Evagorou to head Demetra Investments

AKEL Deputy Stavros Evagorou has been elected as the new Chairman of Demetra Investments, following a Board meeting held on July 15 after the election of the members during the AGM of the company.

Former DISY MP Christos Rotsas and Michalakis Serafides were elected as Vice-Chairmen of the island’s largest investment company which has lost more than half of its initial CYP 200 mln capital following a series of mistakes in its investment strategy and also as a result of the four-year decline in local equity prices.

Demetra also holds around CYP 35 mln in cash out of its CYP 96 mln in assets, but the cash balances are all placed in the major Cooperative Credit Societies.

The election of Evagorou is seen as the last attempt by the powerful investment company to clean up its act and return to profitability. A better than expected market performance will allow Demetra to post its first positive results in four-years.

Demetra announced that it expects a better first half performance compared to the comparative first half performance in 2004. The improvement is due to the 17.7% increase in the level of the CSE GENX during the first half compared to a 7.4% negative return a year ago in the same period.

The first half results will be released on August 29, 2005 following a Board meeting scheduled for August 26.