In response to your letter dated January 30th 2006 regarding comments in an article of the newspaper Metohos (27/01/2006), in which the GERMANOS Group is alleged to expand in Turkey, we inform you of the following: In the context of its strategy, our Company continuously explores new markets, which meet the conditions that define whether its further geographical expansion is possible. The exploration of the Turkish market, for which the company's management has fully informed the institutional community a while ago through its formal presentations, is included in the aforementioned framework. As such and given that nothing has been altered as regards to our initial intentions, we consider that as we go forward with the evaluation procedures for this specific market (as for the other markets we are also looking into this period), our company will provide a relevant announcement and at the same time will release the necessary financial information.