Bank of Valletta's solid performance continued this week, with further gains being registered in the share's price. Opening at Lm7.31 on Monday, trading in the equity went up by 14c1 during the week to close yesterday's session at Lm7.45c1.
During the week, the price of this equity ranged between Lm7.15c1 and Lm7.50, the latter being the highest price ever recorded by the bank. Total turnover for the week amounted to 125,490 shares bringing the total value transacted in BoV to Lm914,399.
These shares changed hands in 214 deals. At the end of yesterday's trading session, bids for five shares at Lm7.45c1 and offers of 428 shares at Lm7.50 made up the best unsatisfied closing positions.
Meanwhile, in a company announcement issued on Monday, BoV announced that all resolutions including the special business forwarded at the recently held annual general meeting had been approved. Furthermore, the newly elected company bdirectors include Joseph Borg, Marlene Mizzi, George Portanier, Norman Rossignaud, James Vella and George Wells.
Following an increase of 10c1 the previous week, HSBC shares opened trading on Monday at Lm7.26 and went up to close at Lm7.65 yesterday, a further increase of 40c on the previous week's closing position of Lm7.25. A total of 59 deals were struck during the week, over which 49,170 shares were traded. Best bids for 26 shares at Lm7.61 and best offers of 800 shares at Lm7.74 remained unsatisfied as yesterday's session drew to a close.
Lombard Bank shares traded between Lm7.50 and Lm7.63 during the week, with the former being the opening price on Wednesday, while the latter was the closing level yesterday; this also being the highest price ever recorded by this bank. This represented an increase of 38c on the previous week's closing price. In total, 3,279 shares changed hands during the three sessions of this week, spread over seven deals. Following the end of yesterday's session, best bids for 1,000 shares at Lm7.50 remained unsatisfied. There were no offers outstanding.
On Tuesday, Lombard Bank Malta announced that the board of directors shall be meeting on February 28 to consider and approve the group's and the bank's financial statements for the financial year ending today week and to consider the declaration of a final dividend.
In a separate announcement, the board of directors of Lombard Bank recommended to the general shareholders meeting a sub-division of the par value of the bank's shares on a "two-for-one" basis. As a result the number of authorised and issued shares will double and will bring down the par value of each share from 50c to 25c. The foregoing proposed share split, which is subject to regulatory approval, is meant to allow easier accessibility to a larger number of investors and this, in turn, will provide for more liquidity in the bank's shares.
An increase of 5c9 was registered over the week in Maltacom's share price, as trading in the equity opened at Lm1.87c1 on Monday and closed at Lm1.93 yesterday. During the current trading week, the price of the equity ranged between a weekly low of Lm1.86 and a weekly high of Lm1.93c9. A total of 449,885 shares changed hands, bringing the total value of shares transacted during the week to Lm864,662. These shares changed hands over 179 deals. Following the close of business yesterday best bids for 1,000 shares at Lm1.93 and best offers of 2,700 shares at Lm1.94 remained outstanding.
The other equities which traded during the week followed by the range in which trading took place are: 418 Middlesea Insurance shares between Lm3.50 and Lm3.50c1; 200 Simonds Farsons Cisk shares at 90c; 44,944 International Hotels Investment shares between €0.86 and €0.89,9; 131,700 FIMBank shares between US$2 and US$2.00,1; 95,396 Malta International Airport shares between Lm1.53c1 and Lm1.58c5 and 124,900 Global Financial Services shares between Lm1.15 and Lm1.30c1.
Total Malta government stock turnover amounted to a nominal value of Lm642,800 being traded in 48 deals over 17 different stocks. Trading over the week in corporate bonds was made up of a total value of Lm84,146.
The Malta Stock Exchange Share Index increased by 180.632 points or 3.83 per cent over the week and now stands at 4,895.82.
We wish our esteemed readers a happy Christmas and a prosperous new year.
Azzopardi Investment Management Limited is licensed by the MFSA to provide investment services, including stockbroking. The Directors or related parties, including the company, and their clients, are likely to have an interest in securities mentioned. This article is only meant to provide information and is not intended to give investment advice. The value of securities, and the currencies in which they are denominated, may go down as well as up.
Report by Azzopardi Investment Management Limited, tel. 2131 3100, fax. 21 31 8897 www.azzopardi.com