13th addition to Official List

The Alpha and Omega of the trading week: on Monday, the Exchange finally celebrated a new addition, its 13th, to its Official List family with Medserv plc (MDS) listing its 10 million shares; on Friday index heavyweight Bank of Valletta plc (BOV) released its annual results at the close of trading.

In a generally positive week most equities stayed ahead or remained unchanged, even if the MSE index closed at 5,099.758, a marginal 0.62% lower. Middlesea Insurance plc (MSI) continued to recover, up 5.4% to Lm2.13, followed by GlobalCapital plc (GCL)'s 4.5% gain.

Only three equities ended the week down: Maltacom plc (MLC) was by far the week's worst player, down 4.9% to a 2006 low of Lm1.55. HSBC Bank Malta plc (HSB) closed 1.6% in the red and Lombard Bank plc (LOM)'s loss was a negligible 0.2%.

BOV started the week on a mute note, only trading in three isolated spurts, to end the day practically unchanged at Lm3.969. Tuesday saw no more than a token appearance, with 602 shares changing hands at the same price - which did not shift during Wednesday's decidedly more active session when 11,930 shares traded.

However, after a slight downturn early on Thursday, sustained buying activity took the price up to a high of Lm3.999, before closing at Lm3.99. Friday saw all but two of the day's 31 deals carried out at Lm4, a three-month high, leaving the market in good humour in anticipation of the release of the annual results - as 53,439 shares changed hands over the week.

At the close of trade best bids totalled 250 shares at Lm3.90, and supply for 14,785 shares started at Lm4.00.

At 1.21 p.m. on Friday, we received BoV's annual results. These showed pre-tax profits of Lm38.4 million for the year ending September 30, a vibrant 44.3% increase. Profits after tax increased by 44.5% from Lm18 million to Lm26 million.

Earnings per share increased by 45% from 16c1 (adjusted for the one-for-one bonus issue on January 18) to 23c3, resulting in a highly attractive Price to Earnings Ratio of 17.2. Net interest income increased by 10.2% to Lm49 million.

A very relevant figure is the sizeable 60% decrease in net impairment charges, which were down from Lm11.7 million to Lm4.6 million, reflecting acceleration of debt collection and fine tuning of the bank's loan book. In fact non-performing loans are down from 9.7% last year to 7.4% in 2006.

Customer deposits increased by Lm164.7 million (11%) to Lm1.67 billion, whereas loans and advances to customers increased by 17% to Lm149.5 million.

What's for your pocket? A final gross dividend of 11c per share (7c15 net of tax). When added to the gross interim dividend of 5c5 paid last May this totals a gross 16c5 for the full year (10c725 net of tax). Dividend payment date is December 21 to shareholders who are on the bank's register as at November 8, i.e. shares purchased by next Friday.

HSB headed south in the early part of the week: it was down from Lm2.068 to Lm2.05 on Monday, crashing to a mid-session low - and a post bonus issue intra-day one as well - of Lm2, during Tuesday's torrent of sale orders, when a supply 93,959 shares flooded the market.

It managed to close just above this level at Lm2.001 - a new post-bonus issue closing low. Only a handful of deals were struck on Wednesday, and then, only four minutes from the closing bell, the price advanced to Lm2.02.

Contrarily, within ten minutes of Thursday's opening, HSB had already climbed to Lm2.079, trading between Lm2.079 and Lm2.08, and closing at this latter price. Friday saw HSB give up most of these gains as the price back-tracked from Lm2.078 to a Lm2.045 close, 1.6% lower on the week, on a week's turnover of 145,193 shares.

At the end of trading, it was encouraging to see the best bid for 3,015 shares at Lm2.06 and the best offer for 1,150 shares stood at Lm2.07.

MLC had another lacklustre week, closing at Lm1.55 on Friday, 4 mils below the price that Tecom paid to the Maltese Government on May 17 for its 60% shareholding. It closed on Monday 3c down at Lm1.60, and maintained this level on Tuesday.

Wednesday saw MLC slip to Lm1.59 but recover to Lm1.60 in the final deal. It was more of the same on Thursday. The coup de grace came on Friday as MLC tumbled to a 2006 low of Lm1.55, under a stream of sale orders, with 94,473 shares changing hands during the week. It closed at this level, posting a 4.9% decline on the week.

At the end of the session, the best bid was for 1,500 shares at Lm1.53 and the best offers for 5,000 shares at Lm1.595.

Malta International Airport plc advanced to Lm1.38 and Lm1.385 on Tuesday, trading at this level during Wednesday's only deal for 1,400 shares. It was only active again on Friday, first at Lm1.39 and Lm1.395 but settling back to Lm1.38, for a 1c gain on the week during which 8,600 shares were traded.

At the end of the week, best bids were for 2,563 shares at Lm1.38 and offers for 4,845 shares started at Lm1.40.

In small cap stocks MSI was firmly on the mend, trading at consecutively higher prices: it advanced 3c to Lm2.06 on Monday, a further 4c to Lm2.10 on Tuesday and yet a further 3c to Lm2.13 on Wednesday.

It did not trade again for the rest of the week, locking in an enthusiastic 5.4% gain. Despite this increase, MSI is still currently trading on a Price Earnings Ratio of just 11.1.

GCL built on the previous week's gains: it was up to Lm2.25 on Monday, darting ahead to Tuesday's all-time high of Lm2.33, powered by relatively substantial buy orders for 18,650 shares. It did not trade again, to close the week up a healthy 4.5%.

International Hotel Investments plc dilly-dallied, starting the week at €0.96, down to €0.95, recovering to €0.97 by Thursday's close. It traded consistently at this price on Friday to close the week 1% higher.

The interim results for the period ended June 30 were released on Wednesday. These show that turnover for the six-month period increased by 7% from €26 million to €27.95 million.

The loss before tax, at €3.3 million, decreased by 31% in the corresponding period, and the 2 euro cent loss per share was still an improvement of 50%. Still no dividend.

Plaza Centres plc clawed its way up another mil to hit 68c during the week's only two deals for 5,000 shares each on Thursday.

FIMBank plc's first deal for the week was executed on Wednesday with 10,000 changing hands US$1.74, 4c up. However, this gain was wiped out on Friday as the price fell back to $1.701 to end the week practically flat.

LOM lost 1c, or 0.2%, to Lm4.80 on Monday - the only day it traded. Activity was restricted to 1,652 shares for a market value of Lm4,162.

The new kid on the block, MDS, started trading on Tuesday. The first set of deals consisted of three matched deals at the Initial Public Offering price of Lm1.30. All deals carried out on Wednesday and Thursday were negotiated at the same price, and Friday's two deals saw the price rise to Lm1.31 and Lm1.32, for a 1.5% increase on the issue price.

Datatrak plc was stable at 31c. Turnover was restricted to 1,000 shares for a market value of just Lm310.

Activity in both Government stocks and corporate bonds picked up last week. There were 58 deals in Malta Government stocks for a total turnover by value of Lm769,879. The most active stocks were the 7.35% MGS 2007 and the 5% MGS 2021, the value for both exceeding Lm530,000 - 69% of the total activity.

In corporate bonds, the weekly turnover by value reached Lm219,441, spread over 42 deals.

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