Greek newspapers are reporting that the countries’ leading gambling group OPAP is planning to cut costs. They opted for a voluntary redundancy scheme for about three-quarters of its staff to cut costs. The news came from the trade unions serving the employees, the company declined to confirm or deny the reports. The retrenchment drive will mainly affect OPAP's retail network supporting services.
OPAP is a first major Greek privatization under its European Union/International Monetary Fund bailout. Greece sold a majority stake to Czech-Greek fund Emma Delta last year. The voluntary redundancy program will last from June 30 to July 15 for about 656 people and OPAP’s staff totals about 900 people, as reported by Reuters news agency. OPAP had revenues of Euros 3.7 billion last year and Staff costs accounted for about 1.5 % of that amount.
