On Wednesday evening, on the main newscast of ANT1 and Mr. Nikos Hadjinikolaou, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis "revealed" the plan which is already underway by the Ministry of Development. Its code name could be "cost control on multinational consumer goods companies". This was preceded by BD's revealing Tuesday report on the commercial policy of 3E - one of the leading multinational consumer products groups in the Greek market - which has been revaluing most of its soft drink codes.
According to BD's information, the competent department of the Ministry of Development, DIMEA, has recently been carrying out persistent controls of multinational groups, based on the regulation on the profit margin cap.
Based on the data of their published balance sheets, there is a large increase in their profitability and, according to the suspicions of the Ministry of Development officials, this is mainly due to the circumvention of the provisions of the aforementioned regulation.
In fact, the implication left floating by the, Prime Minister in his interview - "you will soon see" - reveals, according to BD's information, that the audits have revealed serious findings for some multinational groups regarding the non-observance of the profit margin ceiling. Indeed, there is evident concern within the business community in question.
The issue of audits on multinational groups was raised in a particularly strong way immediately after the extension for six months - until 31 December 2023 - of the aforementioned regulation. This is because the Greek suppliers of supermarket chains were anyway at a disadvantage - their protests in private were particularly strong - vis-à-vis multinationals.
Mainly because the control concerns specific figures which the officials responsible can identify at any time. Market sources said that 'Greek companies are the easy victim'! On the contrary, the respective sizes of multinationals are derived through labyrinthine routes and the parent groups - based abroad - have a very large capacity to manage their cost data.
Meanwhile, in the market, the extension for at least another six months of the regulation concerning the setting of a ceiling on the profit margin is considered certain, given that firstly, inflation is not expected to decelerate any time soon - even with a 5% price cut on 500 products or more - and secondly, precision has become a political issue and next May is the European elections.
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