Go and Fimbank, which both have links to Greece, have played down the impact of a ‘No’ result in today’s bailout referendum.
Go is a shareholder in Greek telecommunications company Forthnet, but a spokesman for Go said the investment made has already been largely written off.
“An amount of €6.6 million, classified as a non-current asset held for sale, now remains on Go’s books,’’ the spokesman said.
The instability in Greece may be behind the delay in the acquisition of Forthnet shareholding by its rivals Vodafone and Wind. A decision should have been concluded by last June but was recently extended till the end of the year. Clearly, it is also having an impact on its revenues: ‘‘It would be premature to quantify the direct impact upon Forthnet of the measures recently introduced by the Greek government. Like any other entity in the market, Forthnet will probably be affected by any measures that put further pressure on the level of disposable incomes.’’
Fimbank opened an office in Athens last October to service the Greek market, providing trade finance and banking solutions, targeting corporate clients, particularly traders, importers and exporters.
Capital controls were inevitable
The spokeswoman for Fimbank also confirmed that the bank was closely following the situation, which took a dramatic turn last week when the Greek government introduced emergency measures like capital controls and bank closures.
“The situation has been evolving for some time, so the capital controls recently introduced were probably inevitable,” she said.
“We do not expect any immediate impact on our Athens branch as their business is well structured, much of which involves financing trade receivables where the repayment source is outside Greece, that is, export receivables,” she explained.
“We are currently reviewing the strategy for our Greek branch to ensure that we can continue to service our client’s needs during this difficult period, while at the same time ensuring that adequate risk mitigants are in place to protect our business interests.”