The MSE Equity Price Index dropped by 0.15% on Friday to 4,480.486 points, mostly driven by the declines in IHI and MIA whilst PG, Trident and Medserv all trended higher. Activity was encouraging as trading volumes improved to €0.35 million, largely reflecting sustained interest in Medserv.
Malta International Airport plc eased by 0.8% to the €6.15 level across 5,155 shares.
International Hotel Investments plc moved back to the €0.59 level (-1.7%) on activity totalling 48,200 shares.
In the property segment, MIDI plc trended 0.7% lower to the €0.695 level whilst Trident Estates plc added 3.3% to the €1.55 level. Trading in both equities was shallow.
Medserv plc extended its recent positive run with a further gain of 3.6% to a four-month high of €1.15 across 146,500 shares. On Tuesday, Medserv announced that it was awarded a new shore base contract valued at USD30.6 million (equivalent to €26.8 million) in an area offshore Guyana (a new region for Medserv) where the US oil and gas giant ExxonMobil recently made important discoveries.
The contract is for a period of 15 months commencing 1 January 2019, and Medserv will be providing integrated logistics support services to the national oil company of the Republic of Suriname – “Staatsolie”. Medserv also noted that this new contract will be serviced through the company’s own internal resources and will not require any major capital expenditure. Moreover, this new contract, together with already contracted business, further underpins the projected revenue growth forecast of the company for years 2019 to 2020.
PG plc also performed positively today as the equity recaptured the €1.37 level (+0.7%) on three deals totalling 29,400 shares. In an interview published yesterday on the local media, the CEO of the company reiterated his views that PG sees further scope for growth in the shopping village model.
Meanwhile, Bank of Valletta plc (29,000 shares) and GO plc (2,750 shares) closed the day unchanged at €1.33 and €4.00 respectively.
A single deal of just 2,900 shares left the equity of Lombard Bank Malta plc at the €2.40 level.
RS2 Software plc also traded flat at the €1.17 level across 15,000 shares.
The RF MGS Index moved higher for the third consecutive day as it added a further 0.06% to 1,079.898 points. Malta Government Stock price movements were mostly driven by a drop in the yields of Italian government bonds amid hopes that the Italian government and the European Commission (“EC”) might resume talks related to the country’s fiscal plans.
This contrasted with a previous statement made on Wednesday by EC Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis who remarked that the Italians are “sleepwalking into instability”. Despite the gains registered in past three days, the RF MGS Index still ended the week marginally lower.