Shares in Elmec, the Greek sports distribution and retail company, stopped trading on the Athens Stock Exchange at the end of last year and they are to be suspended. This comes after the approval of the company's full absorption by Hellenic Duty Free Shops (HDFS). Folli Follie, the jeweler that formerly controlled HDFS, will become part of the same merged entity, which will trade under the commercial name of Folli Follie Group.
Elmec's business consists of department stores, franchised stores and the distribution of sports brands in Greece, Cyprus, Romania, Bulgaria and Moldova. Its partners in the sports industry include Nike, Converse, Helly Hansen and Technogym. Among these interests, Elmec has distribution rights for Nike in Romania and Bulgaria until at least the end of May 2012, and a license for Converse in the same countries until December next year.
Investors will be allowed to exchange their shares in Elmec, Folli Follie and the former HDFS for shares in the new HDFS at a set swapping rate. Elmec was formerly owned by Sam and Lucy Fais, who sold their majority in Elmec in June 2007 to Homeric Department Stores. In a second transaction that same year, Elmec landed in the ownership of HFDS, with less than 5 percent of Elmec's shares still traded on the stock exchange.
It remains to be seen how the full merger of Elmec, Folli Follie and HFDS might affect Elmec. The company has already withdrawn a business plan that it had published in September 2009, due to the impending merger as well as the tough market situation in the countries where it operates. For the first nine months of 2010, Elmec managed to slightly lift its consolidated sales to €195.6 million, up by 0.1 percent, but its Ebitda dropped by 29 percent to €11.4 million as it had to carry out heavy discounting.
