Companies

The rise recorded by Greek bank stocks on Wednesday was largely offset by the decline of most non-bank blue chips, leaving the benchmark of the Athens bourse virtually unchanged and the stock board split between winners and losers. However, market observers were quite encouraged by the improvement in trading volume.

The board of the Eurobank group is by September 15 expected to approve the split of its bank arm from the rest of the group. 
The bank will retain the Eurobank name, without the old Ergasias suffix. This forms part of the management's strategic plan for the streamlining of the bank's finances.

Citigroup has affirmed its neutral stance on the Greek credit sector after the publication of local banks' second-quarter financial results, thereby making no change to the target prices it had announced in its previous report in early August.

The Mayor of Timisoara, Nicolae Robu, said on Tuesday that it was inadmissible to extinguish, for several hours, the flame that burns continuously in the Cemetery of Heroes, because the payment of the gas invoice amounting to 5,600 lei [some 1,186 euro] has not yet entered the accounts of E.ON Gas.

Mytlineos on Monday announced that its subsidiary METKA EGN has signed a 10-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Coles, Australia's second largest supermarket chain.

On Sunday, China unveiled a list of its 500 largest companies for 2019, with better results and steady growth.

The new listing, based on company earnings for 2018, was jointly published by the Chinese Confederation of Enterprises and the Chinese Association of Directors of Enterprises.

New legislation to be tabled in October will free Greece's Public Power Corporation (PPC) from the obligations and restrictions that apply to state utilities so that the state-controlled electricity firm can operate as a listed company and expose itself to market competition, Energy Minister Kostis Hatzidakis told Kathimerini's Sunday edition. 

Dundee Precious Metals Inc. [DPM-TSX] said Friday, August 30 that it has received the final operating permits for its Ada Tepe gold mine in Bulgaria.

Gazprom expects the volume of gas exports to Europe to be reduced this year to the level of 2017 - up to 192 billion cubic meters, with the export price estimated to be 13% lower than in 2018. This was announced by Gazprom Export Head Mikhail Malgin.

A former Google engineer has been accused of stealing trade secrets from the company, which he then sold to Uber, the Associated Press reported.