Mediterranean Bank reported a profit before tax of €9.3 million for the six months ended September 30, 2016, compared with €16.4 million for the same period last year – which was, however, boosted by a one-off €11.3 million sale of investments.
Net interest income was €28.4 million (2015: €22.2 million) and total operating income amounted to €32.4 million (2015: €36.7 million).
As at September 30, 2016, the group’s lending portfolio (international and domestic) stood at €1.4 billion, net of collective impairment loss allowances of €5.1 million and specific impairment loss allowances of €14.5 million.
The consolidated Capital Adequacy Ratio stood at 13.9 per cent, slightly down from the 15.6 per cent as at March 31, 2016.
The group’s primary strategic objective is to increase its corporate lending activities and to enhance its banking, investment and wealth management services, both in Malta and Belgium. It said that despite ongoing challenges, it remained confident that its underlying strategy would continue to result in profitable growth.
Gagliardi sees triple digit sales
Maltese fashion brand Gagliardi is being sold as far afield as Japan, South Africa and New Zealand with triple-digit sales being achieved year-on-year and an increasingly-global following. The local brand created and distributed by Bortex Group is supporting its international success with a new e-commerce platform.
“Selling suits and tailoring online is no easy feat, but we believe this new platform will enable us to reach out to more customers than ever, in a more effective way than ever,” said company director Sam Borg.
The multilingual platform will help Gagliardi to reach out to key markets in the US, the UK and Germany, as well as beyond in Australia, Chile and Asia.
Next year promises to be a milestone year for Gagliardi, which recently signed a collaborative deal with Rolls Royce and Bentley. It will also be working with GQ Magazine and the Gentleman’s Journal in the months to come.
www.gagliardi.eu
Palumbo to create hub with Tenerife
Palumbo Group is planning on creating an offshore hub between Malta and Tenerife following talks it had with Tenerife’s port authority president this week.
Ricardo Melchior Navarro visited the drydocks and superyacht facilities in Cottonera to see the operations in Malta and discuss the possibilities of working together with Palumbo Group, which took ownership of the Santa Cruz shipyard in Tenerife last March.
“This is an important step for us and fits in seamlessly with our philosophy to have a strategic offshore hub for superyachts and cruise liners, further increasing our work and operations of our shipyard here,” Group CEO Antonio Palumbo said.
iMovo partners with Talend
iMovo, an analytics, big data and customer experience management company, has announced a new partnership with Talend, a global leader in cloud and big data integration software.
Talend helps companies by making data more accessible, improving its quality and moving data where it’s needed for real-time decision making. Talend supports over 1,300 enterprise customers across a range of industries.
iMovo views this partnership as a complementary step in distinguishing itself as a leading specialised player.