Features
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Rating agencies issue warnings to Belgium and US
Earlier this week the EUR/USD experienced a considerable rise touching highs of 1.3498 after opening the week with prices around the 1.3200 region. Much of the rise has been attributed to euro buying by sovereign entities which pushed the euro...
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Fines for anti-competitive associations
A stern reminder by the European Commission that professional associations too have to toe the line where competition rules are concerned! Any restriction of competition committed by such professional bodies will be penalised by hefty fines just...
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The state of the local bond market
For the first time in many years, last month’s Malta Government Stock offerings in the primary market were over-subscribed by members of the public at the fixed offer price leaving no balance available for the auction process where financial...
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Online sales legislation
Electronic commerce is in full tilt: it has influenced in a fundamental fashion the ways in which enterprises and countries produce, trade and compete in the EU and worldwide. Consequently, any legislation, which impedes traders and businesses from...
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Crimsonwing generates record half-year revenue
The September 2010 half year results published by Crimsonwing plc last week show that the IT services group generated total revenue in excess of €7 million during the six month period between April 1 and September 30. This represents a record level...
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Euro bounces higher as ECB buys bonds
The European Central Bank news conference last Thursday disappointed many because ECB president Jean Claude Trichet failed to specify the much awaited details or amounts for the intensification of the present bond buying programme. The euro...
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Acquisitions: Creating or destroying shareholder value?
Acquisitions by publicly listed companies have always been widely debated by financial analysts. Investors’ opinions as to whether a particular acquisition will eventually prove beneficial to shareholders of the company making the acquisition...
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Euro breaches the 1.30 level against US dollar
Last Sunday, eurozone finance ministers approved a €85 billion financial rescue package. The news was initially euro positive, but investors’ mood soon soured and the pair drifted to lows of 1.3064 during Monday trading. Ireland will use €10 billion...
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The European company
The statute for a European company provides for an innovative vehicle for conducting business across EU borders. The opportunity for entrepreneurs to set up a European company or as it is more commonly known, an SE, has been around since 2001 when...
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Contagion risk weighs on investor’s sentiment
Last Sunday Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen announced that Ireland had made a formal request for aid from the EU and IMF. Although details still had to be concluded at the time of writing, the Irish Finance Minister indicated that aid should not...
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Forthnet share price in free fall
On November 15, Forthnet SA published its financial statements for the three months en-ded September 30, 2010 and since then the share price has declined rapidly on increasing volumes. Over the past seven trading sessions between the announcement...
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Guaranteeing consumer protection
After the summer recess, the European Court of Justice delivered a number of judgements aimed at guaranteeing a high level of consumer protection without greatly tilting the balance against traders and businesses. In one judgement, delivered earlier...
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Equity market indicators which reveal a company’s strength
Whether in respect of international equities or local equities, one still comes across individuals who look at the absolute price of a share to determine if it is high or low rather than looking at the important indicators which reveal the...
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The promise of personalised medicine
The pharmaceutical care landscape is presently characterised by a number of challenges, namely an increase in regulatory requirements and R&D costs, coupled by a paradoxical decrease in the number of new active ingredients reaching the market. The...
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Eurozone debt concerns: The Irish domino effect
Eurozone debt concerns for the countries of the periphery keep making headlines and expectations of some sort of European Union intervention are escalating. The big question is if Ireland will eventually have to tap for EU aid any time soon. Last...
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Greenback gathers renewed support as QE limelight eases
Once the Federal Reserve’s plans for further easing were unveiled, the greenback enjoyed renewed support earlier this week. With the investors’ limelight away from the US’s second round of QE, eurozone debt problems might be attracting some of the...
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Legislative scrutiny of rating agencies
A credit rating agency is a company that assigns credit ratings to institutions that issue debt obligations. A credit rating measures creditworthiness, or the ability to pay back a loan. Opinions of credit rating agencies, which often have greater...
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Midi set to become sixth largest company on MSE
Following a highly successful bond issue in January 2009, Midi p.l.c. is now tapping the market with a share issue. During a recent briefing for all stockbrokers, Midi’s CEO Ben Muscat immediately highlighted the fact that this is not an offer of...
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BOV’s profitability of €98.9m only marginally below ’07 record level
The results published by Bank of Valletta plc for the year ended September 30, 2010 show that the group registered a pre-tax profit of €98.9 million during the past 12 months. This represents a growth of 20.9 per cent over the previous year, and is...
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The wait for FOMC is finally over. What about Europe?
At the time of writing, the market awaited anxiously the outcome of a two-day FOMC meeting in which the Federal Reserve was expected to announce a new bout of monetary easing, more commonly referred to as QE2. The US central bank was expected to...
