HSBC announces special dividend

In a company announcement on Friday, the board of directors of HSBC Bank Malta plc approved the interim accounts for the six months ended June 30, 2004. These show an operating income of Lm29,832,000 (June 2003: Lm26,583,000), profit attributable to shareholders of Lm13,211,000 (Lm8,454,000), and earnings per share of 36c2 (23c2).

The board also approved a payment of a gross dividend of 19c4 together with a special dividend of 35c4 per share marking the fifth anniversary of HSBC Bank Malta, giving a total gross interim dividend of 54c8 per share.

Trading in HSBC shares opened at Lm6.57 on Monday and closed at Lm7.063 on Friday after rising by a staggering 49c3 (7.5%) during the week, mainly being brought about as a result of this company announcement.

Fifty deals were struck in HSBC shares last week, in which 64,879 shares changed hands. Following Friday's session best bids of 4,140 shares at Lm7.063 and best offers of 1,100 shares at Lm7.10 remained outstanding.

On Monday the board of directors of Bank of Valletta announced that they had approved the new role titles for the bank's top executives following the appointment of Tonio Depasquale as chief executive officer.

These are: Tony Camilleri as chief officer in investments, John Cassar White as chief officer in credit and finance, Joseph M. Formosa as chief officer in mortgages, and Igino Xuereb as chief officer in operations.

Meanwhile, BoV shares opened trading at Lm3.50 and after initially falling by 5c to reach Lm3.45 on Thursday it rose by 4c on the final day of trading of the week to close at Lm3.49 on Friday.

Weekly turnover amounted to 72,531 shares, changing hands over 43 deals. At the end of Friday's session, 37 shares at Lm3.30 and 5,000 shares at Lm3.489 were the best outstanding bids and offers, respectively.

Maltacom shares opened the week at Lm1.36 and closed on Friday at Lm1.40, representing a 4c increase overall. In all, 45,820 shares changed hands over 35 deals.

As Friday's session drew to a close, 2,500 shares at Lm1.38 and 5,211 shares at Lm1.40 were the best unsatisfied bids and offers, respectively.

The other equities trading during the week, with the trading range in brackets, were: 4,196 Lombard Bank shares (Lm4.10); 2,545 Middlesea Insurance shares (Lm2.128); 71,566 International Hotels Investment shares (€0.765-€0.76); 14,500 Malta International Airport shares (Lm0.87-Lm0.849).

Total Malta Government Stock turnover amounted to a nominal value of Lm588,100, being traded in 59 deals over 17 different stocks. Of these, Lm396,100 took place in the recently listed 5% MGS 2021 between Lm101.15 and Lm100.89.

Trading over the week in corporate bonds was made up of a total value of Lm129,720.

The Malta Stock Exchange Index rose 78.792 points or 3.04% over the week and now stands at 2667.016.