The share price of GO plc tumbled nearly 16% today after the announcement late yesterday that Tunisie Telecom had been selected as the preferred bidder to acquire the company. http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20160523/local/go-selects-tunisian-company-as-preferred-bidder-for-majority-stake.613113
The share price dropped by 15.9% to €2.90 on volumes of 19,770 shares.
Tunisie Telecom will be submitting a voluntary bid for the entire issued share capital of GO at a price of €2.87 per share.
This morning, the equity opened at the €3.00 level and touched an intra-day low of €2.75 before partially recovering to €2.90 - its lowest in over five months.
The Malta Stock exchange Share Index dropped by 1.41% today to 4,477.925 points - its lowest level in over two months - largely reflecting the drop in the GO share price.
Three other large companies closed in negative territory today – HSBC, BOV and MIA. The total value of equities traded remained virtually at the same level as that of yesterday, as just over €253,000 worth of shares changed hands.
In the retail banking sector, both HSBC Bank Malta plc and Bank of Valletta plc finished lower today. HSBC retreated by 0.5% to the €1.63 level across 12,403 shares while BOV closed at the €2.23 level (-0.4%) on volumes totalling 6,295 shares. BOV shareholders will receive the recently declared net interim dividend of €0.0254 per share on Friday 27 May.
Also among the large companies, Malta International Airport plc declined by 0.5% to the €4.35 level across reduced volumes totalling 3,200 shares. Recently, MIA announced upbeat results for the first three months of the year.
MIDI plc eased by a further 0.3% to the €0.388 level across 10,000 shares. Shareholders will receive the payment of the recently approved net dividend of €0.007 per share on Friday 27 May.
Within the same segment, Malta Properties Company plc managed to rebound from an intra-day 2016 low of €0.50 (-6.0%) to the €0.55 level – representing a daily uplift of 3.4%. Trading activity in the equity of MPC was relatively high as 99,184 shares changed hands.
Medserv plc was the best performing equity today as it bounced back by 4.7% from its eight-week low of €1.70 to the €1.78 level across 7,500 shares. Last Wednesday, the oil and gas logistics specialist issued an Interim Directors’ Statement and an updated Financial Analysis Summary (FAS) containing the 2016 financial forecasts. Medserv is anticipating that total revenues for 2016 are to exceed those of 2015 but net profits are to remain stable at €4.63 million. Medserv is due to hold its AGM on Monday 30 May.
A single deal of just 740 shares pushed the equity of Mapfre Middlesea plc 0.5% higher to the €2.21 level.
Meanwhile, the two I.T. services companies RS2 Software plc (20,750 shares) and 6pm Holdings plc (5,000 shares) closed flat at €3.50 and GBP0.95 respectively. Last Thursday, RS2 issued an Interim Directors’ Statement whereby the company explained that its US subsidiary, Transworks LLC, managed to secure a sponsorship with a bank which is essential for it to carry out its managed service business in addition to its licence offering.
Furthermore, RS2’s wholly owned subsidiary, RS2 Smart Processing Ltd, engaged two new clients for its managed services business, namely a payment service provider (PSP) in Germany and one of the largest acquirers in Europe. The Directors also noted that the Group holds a very healthy business pipeline both in its licencing business and managed services as well as across different regions.
On the bond market, the RF MGS Index surrendered some of yesterday’s gains as it retreated by 0.06% to 1,148.540 points. The 10-year benchmark German Bund yield advanced from a low of 0.14% yesterday to a high of 0.18% today after the country’s Chambers of Industry and Commerce raised its 2016 growth forecast for the single currency’s largest economy to 1.5% from a previous estimate of 1.3%.
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