Fresh demand for Crimsonwing plc shares helped the equity gain 12.5% today from last week's all-time low of 16c.
During this morning's session, 41,150 shares traded at 18c. In the company's recent interim statement, the directors explained that they expect Crimsonwing's net overall financial position for the current financial year ending March 31to be in line with that of the previous year when the group registered a loss of €109,135.
Nonetheless, the announcement also revealed that following a number of investments and cost cutting measures, the Crimsonwing Group has built a solid foundation that will enable it to take advantage of the opportunities that lie ahead.
HSBC Bank Malta plc also closed in positive territory today with its share price rising by 1.4% to €2.59 across four trades totalling just over 3,500 shares.
Shortly after the close of this morning's trading session, HSBC Malta published its 2011 full-year results revealing a 6.3% increase in pre-tax profits to €88.3 million.
The rise in profitability is mainly due to a €6.9 million unrealised gain relating to a one-off adjustment in the methodology of the insurance business in line with HSBC Group policies.
The financials also include one-time costs of €11 million related to the voluntary retirement scheme launched earlier this year which was broadly offset by the gain registered on the sale of the card acquiring business.
HSBC today recommended the payment of a final gross dividend of 7c2 per share payable to those shareholders as at close of trading on March 13.
The share price of Bank of Valletta plc also rose by 0.7% to regain the €2.17 level on volumes of 20,000 shares.
The only other active equity, GO plc, closed unchanged at the 83c level after recovering from an intra-day low of 79c across seven trades totalling 5,300 shares.
The quad play telecom operator this morning announced that it has reached an agreement with the government to transfer 11 properties to the company.
These properties, which mainly consist of telephone exchanges, are already occupied by the company and form part of its core operations.
In return, GO will transfer the land in Qawra back to the government. The transfer of properties, which is still subject to Parliament approval, was valued at €13.8 million.
On the bond market, the Rizzo Farrugia MGS Index edged marginally higher today to 987.707 points but still ended the week with a 0.1% drop.
The weekly decline in the local MGS benchmark reflects the rise in Eurozone yields following this week's agreement between the EU and Greece with respect to the second bailout of €130 billion.
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