During this morning’s trading session most of the active equities moved lower forcing the MSE Share Index to decline by 0.9 per cent to 3,804.528 points – its lowest level since January 11.
The share index ended the week 1.4 per cent lower as the five largest equities by market cap all closed in negative territory.
HSBC Bank Malta plc’s share price slipped by 1.4 per cent to the €3.45 level on low volumes of 2,900 shares prior to the results announcement which were published shortly after the market closed.
HSBC revealed a 16.7 per cent increase in pre-tax profits to €83.1 million.
The improvement in profitability was mainly achieved by growth in revenue especially in net interest income which grew by 17 per cent to €122.8 million.
This outweighed the 4.6 per cent rise in operating costs to €87.6 million following the bank’s investments in branch refurbishment, process improvements and performance based rewards.
On the balance sheet side deposits (+€376.2 million) grew at a faster rate than loans (+€77.4 million).
The directors recommended a final gross dividend of €0.07,7 to be paid to all shareholders as at close of trading on March 3. The full-year dividend for 2010 is minimally below the total distribution in respect of the previous financial year.
Bank of Valletta plc also succumbed to fresh selling pressure as the equity slumped 1.6 per cent to a new 2011 low of €3 representing a weekly drop of 1.6 per cent.
Twenty eight trades totalling 45,655 shares were transacted today with bids already placed minimally higher at the €3.00,2 level.
A similar trend was also evident in Malta International Airport plc shares as the equity of airport operator slumped 2.8 per cent to close at the €1.75 level on volumes of 13,626 shares.
MIA’s equity ranks as the worst performer of the week with a 5.4 per cent decline. This afternoon MIA announced that its board of directors is scheduled to meet on March 17 to consider and approve the group’s 2010 financial results and consider the declaration of a final dividend to shareholders.
GO plc recovers from an intra-day low of €1.80 to close 0.5 per cent higher at the €1.85,9 level on a last-minute trade.
Over 54,000 shares changed hands today – the bulk of which were transacted at the €1.80 level. Despite today’s minimal upturn, the share price is still down 2.1 per cent this week.
Meanwhile the Rizzo Farrugia MGS Index climbed a further 0.2 per cent to 982.525 points as the Eurozone benchmark yield this morning continued to slip lower to below the 3.2 per cent level.
Overall, the MGS Index recovered most of last week’s decline as it ended this week 0.3 per cent higher. All subscriptions for Malta Government Stocks are now closed. The Treasury is shortly expected to publish the statistics with respect to this week’s new Malta Government Stock issues.
http://rizzofarrugia.com/news-events/2011/full-year-results-hsbc02-2/
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