BoV continues up after bonus issue

Bank of Valletta was the centre of attraction on the Malta Stock Exchange last week in view of the listing of 55,416,441 bonus shares. Trading in BoV shares opened at Lm7.451 on Monday, peaked at Lm7.47 the same day, before edging down to close at Lm7.40 on Wednesday.

All shareholders on the register at the close of business on Wednesday's session were allocated a one-for-one bonus share. These bonus shares were available for trading as from Thursday. Trading opened at Lm3.76 on Thursday and closed at Lm3.993 on Friday, representing an increase of 23c3 on Thursday's opening price.

Total turnover for the week amounted to 543,144 shares, bringing the total value transacted in BoV shares to Lm3,551,083. Of these shares, 318,725 were transacted in the put-through market in two deals for a total value of Lm2,362,816.

Best bids for 2,250 shares at Lm3.95 and best offers of 1,317 shares at Lm3.993 were the best outstanding positions after Friday's session.

HSBC Bank Malta shares continued their positive performance after trading opened at Lm8.026 on Monday and went up to close at Lm8.33 on Friday, equal to a 32c5 gain on the previous week's closing position of Lm8.005.

During the week, HSBC's price ranged between Lm8.01 and Lm8.35, the latter being the highest price ever recorded by the bank. A total of 74,241 shares changed hands last week, spread over 82 deals.

Following the close of business on Friday, best unsatisfied bids for 35 shares at Lm8.33 stood against best unsatisfied offers of 3,385 shares at Lm8.35.

Maltacom shares opened at Lm1.902 on Monday, went down to Lm1.885 during the week before edging up to close at Lm1.92. A total of 92,626 shares changed hands during the week, spread over 99 deals.

As Friday's session drew to a close, best unsatisfied bids for 1,000 shares at Lm1.90 stood against best unsatisfied offers of 760 shares at Lm1.92.

On Wednesday, Maltacom announ-ced that the VAT Appeals Board has upheld its appeal on the charging of VAT on international incoming interconnection traffic. The VAT Department has appealed to the Court of Appeal from this decision.

On Tuesday, Datatrak Holdings plc announced that Datatrak IT Services Ltd, a company within the Datatrak Group, has sold its entire shareholding in Datatrak Multimedia Limited.

On Wednesday, the board of directors of Suncrest Hotels plc published the financial statements for the year ended October 31, 2005. These show turnover of Lm2,652,000 (October, 2004: Lm2.6 million), loss on ordinary activities after taxation of Lm132,000 (profit after tax of Lm75,000) and loss per share of 1c3 (+0c8).

The other equities which traded last week, with the trading range in brackets, were: 2,076 Lombard Bank shares (Lm7.69-Lm8.05); 2,570 Middlesea Insurance shares (Lm4.00-Lm4.20); 24,288 Simonds Farsons Cisk shares (88c-90c); 7,041 International Hotels Investment shares (€0.80-€0.84); 39,300 Plaza Centres shares (70c-70c1); 39,317 FIMBank shares (US$2.02); 45,292 Malta International Airport shares (Lm1.50-Lm1.55); 1,500 Global Financial Services shares (Lm1.28-Lm1.30); 1,400 Datatrak shares (29c) and 825 Santumas Shareholdings plc shares (93c1).

Total Malta Government Stock turnover amounted to a nominal value of Lm255,200, traded in 47 deals over 20 different stocks. Trading over the week in corporate bonds was made up of a total value of Lm109,410.

The Malta Stock Exchange Share Index rose 182.918 points or 3.66% over the week and now stands at 5,175.73.

Azzopardi Investment Management Limited is licensed by the MFSA to provide investment services, including stockbroking. The company is involved in acting as sponsoring and corporate stockbroker for various listed companies. The directors or related parties, including the company, and their clients, are likely to have an interest in securities mentioned.