As Mr. Aristidis Pappas, CEO of the company says in a related announcement "over the last decade, with firm confidence in the country, we have made significant investments in Corinth by building a Center of Excellence in Greece, investing with pride in the future of our customers, our employees , and the country as a whole. In the last five years alone, we have invested over 60 million euros in our facilities in Corinth, making the Greek factory the largest in Europe, and achieving excellent results for our customers and the national economy. Our disqualification from our country's competition at the pre-qualification stage is a source of great disappointment to us and is, in our view, unjustified. As a result, it has sparked a series of internal debates, putting our operations in Corinth at risk and stalling further investment in already planned expansion plans for electricity and natural gas meter production, as well as the addition of a state-of-the-art electric vehicle charger manufacturing facility, a business sector with huge growth prospects".
"As the only supplier with a Greek production facility, we are particularly disappointed by the news of the rejection of our appeal," said Werner Lieberherr, CEO of Landis+Gyr Group AG. “In our tender application, we clearly stated that we will produce the smart meters in Corinth, Greece, and therefore recent claims and comments in some media are misleading and inaccurate. Therefore, we will pursue all legal options available to us. We owe it to our employees and the region of Corinth, as a major employer, to defend our position and the future of our Greek operations and we will be particularly proud to support DEDDIE and Greece in their continued efforts to enhance energy efficiency and reducing the CO2 footprint through smart meter technology made in Greece for Greece".
Landis+Gyr will continue to pursue all legal options available to it.
