'Excellent year' for stock exchange

Last year was an excellent time for the Malta Stock Exchange with its index value rising more than 60 per cent, MSE chairman Joseph Zammit Tabona said yesterday.

The 14 equities listed on the exchange closed the year with a total market capitalisation of just over Lm1.5 billion.

This "impressive" result, Mr Zammit Tabona added, which included the strong contribution of HSBC, showed the potential of the MSE as a place to do business both for companies wishing to raise finance and for investors looking for income and capital growth.

Mr Zammit Tabona was speaking when a delegation of HSBC's top management team in Malta, headed by chief executive officer Shaun Wallis, visited the exchange building in Valletta.

The value of HSBC Bank Malta's shares listed on the exchange has now surpassed the US$1.5 billion mark maintaining the bank's position as the largest company and bank on the island by market capitalisation listed.

On December 31 last year, the bank's share price stood at Lm8, representing a total market capitalisation of Lm583,680,000 (approx. US$1.64 billion), also making HSBC Bank Malta plc the first local company listed on the MSE to surpass the half a billion Maltese liri market capitalisation landmark.

HSBC, which is also the largest stockbroker in Malta by turnover, used the meeting to discuss with the exchange a wide range of issues and particularly the strong need to foster growth in the local equity market.

The two institutions also discussed a number of projects aimed at reaching this objective including the organisation of a number of workshops for those companies that may have an interest in listing as well as educational seminars for the investing public.

On the foreign scene, HSBC also offered to use its international presence to work with the MSE to reach small companies in Europe interested in raising funds on the market.

"The increasing value of HSBC on the MSE is not just great news for our shareholders. It is also an eloquent statement of confidence by investors in HSBC's ability to deliver strong results year after year," Mr Wallis said.

"As the local financial services sector continues to develop and projects such as the review of the local pension system start coming onstream, it will be very important that we all support and sustain the continued development of the stock exchange market in Malta."