Greca Eyes Egyptian Investors with €85mln portfolio & expansion plans
The company has already begun collaborating with agencies and offices specializing in Egyptian outbound travel, aiming to showcase its projects to prospective buyers. According to CEO and founder Ahmed Abbassi, 80% of the company's sales to date have come from Egyptian clients—thanks in part to the Egyptian background of Greca's board, which boasts strong local market ties. The remaining clients are largely from Turkey or are Egyptian nationals residing in the UAE.
Abbassi emphasized that Greca is not targeting the traditional real estate buyer in Egypt. Rather, the company is appealing to individuals seeking ease of movement and access across Europe. Greca's business model is designed to attract Egyptian investors aiming to unlock EU residency through the Greek property market.
Looking ahead, the company plans to expand its presence in Egypt to attract a broader client base, especially those looking for permanent residency in Europe through Greek investment opportunities.
Abbassi explained that under Greece's current legal framework, foreign buyers can qualify for permanent residency by investing €800,000 in new residential projects. However, if the purchased property involves a change of use—from commercial or administrative to residential—the minimum threshold drops significantly to €250,000. These legal changes, recently introduced by the Greek government, are aimed at easing pressure on new housing supply and curbing the surge in real estate prices.
Greca specializes in acquiring strategically located buildings, redeveloping them, and offering them to clients seeking European residency. The company currently owns 15 buildings in Greece, with total investments of around €50 million covering both acquisition and redevelopment costs.
The firm also announced its intention to open a Cairo office by Q4 of next year, aiming to streamline project marketing and enable direct client engagement, rather than relying solely on virtual meetings as it does now.
Abbassi revealed Greca's plan to release 150 new residential units in Athens to the market this period.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Zawya
6 minutes ago
- Zawya
Chestertons MENA reveals Dubai's top 6 residential hotspots
Backed by market intelligence and investor trends, the renowned global property consultancy has pinpointed the top six communities redefining Dubai's residential market, each offering strong capital growth potential and attractive rental yields Dubai, UAE: Founded in 1805, Chestertons is one of the world's most established and trusted real estate advisory firms with a strong presence in the UAE since 2008. Empowering both end-users and investors to make informed property decisions, the respected consultancy has shared key insights on the top six emerging residential communities in Dubai: Jumeirah Village Circle (JVC), DAMAC Island, Downtown Dubai, Dubai Marina, Meydan City, and Dubai South. The findings show that while central areas remain in demand, suburban master-planned communities are delivering strong rental yields and attracting growing interest from both local and international investors. Data Snapshot Among the top six residential communities, JVC, DAMAC Island, Downtown Dubai, Meydan City, Dubai Marina, and Dubai South have all recorded rising transaction volumes, boosted by a combination of well-priced inventory, improving infrastructure, and increasing rental yields. As the most affordable of the six, DAMAC Islands averages at AED 823 per sq. ft., with a yield of 7.38%, largely driven by attractive off-plan pricing and high-return early investment opportunities. Dubai South follows at AED 1,035 per sq. ft. and a rental yield of 6.77% while JVC prices average at AED 1,238 per sq. ft., with strong rental yields around 7.39%, making it particularly popular among younger tenants and first-time buyers. Meanwhile, Dubai Marina offers a more central location at AED 1,757 per sq. ft. and returns close to 6.24%. Downtown Dubai commands the highest average price at AED 2,504 per sq. ft., delivering a solid 6% return in a sought-after, high-profile location. In contrast, Meydan City presents a compelling option for value-seekers, averaging AED 1,915 per sq. ft. and yields of 7.14%, supported by ongoing infrastructure upgrades and spacious layouts. Positioned for Growth Behind the rise of these communities is a larger shift in Dubai's urban planning, with limited central land giving way to the development of more suburban master-planned zones. Developers like Emaar and Binghatti continue to launch high-appeal projects, while government entities such as the RTA and Dubai Land Department work together to ensure long-term viability. Additionally, recent updates across the property market have helped increase access for different buyer profiles. Notably, first-time buyers are benefiting from initiatives like reduced down payment requirements and easier mortgage approvals through developer-bank partnerships. Mania Merrikhi, Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of Chestertons MENA, shared, 