The equity of Medserv advanced by 4.2 per cent during this morning’s session to regain its all-time high of €1.72 (first reached on April 9, 2010) across two deals totalling 24,950 shares.
Yesterday evening Medserv published its 2014 financial statements showing pre-tax profits of €3 million which exceeded the forecasts of €2.2 million. The directors recommended the payment of a net final dividend of 5c6 per share (2013: 2c4 per share) to all shareholders as at the close of trading on May 26.
Similarly, Plaza Centres’s equity gained a further 1.1 per cent to reach a new all-time high of 93c across two deals totalling 50,000 shares. The shopping mall owner and operator recently published record results as occupancy levels approached 100 per cent by the end of the fourth quarter as the company managed to re-lease the office space vacated by a large client in 2013.
The equity will trade with the entitlement to the final net dividend of 2c68 per share until April 23.
FIMBank also performed positively with the equity rebounding by 6.8 per cent to 47cUS across six deals totalling 20,723 shares.
The only other gainer today was 6pm Holdings with a 7.7 per cent jump to recapture the 70p level possibly in reaction to a recent announcement revealing the company’s plans to acquire all the share capital of a UK private company that specialises in the provision of information systems and software for the health care sector. A total of 20,000 shares changed hands today as the market awaits the confirmation when the 2014 full-year results will be published.
On the other hand, the share price of Bank of Valletta closed in negative territory for the third consecutive session as the equity touched an intra-day low of €2.39 before only partially recovering to end the session at the €2.40 level. This still represents a 1.2 per cent drop from the previous closing price across 19 trades totalling almost 47,100 shares.
The equity of RS2 Software also trended lower with a 0.7 per cent retreat back to the €2.94 level across four deals totalling just over 24,000 shares.
Similarly, the share price of Malita Investments eased 1.5 per cent lower back to the 91c5 level on volumes of 50,000 shares.
Meanwhile, HSBC closed unchanged at the €2.05 level after it managed to recover from an intra-day low of €2.01,2 across 11 deals totalling just over 25,000 shares.
The share price of Malta International Airport held on to its all-time high of €3.50 after rebounding from an intra-day low of €3.45,1 across six trades totalling 14,650 shares.
GO’s equity also ended this morning’s session unchanged at the €2.88 level after failing to hold on to an intra-day high of €2.90 on high volumes of 66,032 shares.
Likewise, Middlesea Insurance maintained the €1.16 level and Midi traded again at 28c. MaltaPost also closed this morning’s session unchanged at the €1.41 level on shallow volumes of 2,031 shares.
On the bond market, the Rizzo Farrugia MGS Index edged 0.1 per cent higher to yet another all-time high of 1,147.615 points largely reflecting the jump in the indicative bid price of the newly listed three per cent MGS 2040 (I) quoted by the Central Bank of 106.11 per cent.
The new stock, which was issued at par in the last week of February, commenced trading today with the price immediately surging to a close of 116 per cent amid high volumes of €1.28 million nominal across a total of 99 deals.
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