Only one equity registered a positive return last week, eight fell and five closed unchanged as the MSE Equity Total Return Index declined by 1.36%, adding to the previous week’s loss of 1.48%, to close at 8,684.783 points as turnover amounted to €1.7 million.
Simonds Farsons Cisk plc shares oscillated between an all-time high of €9.69 and a weekly low of €9.19, to ultimately close 1.6% lower at €9.50.
The food and beverage supplier’s shares were active on 18 trades of 14,381 shares. The drop in the share price came about following a board of directors’ announcement that at a meeting held on Thursday, the Board of the Planning Authority (PA) voted against the recommendation of the Planning Directorate for the approval of a permit for the creation of a business park along Mdina Road, Mrieħel.
In view of the significant uncertainty caused by the indicative decision of the PA, the Board determined that it had no option but to put into abeyance the plan to spin-off the company’s shareholding in Trident Estates plc and the subsequent listing of Trident on the official list of the MSE.
Malta International Airport plc shares declined by 1.3%, adding to the previous week’s loss of 0.8%. The equity was negotiated across 17 transactions of 26,150 shares and closed €0.06 lower at €4.69. Last Wednesday, the local airport operator announced that from April until the end of October 2017, the total amount of passenger movements amounted to 4,249,321.
This translates into an increase of more than 600,000 passenger movements over the same comparable period in 2016.
Growth in passenger numbers in the summer months was observed in parallel with an upturn of 13.3% in aircraft movements and an increase of 16.1% in seat capacity, mainly stemming from an enhanced flight schedule for the season.
Meanwhile, last Friday, the company published its interim Directors’ Statement in which the company announced that during the period under review – January 1, 2017 – September, 30, 2017, the financial position of the company has remained sound and its performance is superior to 2016.
The turnover for the first nine months of 2017 was €63.1 million, an increase of 13.7% compared to the first three quarters of 2016.
Total expenditure increased by €24.1 million, while the profit for the period increased by 25.2% to €21.4 million.
HSBC Bank Malta plc shares fell by €0.03 or 1.6% as 37,153 shares changed ownership over 12 trades, to close at €1.86 – an 11-month low. The bank announced that HSBC Life Assurance (Malta) Limited (HLA), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, has entered into a Portfolio Transfer Agreement with Lombard International Assurance S.A. for the sale of HLA’s policies of insurance governed by the Wealth Insurance Italy portfolio.
As at September 30, 2017, the insurance portfolio being transferred had total funds under management of circa €500 million and produced gross annual management charges of approximately €780,000 in 2016.
FIMBank plc shares headed the list of fallers having sagged by 11.4% as three transactions of 79,900 shares were struck, closing $0.08 lower at $0.62.
Bank of Valletta plc shares closed unchanged at €1.80, despite having reached a weekly high of €1.88 and a weekly low of €1.78.
The banking equity was executed over the highest turnover of 126 trades of 438,052 shares – representing 47.2% of total turnover in monetary terms. BOV shareholders last week received formal notifications of the bank Rights Issue. Bank of Valletta p.l.c. is offering 105,000,000 new ordinary shares to its existing shareholders on the basis of a ratio of one new ordinary share for every four ordinary shares held at an offer price of €1.43 per new ordinary share.
Existing shareholders may assign part or all of their rights to third parties. In a comment to the press, Mario Mallia, the Bank’s Chief Executive Officer said: “This is a very important milestone for the BOV Group. The new shares to be issued will enable the Bank to further strengthen its common equity tier 1 (CET1) capital.
“The Bank will be in a better position to implement its strategic initiatives and to have the necessary capital buffers required to take these initiatives forward.”
Lombard Bank Malta plc shares traded flat at €2.20 on two deals of 4,300 shares.
Mapfre Middlesea plc shares extended the previous week’s decline of 0.4% having slipped by a further 1% over eight trades of 15,906 shares, closing at €1.90.
GO plc registered a 0.6% drop in its share price as 25,900 shares changed ownership across 10 deals, to close at €3.53.
International Hotel Investments plc (IHI) shares partially erased the previous week’s 3.4% gain, having decreased by a marginal 0.2%. RS2 Software plc shares fell by €0.079 as 48,446 shares changed hands over seven trades, closing at €1.57. PG plc registered no change in its share price of €1.48. The equity witnessed 12 deals of 96,133 shares.
MIDI plc shares were the only positive performers having advanced by 3.1% as 49,900 shares were negotiated over four deals. Also from the property management sector, Malita Investments plc shares closed unchanged at €0.751 as 19,300 shares changed ownership across five trades.
Malta Properties Company plc shares traded flat at €0.51 on five deals of 7,446 shares.
In the corporate bond market 37 issues were active of which gainers and losers tallied at 11 as turnover totalled €2.1 million.
The 4.25% GAP Group plc Secured € 2023 headed the list of gainers having appreciated by 1%, closing at €102.97, while the 5.75% IHI Unsecured € 2025 was the worst performer having declined by 2.8%, to close at €106.
Last Thursday, the board of Mediterranean Bank plc, approved and accepted a series of capital contributions with the last one being on November 7, 2017 from the bank’s majority shareholder, MeDirect Group Limited, amounting to €67,400,000.
In the sovereign debt market turnover amounted to €5.9 million spread across 20 issues. It was a volatile in the local debt market as the stocks traded at higher levels mid-week but fell again on Thursday and Friday.
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