'At Chestertons, we've seen Dubai evolve into a powerhouse for real estate investment, and initiatives like the D33 agenda are set to drive even greater economic and urban growth over the next decade. At the same time, attention is shifting towards other emirates, particularly Abu Dhabi, where high-profile developments and infrastructure projects are opening up exciting new opportunities for investors.' Mohamed Mussa, Executive Director of Chestertons MENA, added, 'Government support continues to play a vital role in shaping the UAE's real estate market, with various entities rolling out buyer-friendly regulations and initiatives that make it easier for first-time buyers to enter the market. Notably, these developments are attracting a new wave of international and family-oriented investors. Looking forward, we anticipate particularly strong demand for full-service, master-planned communities that deliver on lifestyle, convenience, and value.' As Dubai's residential market continues to evolve, the spotlight is shifting towards communities that combine value, lifestyle, and long-term potential. With deep market insight and a legacy of trust, Chestertons MENA remains a reliable partner for those looking to navigate this shifting landscape with clarity and confidence. About Chestertons With a legacy spanning over 220 years, Chestertons is one of the world's most established and respected real estate advisory firms. Founded in London in 1805 by Charles Chesterton, the company has built a reputation for trust, integrity, and expertise, offering tailored advice to clients across the globe. As a founding member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), Chestertons combines its rich heritage with a forward-thinking approach, providing a full suite of services including residential and commercial brokerage, valuation and advisory, building consultancy, property management, and market research. In the UAE, Chestertons has been active since 2008, with its regional headquarters now based in Marina Plaza, Dubai Marina. The firm is home to a dynamic team of over 90 experts who bring together international experience and local insight to support developers, investors, landlords, and occupiers. With a history of success built over generations, Chestertons delivers intelligent, personalised solutions that generate long-term value.
The National
6 minutes ago
- The National
Data centre storage games: Winning the AI race
The UAE is known for meeting ambitious development goals, and this certainly applies to the country's digital transformation and its goal of becoming an AI leader. The region, which appointed the world's first minister of AI in 2017 and established the world's first university dedicated to AI research in 2019, has attracted international interest, with initiatives such as the UAE-US AI Campus or the MGX Fund to mobilise up to $100 billion investment in AI infrastructure. When building these AI ecosystems, the focus is on generative AI models (GenAI), graphics processing units (GPUs), central processing units (CPUs), fast data storage, and highly skilled workers. However, fundamental IT infrastructures such as hard disk drive-based storage are often undervalued, even though they store huge unstructured data sets cost-effectively. To tap into the full potential of AI and keep the region at the forefront of technological advancements, regional CIOs and IT decision-makers need to look beyond processing power and rethink their storage approach to AI data workflows. The importance of HDDs for AI AI revolves around unstructured data — from ingestion and data preparation (including vectorisation, labelling) to training, interference, content generation and monitoring – and every step needs and creates more data. Given the global AI boom, the amount of information is exploding. According to IDC, the annual volume of data generated is expected to more than double to 527.5 zettabytes in 2029. To illustrate: if this data were to be stored on an HDD with 32 terabytes, 16.48 billion drives would be required. Stacked, they would build a 438.5km tall tower, stretching nearly eleven times around the Earth. To store this unimaginable amount, there is one technology that performs this task cost-effectively and energy efficiently while remaining powerful at scale. Maintaining a share of 80 per cent in the cloud by 2028, according to IDC, high-capacity HDDs with up to 32TB are becoming indispensable in AI data centres just like GPUs and CPUs. To fully enable effective storage systems for these data-hungry pipelines, IT decision makers and CIOs should consider: Highly Dense Architectures HDDs with innovations such as energy-assisted magnetic recording (EAMR), shingled magnetic recording (SMR), and helium-sealing are fuelling capacity increases without expanding the physical footprint of data centres. This saves on server racks or storage enclosures and can decrease cooling and power consumption costs. In fact, HDDs are approximately six times more cost-efficient than flash solutions. Moving from 26TB to 32TB drives to deploy one exabyte of storage, for