In South East European countries, partly due to a relatively lower gross domestic product and the scarcity of infrastructure and outdated communications networks, growth in the ICT sector has been slower than in the EU as a whole. Nonetheless, the gradual transformation to the networked economy offers opportunities.

Major investment is expected in the ICT sector in these countries in line with EU policy of supporting the newer and less developed member states. For example, the agreement reached by the European Council on the EU’s financial framework for 2007-2013 has resulted in €157 billion over the seven years being allocated to the ten new member states. Source: European Commission policy website 2006

The Globo Group aims to expand in both the domestic and the international markets, particularly the neighbouringcountries of Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and Cyprus with a focus on the SME sector. The SME market in these countries is expected to increase in the future as new EU members are encouraged to support the formation of SMEs.

Within the Globo Group’s prime markets (namely application software, fixed voice telephony and fixed data services), ICT (Information Communication Technology) expenditure as a whole is expected to amount to approximately €8.7 billion in 2007. This is only a segment of the total ICT market; i.e. solely the budgeted spending in application software, fixed voice telephony and fixed data services only. Source: Greece, Bulgaria, Romania: EITO 2006; Turkey & Cyprus: World Bank 2006

The domestic opportunity

The Greek economy has been growing rapidly since 2000 and has one of the higher rates of growth in the EU. As a result of this rapid growth, there has been significant investment in the ICT sector.

The Directors believe that Globo is one of the leading companies in certain areas of the ICT industry in Greece. According to the 2007 ICAP report, Globo was ranked in 9th place in terms of net profits as well as 26th place in terms of revenue out of the 519 companies which comprises the telecoms sector in Greece.

The Directors believe that Globo is one of the top five companies in the more specific e-business technology sector in Greece and has a broad portfolio of products and services in the Greek market that contributes to the competitiveness of the Globo Group in various tenders, both in the public and private sectors.

Additionally Profitel, despite its small size, has a niche position in the Greek market in terms of service portfolio as well as customer targeting. Profitel exclusively targets business customers and is believed by the Directors to be the only company in Greece to bundle typical telecom services (telephony, internet etc) together with value added services based on e-business applications (content management systems, e-marketing, intranets etc). The Directors believe that the Globo Group offers a full package of services and products that can help corporate and governmental organisations to grow and optimise their processes whilst at the same time keeping costs at a very competitive level.