Business Briefs

– The Greek government will sign the first concession contracts for regional airports to private investors in 2012, the government announced on Thursday.
– Folli Follie and Fosun International on Thursday signed a memorandum of cooperation, laying the ground for a strategic alliance between the two groups. The agreement was hailed by government officials and representative of the business world during a news conference.

– Jumbo Group -a Greek-listed toy store chain – on Thursday reported a small decline in its turnover and net profits in the nine-month period from July 2010 to March 2011, saying that a combination of an economic recession, strike mobilizations, high lending interest rates and a changing international economic and geopolitical environment did not affect consumers’ appetite for the group’s products.

– Domestic mutual funds reported an increase in their assets to 8.04 billion euros and positive returns in the first quarter of 2011, official figures showed on Thursday.

– An Hellenic Exchanges general shareholders’ meeting on Thursday approved a board plan to pay a 0.15 euros per share dividend to shareholders. The dividend is subject to a 21-pct withholding tax leaving a net dividend of 0.1185 euros per share.