BOV up 10 per cent

On Thursday the new BOV Centre was officially inaugurated. This centre is a building that is modern, energy efficient and that was purposely built to enable BOV to gain operational advantages through the added efficiencies that it can provide. It is today fully functional and hosts some 25 customer service and other support units and a complement of over 400 employees.

Meanwhile, Bank of Valletta's shares opened the week at Lm3.92 on Monday, went down to Lm3.90 the same day before edging up to close the week's trading at Lm4.30. This represented a gain of 9.694 per cent on the week, and 38c on last Friday's closing price of Lm3.92. During the week 283 deals were struck over which 213,460 shares changed hands. Best bids for 3,554 shares at Lm4.25 and best offers of 2,000 shares at Lm4.35 were the best outstanding positions after Thursday's session came to an end.

An increase of 5c5 was registered over the week in HSBC's share price, as trading in the equity opened at Lm8.99,5 on Monday and closed at Lm9.05 on Thursday. In the interim, the price of this equity reached a weekly low of Lm8.95. A total of 41,977 shares changed hands during the week, spread over 107 deals. Following the close of business on Thursday, best bids for 1,315 shares at Lm9 stood against best offers of 200 shares at Lm9.05,9.

On Monday, HSBC Bank (Malta) plc announced the proposed entering into a number of transactions with Related Parties by signing five agreements. This has been approved by the bank's audit committee after taking into consideration that these agreements respect the "arms length" principle. In another company announcement issued on Tuesday, HSBC Bank Malta plc announced that the board of directors of the company is scheduled to meet on Thursday, February 16, to consider and approve the group's and the bank's final audited accounts for the financial year ended December 31, 2005 and to consider the declaration of a final dividend. Maltacom shares traded between Lm2.12 and Lm2.20 during the week, with the former being the opening price on Monday, while the latter was the closing level on Thursday. This marked an increase of 8c during this week's trading. In total, 212,259 shares changed hands during the four sessions of this week, spread over 143 deals. Following the end of Thursday's trading session, 2,700 shares at Lm2.19 and 16,859 shares at Lm2.20 were the best outstanding bids and offers respectively.

The other equities which traded during the week, followed by the range in which trading took place, are; 2,111 Lombard Bank shares between Lm8.99,9 and Lm9.05; 7,291 Middlesea Insurance shares between Lm4.25 and Lm4.40; 1,200 Simonds Farsons Cisk shares at Lm0.85; 53,271 International Hotels Investment shares between €0.99 and €1.01,9; 7,000 Plaza Centres shares at Lm0.70; 8,500 FIMBank shares between US$2.12 and US$2.15; 45,637 Malta International Airport shares between Lm1.55,9 and Lm1.59,9 and 4,480 Global Financial Services shares between Lm1.24 and Lm1.25.

Total Malta Government Stock turnover amounted to a nominal value of Lm137,100 being traded in 26 deals over 10 different stocks. Trading over the week in corporate bonds was made up of a total value of Lm148,410.

The Malta Stock Exchange Share Index increased by 206.63 points or 3.8 per cent over the week and now stands at 5,638.625.

Azzopardi Investment Management Limited is licensed by the MFSA to provide investment services, including stockbroking. The directors or related parties, including the company, and their clients, are likely to have an interest in securities mentioned. This article is only meant to provide information and is not intended to give investment advice. The value of securities, and the currencies in which they are denominated, may go down as well as up.