public partnerships
On renewable power, the group's total wind farms will reach 491 MW by the end of March and 580 MW by the end of the year, up from 296 MW two years ago, on the back of a 200 million euro investment program. Vice-president Dimitris Kalitsantsis also participated in the conference call, stressing that he remains committed to achieving common goals. It was also announced that Yiannis Pechlivanidis replaced Iordanis Avazis, who recently resigned from the board of directors for personal reasons.
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