example, can lead to 18.7 per cent fewer racks, 18.8 per cent fewer drives, and 18.8 per cent lower total power consumption, including a boost in cooling and power usage effectiveness. While results vary depending on workload requirements and setup, such efficiencies can reduce the total cost of ownership, helping IT teams meet performance demands without building more or bigger facilities and increasing costs. Energy efficiency and sustainability With AI systems scaling up, so does the environmental cost of working with unstructured data. Modern technologies consume enormous amounts of energy when processing and storing the constantly growing information volumes. According to current estimates, the electricity demand of data centres worldwide will more than double to around 945 terawatt hours (TWh) by 2030 – roughly equivalent to the total electricity consumption of the UAE between 2017 and 2023 (952 TWh). While this may sound bleak, it can be an opportunity to lead the way in sustainability and help meet regional net-zero targets. Again, HDDs can play a pivotal role in this transformation. To help reduce power consumption and emissions, IT decision makers must improve hardware efficiency. As high-capacity HDDs are the foundation of today's cloud environments, any effort to consolidate more capacity in the same 3.5in footprint can go a long way. Over the past years, HDD manufacturers have constantly innovated the technology to enable even lower energy use per TB (kW/TB). Drives from Western Digital with up to 32TB, for example, leverage the latest generation of HelioSeal technology. This innovation helps to reduce the total power consumption (including energy and cooling costs) of these HDDs by up to 28 per cent compared to standard air-filled drives. Ultimately, this can contribute to greater sustainability in the data centre and extend the hardware lifespan. Disaggregated storage In addition to HDD-based storage, disaggregated storage based on Non-Volatile Memory Express over Fabric (NVMe-oFTM ) is a transformative approach to modern data centres. The concept is no longer confined to hyperscalers; it's rapidly gaining traction to help support AI and accelerate workloads. Disaggregated infrastructures enable right-sized, independent scaling of compute, storage, and networking, eliminating the need for costly overprovisioning. Unlike traditional storage architectures that require adding entire servers when only one element needs expansion, disaggregated storage separates the GPU, CPU, and storage servers to better meet the different power, cooling, and space requirements. This gives customers better flexibility, unlocks further efficiencies, and lowers the overall TCO compared to tightly coupled HCI environments. The future of the UAE IT infrastructure is about building and using resources smartly. CIOs who embrace innovative HDD storage solutions and disaggregated storage architectures today will be best positioned to scale effectively without waste, unlocking the full potential of their AI investments for the future.
Zawya
6 minutes ago
- Zawya
Spinneys continues positive momentum with first-half revenue of AED 1.8bln
H1 2025 revenue increased 13.7% to AED 1.8 billion, driven by like-for-like sales growth, new store openings, increase in Online sales and higher penetration of Fresh and Private Label sales Adjusted EBITDA of AED 365 million, up 20.0%, at an industry-leading margin of 20.1% Profit before tax grew 24.4% to AED 202 million, with profit for the period up 16.2% to AED 170 million 9 new stores opened across the UAE and Saudi Arabia over the last 12 months, with 10-12 new stores planned for the UAE and Saudi Arabia through 2025, strengthening Spinneys' presence in core markets Board approves interim dividend of AED c.120 million, or 3.32 fils per share for H1 2025 Dubai, UAE: Spinneys ('Spinneys' or the 'Company'), the region's leading premium fresh food retailer, has announced its financial results for the three-month and six-month period ended 30 June 2025. First-half revenues reached AED 1.8 billion, increasing 13.7% vs. H1 2024, driven by six new store openings during the first half, increased Fresh and Private Label sales, strong like-for-like growth, and higher Online penetration. Profit before tax grew by 24.4% to AED 202 million, with profit for the period increasing by a strong 16.2% to AED 170 million, after absorbing the impact of 6% additional tax on applicability of Pillar Two Rules which provides for a minimum tax of 15%, thus, reflecting Spinneys' industry-leading efficiency and margin profile. Sunil Kumar, Chief Executive Officer at Spinneys, commented: ' Our strong performance in the first half of 2025 reflects the strength of the Spinneys brand and our continued focus on delivering fresh, high-quality food experiences to our customers across the region. Strong like-for-like growth, the success of our Fresh and Private Label ranges, and the acceleration of our online and store expansion strategy have all contributed to robust top- and bottom-line results. We were especially encouraged by the successful launch of Discovery by Spinneys, our new premium private label range, which has already resonated strongly with customers. This marks the beginning of a broader journey to bring exclusive, high-quality products to our customers.' 