The MSE Share Index ended this morning’s session practically unchanged at 4,156.876 points as trading activity dwindled to a six-week low with only €0.18 million worth of shares changing hands.
Two equities trended in positive territory including the shares of Bank of Valletta plc which edged 0.7% higher to recapture the €2.285 level across seven trades totalling 19,169 shares.
Similarly, the share price of Lombard Bank Malta plc rose by 1.6% to €1.90 on a single trade of 10,000 shares. Lombard’s interim results will be published on 25 August.
On the other hand, the share price of International Hotel Investments plc dropped 1.2% back to the €0.84 level across a trade of 10,000 shares. Last Friday, IHI announced that holders of an aggregate of 97.2% of the shares in Island Hotels Group Holdings plc (IHG) have submitted their acceptance form in connection with the offer made by IHI to acquire the entire issued share capital of IHG. The remaining shareholders of IHG have until 31 July to respond to the offer.
Mapfre Middlesea plc also performed negatively with a 1.8% drop back to the €1.64 level on low volumes of 5,137 shares.
Meanwhile, HSBC Bank Malta plc held on to the €1.849 level on a small deal of 300 shares.
Likewise, Plaza Centres plc maintained the €0.96 level across a single trade of 67,925 shares. This morning Plaza published its interim results revealing a record EBITDA for the first six months of the year of over €1 million as average occupancy remained at the 93% level and revenue increased by 6.7% to €1.23 million on the back of the new lease agreements signed during the period under review.
Overall, Plaza registered a 9.1% increase in net profit to €0.49 million and the company expects this performance to continue for the remaining six months of 2015.
The only other active equity was Malta International Airport plc which ended this morning’s session unchanged at its all-time high of €3.599 across 10,650 shares. The airport operator is shortly expected to issue its June traffic results and updated passenger forecasts for 2015. Meanwhile, the interim financial statements will be published on 29 July 2015.
On the bond market, the Rizzo Farrugia MGS Index edged a further 0.3% higher to reach a 4-week high of 1,126.551 points as eurozone yields initially maintained their downward trend. However, by this afternoon, both the safe-haven German Bunds as well as the riskier peripheral eurozone yields, have rebounded with Italy and Spain’s 10-year yields approaching the 2% level.
Last week, 6pm Holdings plc published a Prospectus dated July 8, 2015 in connection with a new €13 million bond issue. The 6pm bonds are reserved for shareholders as at the close of trading on 4 June 2015.