Following last Friday's announcement by Forthnet informing the market that the restructuring of its share capital was approved, early this morning GO issued another announcement stating that its Board of Directors will be meeting before the end of September to take a decision on whether or not to participate in the €30 million rights issue. Forthnet is a Greek telecoms company in which GO has significant shareholding.
The uncertainty on this possible new equity injection sent the price of GO a further 7.6% lower today to €0.85 on high volumes totalling 195,715 shares. Meanwhile, GO is scheduled to publish its half-year results on Thursday.
On the other hand, the share prices of the two large banks traded higher on renewed demand. Bank of Valletta plc's shares maintained their upward momentum with a further 2.7% jump during this morning's session to regain the €2.30 level, the highest closing price for BOV shares since 14 September 2011. A total of 23,595 shares traded today. Similarly, the share price of HSBC Bank Malta plc advanced by 3.1% to regain the €2.68 level on volumes of 16,343 shares.
The equities of Crimsonwing plc and Middlesea Insurance plc also closed in positive territory today with the share price of the IT company jumping 23.8% higher to the €0.26 level on a single trade of 3,800 shares. Middlesea's share price moved 5% higher to close at the €0.635 level across two trades totalling 6,500 shares.
Increased trading activity was registered across the equity market today with over €300,000 worth of shares changing hands.
No reaction was evident to the half-year results of MIDI plc published yesterday evening which revealed a loss of €1.05 million as apartment sales dropped from €20.5 million in the first six months of 2011 to €2.2 million during the period under review. MIDI again re-iterated that the delays experienced in the issuance of permits by MEPA for the next phases of Tigné Point slowed down the project's pace of development activity resulting in a very limited number of apartments becoming available for sale. Income from property rental improved by 16.7% to €2.8 million.
The directors expect the same trend to persist during the second half of the year and they anticipate that the Group will register an overall operational loss for the financial year of 2012.
On the bond market, the Rizzo Farrugia MGS Index again eased minimally lower to 997.973 points as Eurozone yields were marginally unchanged at the 1.35% level. Markets remain uncertain on how the European Central Bank (ECB) will intervene in the market and if this will be enough to alleviate the pressures being faced by ailing European countries particularly Spain and Italy.
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