Praise for local business resilience in tough times

The utility tariffs are going to have a drastic effect on businesses, with one particular firm predicting an increase of 65 per cent in its cost base, the HSBC Malta head of commercial banking said yesterday.

Richard Cottell said Malta was at the beginning of the recession rather than at the end, with the first three months this year promising to be "tough".

A lot depended on business confidence but the new tariffs were not helping it to pick up, he said.

Mr Cottell was addressing entrepreneurs at a business breakfast organised by HSBC and auditing firm Ernst & Young, titled Working Through Difficult Times.

A survey in December by Eurochambres found Maltese business sentiment in 2010 had turned positive even if companies were "more sober" and less euphoric than in previous years.

Mr Cottell said that in the past six months, the bank had rescheduled €160 million worth of debts, helping clients manage their limited cash flow better in difficult times.

"We want to be there to help our clients. What we don't like are surprises," he said.

Mr Cottell said he was "amazed" by the resilience of Maltese businesses. "When you close one door they find ways of opening another.

"These are truly difficult times but don't give up. Try and foresee problems and talk to us so we can come up with a solution together. Maltese business will be better off after the recession because the recession makes you look at costs that would otherwise go unnoticed," he said.

The keynote speaker at yesterday's event was Terry Carter, Ernst & Young's specialist in company restructuring, who spoke about the importance of being critical about one's own firm to improve on what was going wrong.

He said the lack of cash was because of a decrease in business confidence and the resultant drop in sales.

"Communication is imperative, both within your company as well as on the outside. Speak to your employees because it is amazing how many bright ideas you can get from them," he said.