Forestals Group is in the process of expanding into a Malta-based ICT services and solutions company targeting the local and international market, group chairman Tancred Tabone said during the Prime Minister's recent visit to the company's new premises.

The group has relocated its head office to extensive Mrieħel premises which incorporate a flagship multi-brand store.

While showing the Prime Minister round the premises during his recent visit, group chairman and managing director Tancred Tabone announced that the group intended to continue to invest in anticipation of the upturn.

"We are in the process of expanding into an ICT services and solutions company, which will operate from Malta for both the local and international market" he said.

"To this end, we will be engaging the top people in this field and we have already contracted to increase our office space by 50 per cent to accommodate these new recruits."

Mr Tabone said it is anticipated that the staff complement will increase from 120 to 150 by next year, adding: "It is with extreme satisfaction that we can say that over all these years we have never made any member of staff redundant".

The company has its roots in 1945, when the original holding company, SRT, was incorporated. The business was run by the sons of his late grandfather, Salvatore Tabone, from small premises in St Mark Street, Valletta. Lines of business changed from the national distribution of butane gas to IT and digital entertainment.

Apart from domestic appliances, electronics and IT, the group is involved in other lines of business, supplying top hotels and restaurants with internationally recognised brands of catering equipment and fitted carpets, as well as supplying professional and broadcast equipment to local media producers and television stations.

The new showroom comprises 1,100 square metres of retail space, as a multi-brand, supermarket concept outlet, the first and largest of its kind in Malta, covering the entire product portfolio.