'What truly sets Spinneys apart is the strong culture we've built — one rooted in ownership, service, and teamwork. Our people are the heartbeat of our business, and their commitment to excellence continues to drive our growth and resilience. As we look ahead, we remain focused on deepening our presence in core markets, continuing our expansion in Saudi Arabia, enhancing operational efficiencies, and creating long-term value for our stakeholders.' Financial Highlights AED (m) Q2 2025 Q2 2024 YoY Growth (%) H1 2025 H1 2024 YoY Growth (%) Revenue 910 783 16.2% 1,816 1,598 13.7% Gross Profit 378 323 16.9% 753 659 14.2% Adj. EBITDA 183 153 19.3% 365 304 20.0% Profit Before Tax 100 80 25.7% 202 163 24.4% Profit 85 72 18.5% 170 146 16.2% Record Top-Line Growth with Best-in-Class Profitability Revenue: Increased by 13.7% year-on-year, reaching AED 1.8 billion in the first six months of 2025. Top-line growth was driven by like-for-like sales growth of 12.1% and the opening of nine new stores across the UAE and Saudi Arabia since July 2024, and particularly strong performance in Fresh (64.3%) and Private Label sales (44.7%), with penetration growing by 0.5% and 1.9%, respectively. Online sales penetration grew to 16.2% during the year, as compared to 13.6% in H1 2024. Profitability: Gross profit increased by 14.2% year-on-year to AED 753 million in the six months ended 30 June 2025, with a stable gross profit margin of 41.5% compared to 41.3% in 2024, achieved through efficient sourcing and supply chain management and Spinneys' highly successful Private Label strategy, which emphasizes high-margin products. Adjusted EBITDA totaled AED 365 million in the first half of 2025, up 20.0% year-on-year, with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 20.1%, compared to 19.0% in 2024. Profit before tax grew by 24.4% to AED 202 million in the first half of 2025 at an 11.1% profit before tax margin (up from 10.2% in H1 2024), while profit for the period increased by 16.2% to AED 170 million at a 9.4% profit margin (up from 9.2% in H1 2024). Transaction growth: Transaction volume grew by 12.2% year-on-year to 20.6 million in the first half of 2025, reflecting growing customer demand on the back of supportive macroeconomic dynamics, while the average basket size remained flat at AED 88. Continued Strategic Execution Store network expansion: Spinneys continued to successfully execute its growth strategy through the expansion of its store footprint. From 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025 the Company opened 8 new stores in the UAE and one in Saudi Arabia, resulting in a significant increase in gross selling area. In post period events, Spinneys opened two further stores in the UAE namely, Spinneys Mina Port and The Kitchen by Spinneys Wafi Mall. Aligned with global retail shifts: Spinneys continues to embed key consumer and operational trends into its growth strategy — including preventative wellness, in-store innovation, and employee empowerment. These themes were reinforced during the recent Consumer Goods Forum in Amsterdam, where CEO Sunil Kumar shared insights on the evolving Middle Eastern retail landscape, further positioning Spinneys as a regional thought leader. New Premium Private Label: Spinneys recently launched Discovery by Spinneys, a new premium private label range aimed at elevating perceptions of private label quality. The line offers curated, globally sourced products, starting with an exclusive Scottish strawberry variety that broke category sales records and earned praise for its standout flavour. The launch reflects strong demand for differentiated offerings, with further category expansions planned through 2025. Business Outlook Management reaffirms its previously communicated guidance for full-year 2025 and maintains a positive outlook for 2025, expecting to open 10-12 new stores across the UAE and Saudi Arabia for the full year. Annual revenue growth is expected to be between 9-11%, driven by new store openings coupled with like-for-like sales growth of 4-6%. The Company expects to maintain its industry-leading adjusted EBITDA margin of 19-20%. About Spinneys Spinneys' story started in 1961 when the first grocery opened in Al Nasr Square, Dubai. It has since grown to become the leading premium fresh food retailer in the region, with 83 stores (71 owned and 12 operated, including Waitrose) across the UAE, Oman and Saudi Arabia. Much loved by expats and locals in the region, Spinneys enjoys a well-deserved reputation for forward thinking, keeping pace with changes in cooking trends and the emergence of new products worldwide. Today, Spinneys has built a name for supplying top-quality produce and offering an elevated level of customer service. Food quality, safety and freshness have always been at the forefront of the Company's ethos – just one reason the Spinneys brand is defined as 'The fresher experience'.
