Laiki Bank and Hellenic Bank shares ended Tuesday at fresh record highs, while Bank of Cyprus managed to stay well bid as the CSE GENX ended with small losses at 3758.43 points on total volume of EUR 17.25 mln on 3835 trades. According to AGFN data, 22 stocks closed higher, 53 lower while 211 were unchanged.
Laiki Bank, fresh from news that its CEO Andreas Vgenopoulos has earmarked a bonus of EUR 2.000 per staff for a total cost of EUR 5 mln roared to another record close of EUR 6.74 and was the most active on 418.386 shares volume.
The fact that Vgenopoulos managed to appoint the militant bank employees union chief of Etyk, Loizos Hadjiloizou was seen as a major coup in the local banking affairs, which was also coupled with another announcement that Laiki will allow more union representatives on its various committees.
“Vgenopoulos is sending a powerful message that when it comes to Laiki staff, he has an open and transparent agenda and that he wants to reward performance by hefty bonuses. And to put his pocket where his mouth is, he decided to dish out EUR 2000 cash bonuses to each member of staff to prove to them that he means business. The appointment of the Etyk chief to the Board also caught just about everybody by total surprise and confirms once again, that the guy is in a league of his own,” said an experienced trader.
Â
Bid speculation
Hellenic Bank meanwhile roared to yet another record close of EUR 3.50 on 679.000 shares volume amid speculation that it will be used as a “poison pill” by another major institution that may become the subject of a takeover bid.
The poison pill is usually referred to a target company proceeding with its own takeover bid to play havoc with the acquisition plans of the acquiring company. It would not come as a surprise to market participants if Hellenic would continue trading higher and approach the EUR 4.16 target given by UBS.
Logicom was the third most active stock on Tuesday, recovering from its session lows but still closing with a minor loss at EUR 1.53 as numerous sellers stepped in to cash in their recent huge profits.
Bank of Cyprus was the fourth most active, ending moderately lower at EUR 9.90 on 233.000 shares volume. Hellenic Bank warrants followed next, up at EUR 2.12 while Louis Pcl ended at EUR 0.67 and SFS was steady at EUR 0.25.
