The economy is booming – or at least so they say. But do different sectors see it the same way? A selection gave us their opinion of how 2017 will affect them.
V&C Contractors
Christabelle Borg
Financial controller
The property market has been booming for quite a few years now. However, property sales were always high in Malta, and I am of the opinion that the Maltese culture drives these sales, as it is a norm for Maltese citizens to buy property rather than rent. They prefer to invest their well-earned money on property which will eventually be theirs once they pay off their loan, rather than pay into a property which isn’t theirs to begin with.
The foreign expats in Malta have increased the demand for properties, and therefore several Maltese developers have also been investing in rental properties to lease out to these expats.
I believe that if the work conditions and the ease of setting up companies in Malta remain favourable, the market will keep on flourishing. However, there will be a time when local/foreign banks would need to minimise their risk and decrease the amount of mortgages/loans given out, and I think this would make the market stabilise and/or drop.
Computime Group
Sandra Azzopardi
HR manager
The indications so far are that the tight labour market for IT will become worse. We have had a number of vacancies at the end of last year and in the beginning of this year, where the response has been lower than usual. It is a reality that the demand for ICT professionals in the local labour market is continuously on the increase. This is evident from the numerous vacancies published on various job boards in Malta, and it has also been repeatedly confirmed by the recruitment agencies that we deal with. Also, the number of students enrolling on ICT courses at University and other educational institutions is not enough to deal with demand.
Salaries are also on the rise, and as a result, it is rendering Malta less competitive when it comes to international work. This does not augur well for the ICT industry in Malta. The immediate way forward is to continue exposing our vacancies to a wider audience and attracting more foreigners to our shores. In this regard, the authorities are supporting the industry by making the approval of work permit process faster for third-country nationals, which is an important breakthrough for employers. However, on a national level, there is still more work to be done to attract more students to the ICT world, and to be more exposed to what it means to have a career within the IT industry.
At the same time, employers need to continue creating the best possible working environments in order to attract, optimise, and retain talent within their organisations.
Camilleri Preziosi
Louis de Gabriele
Senior partner
Capital markets are an integral part of the financial services sector. This is a sector that has experienced significant growth in Malta in practically all of its aspects. Our domestic capital markets have also experienced growth with local issuers tapping the capital markets particularly by raising corporate debt whether for specific projects or to finance their growth and expansion. The Malta Stock Exchange has been a significant player in the growth of the capital markets sector and more and more companies today seem to be ever more comfortable to diversify the sources of their financing requirements and to approach the market to raise finance.
The Malta Stock Exchange’s strategic plan now contemplates taking our capital markets experience beyond the strictures of the domestic markets, with a vision to make our capital markets a platform where international issuers can raise capital and to be able to trade instruments other than simply the traditional equity and bonds that we have been used to so far. This is a very ambitious plan – made even more so by the introduction of yet a new market “Prospects”, intended for the smaller issuers that will be able to tap funding sources on the local capital markets.
I believe this plan energises the market and the players in the market to sustain the further development and growth of the capital markets as another important pillar in the development and evolution of Malta as a financial services centre.
Medavia
Rammah B. Ettir
Managing director
Malta has seen a significant growth in the aviation sector over the past decade or so, with several operators, new and established ones, acquiring new Air Operator’s Certificates and even setting up MROs (Maintenance Repair Organisation), gearing up to service a wide spectrum of aircraft types ranging from general aviation to wide body aircraft. In this respect Medavia has widened its operation and invested heavily throughout the years to enhance its infrastructure, tooling and resources in order to be capable of adding new aircraft types to its approval list. Particular focus remains on servicing the modern regional sized turbo-prop aircraft. Medavia Technics’ primary aim remains that of delivering a safe aircraft back to the customer serviced to the highest quality levels on time.
Since Medavia’s core business focuses primarily on servicing the oil and gas industry in Libya, we forecast that our customer base will grow again. This will leave a positive effect on our fleet utilisation resulting in better all-round performance for the company.
Since Libyan oil fields and harbours have now come under the control and guard of the National Libyan Army, oil production and exports have resumed both in the East and Western parts of Libya. Daily production is also increasing. We expect this to contribute significantly to the country’s oil and gas industry recovery.
Re/Max
Jeff Buttigieg
Managing director
2016 was another record year for Re/Max where we registered a 40 per cent year-on-year increase in property sales reaching the milestone of €600 million whereas in the letting sector we saw a 37 per cent year-on-year increase – leading the industry in both categories.
The increase has been mainly due to having a solid economy and confidence in the market which continues to grow with the sustained foreign investment from industries such as gaming and finance creating an upward look at both demand and supply across most demographics. Various schemes like the first-time buyer’s subsidy and foreign investments programmes in the form of the residency and visa and Individual Investor Programme are still proving effective and garnering major interest.
Our first-time buyer sales increased by 25 per cent during the year while the more upmarket sector saw an increase of 40 per cent.
In 2016, besides opening offices close to Pender Gardens, the Strand and Marsascala we launched the Re/Max Collection brand, an upmarket arm while we also introduced property auctions and our commercial brand setting a foundation for further growth in 2017.
Commercial letting, especially of office space, saw an exponential growth in numbers in 2016 and thus we plan to open a fully-fledged commercial office in the first quarter of 2017, located at the Msida University Roundabout at the ex-All Care building.
2017 is going to see continued patterns of growth in all sectors with several major mixed developments – including some high rise buildings coming to the fore.
We plan to open six offices by the end of the third quarter namely in Msida, Swieqi, Marsascala, Qawra, Mellieħa and Gozo to keep up with the demand and to further solidify our market share.