CSE gains 16.4% year-to-date
FBI ad PES announce dividends
Bank of Cyprus shares continued their spectacular advance on Tuesday, surging another 1.3% on the day to a record finish of CYP 3.05, the highest in five years, and bringing the year-to-date gains to 16%.
In brisk trading on Tuesday, the BOC shares jumped to CYP 3.05 in a clear break away from the psychological level of CYP 3.00 and are now targeting the 3.38 level, which is a previous high from January 2001.
In Greece, the Bank’s shares also ended at a new five-year high of EUR 5.44 or CYP 3.12 on heavy volume of EUR 8.27 mln or CYP 4.74 mln. This was four times the volume of BOC on Tuesday on the CSE amounting to CYP 926,000 and more than double the total volume of CYP 1.85 mln transacted on the CSE on Tuesday.
Similar to the charts in Cyprus, the BOC shares are currently trading in unchartered territory in Greece and are on course to reach at least EUR 5.74 or CYP 3.29, which is a previous high since January 2001 on Sophocleous.
CPB & HB rally
The rally on BOC shares pushed the share prices of Laiki Bank and Hellenic Bank also higher. Laiki Bank closed 0.93% higher on Tuesday at a fresh record close of CYP 2.17, having gained 18.6% since the start of the year.
The next objective on the Laiki charts is the 2.31 level, followed by 2.38, which is a previous high since March 2001. After that, the coast should be clear for an assault on the CYP 3.06 level, the high since January 2001.
Hellenic Bank meanwhile closed at 77 cents, unchanged on the day but still up a respectful 35% since the start of the year. HB is now resting at its previous high of 77 cents in place since January 2003 and once this level is cleared, then it should have no problem to make a move on the 87 cent level, which is the high since December 2002.
FANTASTIC RETURN
The rally on the banking share titles has been instrumental in lifting the performance of the CSE GENX (Main & Parallel index), making equity investments the best type of investment in the market and with a return far above that of real estate.
The GENX closed at a fresh record high of 1984.06 on Tuesday, taking its weekly gains to 7.5% and its gains since the start of the year to 16.4%. The FTSE/CySE and Main market index boast a similar 16.4% return while the Parallel index is up 14.6% and the Alternative index is up 4.9% since the start of the year. The best performance, however, remains with the Approved Investments sector, which is up 23% since the start of the year. Many investors are snapping the major investment company titles such as Demetra, Apollo, Cytrustees, Dodonis and Interfund, which are loaded with banking titles, amid expectations that in the current bull market conditions, the major gap between the traded price of the investment companies and their net asset values (NAVs) will close.
DIVIDENDS
In another encouraging development, two companies that announced their preliminary 2004 results took the opportunity to declare dividends, seen as a serious attempt to attract institutional and long-term investors.
Alkis Hadjikyriakos (Frou-Frou), the biscuits, chocolate and cereal manufacturer and importer upped its final dividend to 0.37 cents per share for 2005 from 0.36 cents a year ago, and based on the current 0.135 CSE price, its dividend yield amounts to 2.85%. FBI reported net profit of CYP 1.3 mln for 2005 compared to CYP 1.01 mln for 2004, which included CYP 174,000 in revaluation of real estate for investments gains.
Filoktimatiki, the construction company closely tied to the Shacolas group, declared a dividend of 2.25 cents per share for 2005, down from 3.75 cents a year ago, but which still gives a highly satisfactory yield of 4.5% based on the current 49 cent per share CSE price. PES reported net profit of CYP 146,955 for 2005 compared to CYP 232,413 in 2004.
