The share prices of the two large banks responded positively today to last Friday's announcements by the major banks.

Over 26,400 HSBC Bank Malta plc shares traded today with the share price climbing 2% to €3.06 following the publication of the interim results showing a 21.4% increase in pre-tax profits to €42.2 million mainly on the back of a 26.2% jump in net interest income.

HSBC's directors declared an interim gross dividend of €0.079 per share (June 2009: €0.077) based on a reduced payout ratio of 55% in order for the bank to preserve capital in anticipation of more stringent capital requirements in the near future. The dividend will be paid on 24 August to those shareholders as at close of trading next Thursday 5 August. ( http://rizzofarrugia.com/news-events/2010/interim-results-68/ )

Late last Friday Bank of Valletta plc also published its Interim Directors Statement providing an update on the third quarter of their current financial year (April to June 2010). The bank reported that its operational performance remained strong.

However the third quarter experienced a reversal of the modest fair value gains of €5.9 million reported at the half-year period. The Directors concluded that the full-year results of the BOV Group will be largely influenced by the performance of credit markets in the last quarter to 30 September 2010. ( http://rizzofarrugia.com/news-events/2010/interim-directors-statement-84/ )

BOV's share price reacted positively and closed 0.8% higher at €3.28 after touching an intra-day high of €3.30 on volumes of 11,200 shares.

Meanwhile the share price of Malta International Airport plc held on to the strong gains since the start of the year as a further 4,000 shares traded at the €1.62 level. Also last Friday MIA reported a 20% increase in pre-tax profits profitability to €5.6 million during the first six months of the year mainly on the back of a 10.3% rise in passenger movements. The directors approved a net interim dividend of €0.03 per share, unchanged from last year's interim dividend when adjusted for the recent share split.

The dividend is payable to those shareholders on the Company's register as at close of trading on Wednesday 4 August 2010. ( http://rizzofarrugia.com/news-events/2010/interim-results-mia11/ )

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