Prettified balance sheets still look ugly
With the dust still in the air from the collapse of Enron in the United States, the publication of the latest annual results by many companies listed on the Athens Stock Exchange have raised questions over whether, like Enron’s, the balance sheets of Greek companies reflect reality. Many of these published results can be described as monuments of administrative cookery, which warp the real picture of listed companies to an inconceivable extent. Last year was a disappointing one for listed companies, with profits dropping by 20-30 percent, lower turnover and a significant rise in servicing debt. But even this picture has been prettified. the published results show only a part of the reality of what went on in 2001. As the notes in fine print by the auditors point out, a substantial number of companies listed on the ASE have suffered because of the depreciation of their share value, but which fact has disappeared from their balance sheets. This was achieved through a special clause included in the new legislation concerning entrepreneurship which is currently being discussed in Parliament. This clause, which is retroactive, allows the balancing out of reserves against non-operating losses (which result used to weigh on the results in the past). Most businesses have rushed to make use of this adjustment, which is good for the company’s picture but it distorts the truth. And all this takes for granted the passing of the legislation. In this way, losses worth hundreds of billions of drachmas (or billions of euros), have disappeared. They have been balanced out with existing reserves or with others that will come from in future from the reduction of own capital, in other words with the reduction in the value of the companies and, therefore, of the property of shareholders. Olympiakos had an easy game against Aegaleo. Playing at Athens’s Olympic Stadium, used as its home ground, Olympiakos took the lead with Alexis Alexandris in the 24th off a pass from Predrag Djordjevic. In the 52nd, Aegaleo keeper Dimitris Kottaras stopped a shot by Brazilian striker Giovanni but lost control of the ball and Yiannacopoulos fired it in to make the score 2-0. He struck a second time in the 90th – for his ninth goal of the season – to seal Olympiakos’s victory. Panathinaikos was more aggressive in the first half when it scored both goals. Angelos Bassinas converted a penalty in the 11th to give his team the lead. Nine minutes later, a shot by Giorgos Karagounis hit Dionysis Chiotis’s left bar but the player gained the rebound to make the final 2-0. (AP)
