The Greek stock exchange will soon become upgraded to a developed market, with greater possibility of significant inflows of capital from the United States to Europe and Greece, contingent on geopolitical developments, METLEN Chairman and CEO Evangelos Mytilineos said during the annual general meeting of shareholders held on Tuesday.

Responding to shareholders' questions, Mytilineos said the reason it was decided to list METLEN in the London stock exchange and the pursuit of including it in the FTSE-100 index is the impact of these moves will have on the market, rather than on the share price itself.

Mytilineos also announced that on Thursday Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will visit the company's facilities in Volos, where a defense hub is being established with existing and new investments. He added that he sees this visit as a clear intention of the government to truly boost the defense industry.

He further announced the following:

- METLEN's headquarters will remain in Greece. In addition, the London listing will not change taxation on shareholders.

- The listing of METKA, Metlen's subsidiary devoted to infrastructure construction, in the Greek stock exchange is under consideration.

- The investment for the production of gallium in Aghios Nikolaos, Viotia (central Greece) is proceeding according to the timetable.

- There is no plan to increase the shareholder capital, as the company's liquidity is adequate.

However, if a large buyout occurs, "then we shall discuss the issue with the shareholders," Mytilineos said, adding there is no intention to split the share.

Referring to current energy developments, the businessman said that negative or neutral prices seen every spring and fall because of a great RES production and low demand are becoming one of the greatest problems in the energy market. He added that METLEN, as a great consumer of energy (due to the aluminum factory) is taking advantage of neutral prices, while he predicted that in coming years, batteries will show a growth spurt resembling that of photovoltaics in the recent past. 

Commenting on the prospect of Greece importing nuclear energy, he called it 'a joke', both due to seismic activity and to the reactions something like that would bring.

Approved at the meeting was the distribution of a 1.5-euro dividend per share, which will begin to be disbursed as of July 2.