Midi Group has managed to reduce its gearing ratio from a high of 76 per cent down to a respectable 36 per cent last year – enabling the company to report an after-tax profit of €9.9 million compared to a loss of €2.2 million in 2014.

And perhaps even more relevant for its 750 shareholders: it also paid a dividend for the first time since it went public in 2009.

The man brought in to sort out the financials a few years ago was Luke Coppini who admitted that “the more you are developing, the more you borrow and hence the higher your gearing ratio”.

“Our borrowings are now under control and our liquidity is also relatively under control. The profit is also the result of restructuring and containment of costs, as well as of better project management,” he added.

MIDI CEO, Luke Coppini

The company had over two years of very low production in terms of construction at Tigné Point. This was reversed in early 2013 when construction on the section known as Q1 started. Midi had a very successful launch generating €38.8 million last year from sales of 38 apartments, with the final one sold in the first quarter of 2016 for what he described as a “decent profit”.

However, the reality is that the next few years will see the same relatively arid scenario as this year as construction will be underway on Q2 with completion date scheduled for around April/May 2018.

“Unfortunately, selling on plan does not affect your profit and loss! However, we hope to sell one particular apartment in Q2 in shell form,” he smiled.

Q2 will offer 58 apartments and two penthouses, spread over 13 levels. For the first time in Midi’s history, it opted for a phased launch, offering 32 of the apartments and the two penthouses for sale in the third week of March: 27 apartments were snapped up.

Apart from that, the average selling price for these 27 apartments was €8,300 per square metre, almost 30 per cent higher than what it achieved for Q1.

The company has seen considerable changes since the project was first designed after it got the concession in 2000. One change has been the influx of expatriates, resulting in an increase in “buy to let” by both Maltese and foreigners. However, outright purchases remain the main option, with the latter either buying to live there or to use as their second residence.

This was the first dividend but hopefully it will not be the last

“We even have some who own multiple properties there, as they plan to bring other family members over,” he said.

The Individual Investor Programme has also resulted in increased demand – but it is frustrating as there is not much available to offer.

“All they can purchase at the moment is the space! But they do rent properties there with the foresight of buying as soon as something is available,” he said.

Midi is also ploughing ahead with the business centre, which will start to look quite different in the coming weeks once the façade is glazed. However, apart from selling one floor outright to a “good client”, Midi is still tweaking the internal designs before committing to other tenants, reacting to feedback which showed that even the top finishes it had in mind “might not be high enough!”, he said.

It is also mulling concepts for the iconic Tigné Fort as it prefers to complement planned restaurants with a “suitable operation to give it more substance”.

“Just having four or five restaurants would not be enough, given the context of the mixed use of the complex. We believe it could be quite feasible to have a boutique hotel of around 20 rooms overlooking the courtyard – but it would have quite a different model for the operator to similar sized hotels in Valletta as the site is spread over 5,000 square metres with considerable maintenance. We issued a call for expressions of interest which had a deadline a few weeks ago. We received a significant response which we are now evaluating,” he said.

The only sour note in 2015 was the buy-out of Siemens’ 50 per cent shareholding in SIS, resulting in an impairment of around €500,000. Its poor performance had taken observers by surprise as SIS was set up specifically to service Tigné Point and therefore had a guaranteed client with guaranteed revenue.

Mr Coppini admitted that Siemens had for some years been doing lots of restructuring and SIS – which was run by a CEO appointed by Siemens – was not on its radar.

“It was losing money for a number of reasons: it had ventured into some side operations for which it was not really geared in terms of resources. In early 2015, it indicated that it wanted to exit and Midi snapped up the opportunity to take full ownership, buying it for €1 but absorbing the debts.

“Apart from that, Siemens was committed to upgrading the €5 million plant providing heating and cooling, which had been giving us problems for some time. This will cost €2 million for which Midi – through SIS – will only pay half. So we now have a fully-owned subsidiary with a fully-upgraded plant. Our plan is that over the next three years it will come back to profitability.”

With all this going on, shareholders must be wondering whether the dividend pay-out will become a regular occurrence.

“For three years our focus was to get the development back on track, which I believe we have done. We are now in a position where we can pay a dividend without constraining in any way the development that needs to go on.

“In 2016 we are not expecting profits to be in line with 2015 but it does not mean that our cash flows cannot sustain a reasonable dividend. This was the first dividend but hopefully it will not be the last.”