Disclosure of Regulated Information
Piraeus, 20 December 2016
Piraeus Port Authority S.A. (hereinafter “PPA”) discloses that on 30 November 2016 an amount of euro 6,285,940.08 was transferred from PPA’s account at NBG Bank to the account of the Municipality of Piraeus, further to a seizure of the amount dated 4 July 2016 for cleaning, lighting and electrification charges imposed on PPA by the above Municipality. The above transfer is not compatible with PPA’s normal course of business and accounts for around 10% of PPA’s bank balance and 80% of its net profits on historically average level basis. Therefore, PPA’s external auditors have been invited by the company to appraise its influence on PPA’s financial status.
The above seizure had been imposed without court judgement and despite the provisions of article 13 of law 4337/2015, which in combination with law 4404/2016 prohibit the imposition to PPA of charges similar to the above. On the contrary, according to these provisions, there is an obligation of the Municipality of Piraeus and of those municipalities neighbouring the Port of Piraeus, to adopt administrative acts in order to delete all such charges previously imposed on PPA (except for those that have been judged legal by final court judgements), obligation which has not been observed until today.
The seizure of the amount had been disclosed by PPA in paragraph 33.2 (Subsequent Events) of PPA’s interim financial statements for the period ending 30 June 2016.
PPA has strong arguments in the above dispute and has already initiated all necessary legal proceedings for the recovery of the amount. Specifically, on December 12, 2016 the first court hearing on the legality of the seizure was held at the Athens Administrative Court, and the judgement is estimated to be issued within the first months of 2017.
PPA wishes to assure its shareholders that any related development will be disclosed on time. At the same time, PPA calls on all stakeholders to work together constructively, bringing contributions to the common goal of development and prosperity in the Port of Piraeus.
