The Malta Stock Exchange registered a pre-tax profit of over €1.9 million for the year ending December 31, 2012, an increase of €130,000 over the surplus generated the previous year.

It was the fourth consecutive year that the MSE increased profitability. A collection of new financial instruments were listed on the MSE last year, including one equity with a market capitalisation of €15 million, five corporate bonds with a value of €79 million, and 27 Government Stock issues with a value of almost €1.4 billon. There were 95 issues of Treasury bills totalling a value of €842 million.

Trading on the Exchange’s secondary market achieved a record turnover of over €670 million, an increase of 31 per cent over the trading turnover for 2011. This was due principally to an increase in turnover registered in Government stocks. In July, the Exchange migrated to the new Xetra trading platform and joined 18 other exchanges on a platform with an extensive investor base – the strategic move helped to raise the profile of the MSE significantly.

At the end of 2012, market capitalisation stood at €8.6 billion while the MSE share index closed at a level of 3212, registering an increase of four per cent over the end of the previous year. This year, as at the end of March, the index reached a level of 3322, up by 3.5 per cent on the close of 2012.

The MSE’s financials were presented on Tuesday, the same day Parliamentary Secretary for Competitiveness and Economic Growth Edward Zammit Lewis paid a visit to the Valletta exchange.

Reiterating the Government’s support of the MSE and the financial services sector, Dr Zammit Lewis lauded the exchange’s success in increasing its business and performance in a year of challenges and in difficult circumstances.