Europe: The rise and fall of the once state-owned print distribution agency

of Matinas Harkoftaki

On July 20, the last act is expected to be played for the once state-owned press distribution agency in our country, Europe, as the company’s facilities in Peania are put up for auction.

With the strong signs of wear and tear, the property is part of a glorious past, when the company was under the umbrella of the Pegasus group and was one of the two protagonists in the distribution of newspapers and magazines nationwide.

The company, a few years ago, was at the negotiating table with would-be investors to save it, without, however, coming out of white smoke, while this is not the first time that an attempt is made to sell its assets through electronic auctions as previous attempts made in 2021 ended without finding an interested buyer.

The upward trend

The agency Europa was created in 1999 with the participation of important publishing companies and its main shareholder is Pegasus, while a year ago it was preceded by the establishment of the other distribution agency of Argos, with the then main shareholder DOL.

During the decade 2000-2010, the two agencies charted a course of development, which reflected the good performance of the sales of newspapers and magazines in our country.

It is indicative that in 2007 and 2008 the turnover of the Argos agency had reached 120 million euros and 122 million euros respectively and the turnover of the agency Europe 106 million euros and 99.74 million euros respectively.

However, the good times for the print media came to an end with the advent of the online press, which initially claimed its share of the news pie and then managed to dethrone newspapers and magazines, changing the landscape of the media. the negative conjuncture of the economic crisis must be added.

The new data

From the above changes, both distribution agencies, which were called to deal with the new data, could not remain unaffected.

From the turnover of 100 million euros, the agency Europe in 2014 saw its turnover limited to 44.268 million euros and in 2015 to 40.888 million euros, a year that also showed significant losses, which reached the amount of 2.847 million . euro.

Since then, the “downhill” for Europe begins, which was also affected by the financial problems faced by the parent company Pegasus – which was finally put into liquidation – culminating in 2017, when large publishing groups left the agency while at the same time Several members of its board of directors resigned, including the managing director, Nikos Papadopoulos.

The fruitless efforts to find an interested investor gave the gratuitous shot for the agency Europa, which in August 2017 suspended its operation and now only Argos is active in the press distribution sector.

In any case, the domestic distribution market could hardly “withstand” two players due to the decline of the print media. It is characteristic that Argos, being now the only agency, showed in 2018 a turnover of 42.531 million euros and in 2019 of 39.105 million euros.

What comes out at auction

At the auction, scheduled for July 20, the National Bank is in a hurry, while the price of the first offer has dropped to 5.8 million euros (from 7.2 million euros previously.

This is a plot of land with a total area of ​​17,491.31 sq.m., which has resulted from the informal union of 23 neighboring plots and is located in Peania and more specifically in the location of Pousi Hatzi on Ermou Street.

On this plot, based on the building permits of 2008 and 2011, an industrial building has been erected, which has an area of ​​12,754.79 sq.m. and consists of a basement of 5,299.51 sq.m., ground floor 5,627.28 sq.m., first floor 664 sq.m. and second floor 664 sq.m. while in the surrounding area there are 5 parking spaces for large vehicles and 195 parking spaces for cars.

As pointed out in the assessment report, the building is of good quality construction with a basement of conventional construction made of reinforced concrete and superstructure areas of metal construction with metal curtains.

It has industrial flooring in the storage areas and ceramic tiles in the office spaces as well as elevators for staff and goods, and communication staircases between the individual levels.

Finally, on the south and east side of the building there are loading and unloading boxes to facilitate the operation of the business.

During the external autopsy, stagnant water was found at the low level of the access ramp in the basement and part of the basement level and it was also found that all the mechanical equipment and electromechanical installations, which are part of the building installations, have been removed. there is widespread damage and vandalism as a result of abandonment.