PPC sees core profit in 2017 around 700 mln

Public Power Corporation (PPC), Greece's dominant power utility, sees core profit of around 700 million euros this year, down from about 1 billion euros in 2016, its chairman said on Friday.

The drop in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) this year is driven by the spin-off of the company's power grid operator this month, Manolis Panagiotakis told a parliamentary committee.

PPC, which is 51 percent owned by the state, on Tuesday posted a first-quarter net loss of 67.5 million euros but said it expected to return to profit in coming quarters.

The utility currently has an 87 percent share of the country's retail market and aims to reduce it to below 50 percent by the end of 2019 under the terms of Greece's third international bailout.

Another bailout commitment stipulates that PPC must sell about 40 percent of its coal-fired...